In one of the most unsurprising outcomes of the eBay listings for scalped Switch 2 pre-orders earlier this month, but now that pre-orders are available, the scalpers are out in full force.
Spotted by Kotaku, there are over 30 listings on eBay for a Nintendo Switch 2 now, and the prices are high, ranging from the standard $450 all the way up to $1000 and more. Some of the listings appear to be real, and some of them appear to be fake to catch scalpers and bots. What might be more concerning is that the console is not readily available right now, so a lot of the postings are asking for an exorbitant amount of money and are just promising to send the console to the buyer after it releases in June.
Nintendo Fans Are Combating Scalpers With Fake Listings
There Are A Lot of Fakes And A Lot of Real Ones
As seen in a Reddit post by MrJava-, fans started battling the scalpers over two weeks ago. Several s have claimed to have reported several and even dozens of scalped Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. Now that the pre-orders have gone live, some s are taking it even further by posting fake Switch 2 listings in hopes of catching scalpers who are attempting to buy more consoles on eBay and then flipping them for an even larger profit.
Getting Nintendo Switch 2 Games Is Reportedly Harder Than Buying The Console Itself
Availability is a concern with any new console release, but the Nintendo Switch 2 might be easier to find and purchase than the actual games.
The The pre-orders were initially delayed so that Nintendo could assess the impact of global tariffs and the changing market conditions, which led to the prices of accessories being increased, and prices could get even higher as time goes on.
Our Take: Scalping Isn't New, But It's Still Terrible
Big Console And PC Hardware Releases Are Particularly Rough
Scalping has taken off since a lot, if not most, sales of consoles, games, and even PC hardware like graphics cards, are completed digitally, which makes buying in bulk easier. Scalping has always existed, but a major increase in the notorious practice seemed to be with the 2020 release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles and the Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics cards, which were mostly online due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While everyone has their own personal moral com for what is right and wrong, most people seem to agree that scalping high-demand items to make a profit is unethical. Fans have made efforts to try to stop scalping, or at least tone it down. Nintendo has a strategy to combat scalpers when the pre-orders through Nintendo begin on May 8, so hopefully, fans that missed out will have a fair chance to get a Nintendo Switch 2 at a fair price then.
Source: Kotaku, eBay, MrJava-/Reddit
