Amazon is attempting to curb the sale of used Nintendo games on its platform, according to a mass-email that has been going out to sellers. Starting today, those who sell on Amazon can no longer list used Nintendo titles, or at the very least, first-party ones. No explicit reason was given for this change, though sellers speculate that this is due to an overabundance of bootleg products. Those who list an item for sale that has Nintendo marked as the producer of said item, have been reporting that their listings have been removed for violating Amazon's new rule. In order for sellers to sell any first-party used condition Nintendo controllers, games, or accessories, they need to file for approval on an item-by-item process. Amazon can then deny, or approve said game sale. At this time, it only affects Nintendo games, and Amazon has not clarified as to whether this will impact other first-party products, sold by Xbox or PlayStation.

UPDATE:

Following the initial report of Amazon seller restrictions on used Nintendo products, Amazon has responded to the claims in a very brief official statement. Amazon claims that the email that was distributed to sellers was sent in error, and any removed listings have now been reinstated. Further details are vague, but it appears that sellers will NOT be impacted when selling used first-party Nintendo hardware or games.

Yesterday’s email [to third-party Amazon sellers] was sent in error, and all impacted listings were reinstated within hours.

Source

 

[Techjunky90]

It's a grey area, unclear whether sellers are profiting from the ROM itself or from the hardware which houses it. Nintendo doesn't seem to go after any of the people selling reproductions on eBay, though, and there are a number of businesses/individuals who specialize in that.

"It's a grey area" WRONG. It is not a grey area, it's 100% illegal

 

[KingVamp]

Agree. Selling used games isn't the same as selling pirated software.

 

[Xzi]

Thing is, Nintendo has bigger fish to fry as far as piracy is concerned - reproductions pale in comparison to flashcarts or other assorted mods.

Indeed. Not only do they ignore people selling reproduction cartridges, they also ignore people selling "100-in-1" cartridges and the like. These can easily be found on Amazon as well as eBay.

https://www.amazon.com/FidgetFidget-Cartridge-Nintendo-Multicart-Version/dp/B07K7BKCF1/

"It's a grey area" WRONG. It is not a grey area, it's 100% illegal

Agree. Selling used games isn't the same as selling pirated software.

I won't contest that it's illegal on the seller's side of the transaction, but then it simply comes down to how motivated Nintendo is to pursue legal action against them.

There are any number of scenarios you'd have to consider on the buyer's side of things, and that's where things get a lot more grey. For instance, did they know it was a reproduction at the time of purchase? Do they already own the game in one format or another? Etc.

 

[Foxi4]

Indeed. Not only do they ignore people selling reproduction cartridges, they also ignore people selling "100-in-1" cartridges and the like. These can be found on Amazon as well as eBay.

https://www.amazon.com/FidgetFidget-Cartridge-Nintendo-Multicart-Version/dp/B07K7BKCF1/



I won't contest that it's illegal on the seller's side of the transaction, but then it simply comes down to how motivated Nintendo is to pursue legal action against them.

There are any number of scenarios you'd have to consider on the buyer's side of things, and that's where things get a lot more grey. For instance, did they know it was a reproduction at the time of purchase? Do they already own the game in one format or another? Etc.

It's the act of distribution that's more commonly hunted, not so much the act of obtaining or owning pirated software (although those cases do exist as well). This is why Nintendo happily goes after ROM sites, but doesn't normally pursue individual users *unless* they distribute the software - we had one such case right here on the Temp. Things get pretty sticky when Torrents are put in the mix as the process of participating in a P2P file exchange usually means you are simultaneously receiving *and* distributing the copyrighted material, which is indeed problematic. The moral of the story is... use a trusted VPN? Or, preferably, buy your software legally - that one never fails.

 

[Xzi]

Or, preferably, buy your software legally - that one never fails.

This is always my preference even with retro games, but there are occasions where original carts simply aren't available or are prohibitively rare/expensive. Like I said previously in this thread, Nintendo would make a killing simply by doing limited re-releases of physical games for their 15th or 20th anniversaries, even people without the consoles would buy them for the packaging alone. Not sure why that hasn't happened.

OTOH, Sony seems to keep a nearly unlimited supply of "greatest hits" games in circulation, so even PSX games can be found in new condition for very reasonable prices ($20 - $30). Much smarter way to go about things IMO, especially since they still get a cut.

 

[Foxi4]

This is always my preference even with retro games, but there are occasions where original carts simply aren't available or are prohibitively rare/expensive. Like I said previously in this thread, Nintendo would make a killing simply by doing limited re-releases of physical games for their 15th or 20th anniversaries, even people without the consoles would buy them for the packaging alone. Not sure why that hasn't happened.

OTOH, Sony seems to keep a nearly unlimited supply of "greatest hits" games in circulation, so even PSX games can be found in new condition for very reasonable prices ($20 - $30). Much smarter way to go about things IMO, especially since they still get a cut.

The problem here is that scarcity is a big reason why Nintendo games are always in demand - there's only so many of them. Nintendo seems to be fairly experienced with producing just enough goods to meet demand, or slightly less - rarely an excess. They've taken that methodology to the extreme with Amiibos which were limited deliberately. Now, naturally the fact that people don't tend to part with their Nintendo games also drives the price up, but you're right - it would be a good idea to allow non-collectors to just download the titles instead, that doesn't affect the collector market as those customers want physical retro cartridges specifically. I believe that's what they've been doing with Nintendo Online, but there are licensing issues to contend with whenever you re-release old software. With that said, I can't see why they couldn't re-release the entirety of their old catalogue on a whim - it is their own, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Captain_N]

While i truly dislike them jack ass resellers that get the good $1 games at thrift stores and resell them, amazon your stupid.You cant even get a burned wii U disc to boot. the drive wont even read it and no hacks will help the drive read it. so wtf. You cant get the switch to read a pirated switch cart either. so again your fucking stupid.

 

[eriol33]

I remember there is a "no resale" label for japanese games published on PSX, I found it weird, but it seems going to be the norms. Not that it affects me much, nowadays I prefer to buy digital games even for the newest releases.

 

[Madridi]

Europe sounds unaffected as that always was the case same as Amazon.

Hello again, EBay my old friend in Europe?

Europe doesn’t have tax though. It has VAT, which is already part of the given price.
But yeah, its an American thing

 

[James_]

UPDATE:
Following the initial report of Amazon seller restrictions on used Nintendo products, Amazon has responded to the claims in a very brief official statement. Amazon claims that the email that was distributed to sellers was sent in error, and any removed listings have now been reinstated. Further details are vague, but it appears that sellers will NOT be impacted when selling used first-party Nintendo hardware or games.

still staring at eBay

 

[goldensun87]

Gee Nintendo, thanks for giving me more reasons to despise you.

 

[raxadian]

"It's a grey area" WRONG. It is not a grey area, it's 100% illegal

Since the hardware patents for both the Super Nintendo and the Sega genesis expired, is actually legal ro sell unofficial controllers for those two old consoles. The same for any older one like the Nes, since those consoles hardware patents are also expired. That does not apply to the bios, if they have it, since that holds a separate patent.

 

[Ericzander]

It's a grey area, unclear whether sellers are profiting from the ROM itself or from the hardware which houses it.

I won't contest that it's illegal on the seller's side of the transaction, but then it simply comes down to how motivated Nintendo is to pursue legal action against them.

These seem like different arguments to me. But the second argument seems to concede that the first is wrong (that it's a legal grey area; if I'm reading it right). Because, as others have said, regardless of whether they're profiting from the ROM or the hardware it doesn't matter in court because it's illegal. Summary judgement in favor of plaintiff, case closed. But you're arguing that Nintendo wouldn't bring it to court anyway. Which I suppose is fair. But that's like saying that it's okay to upload and seed pirated torrents because you'll almost certainly never be brought to court for it.

Also @Captain_N and @goldensun87 the article has been updated. Amazon is not restricting sales of the games/products.

 

[FAST6191]

Since the hardware patents for both the Super Nintendo and the Sega genesis expired, is actually legal ro sell unofficial controllers for those two old consoles. The same for any older one like the Nes, since those consoles hardware patents are also expired. That does not apply to the bios, if they have it, since that holds a separate patent.

The BIOS is more likely to be protected by copyright, and if they somehow did swing a software patent (not sure of timelines involved right now) then that would not apply outside of those few places that lack the self respect to not kick people that suggest the notion out of whatever law making setup they have.

Moreover it was legal to have an unofficial controller working from day -1 if you wanted as long as the patents on whatever aspects have been patented by them (or others) and trademarks + whatever other design type rights a given play might have were respected. Been a while since I looked at all the various patents Nintendo had on NES controllers so I don't know how easy or not it would have been to provide a functional controller and respect patents (though I guess you could have done a joystick) or have a workaround for them but it seems within reason. It might get trickier by the time you get to the 360 and Microsoft et al started embedding DRM in the controllers themselves.

 

[raxadian]

The BIOS is more likely to be protected by copyright, and if they somehow did swing a software patent (not sure of timelines involved right now) then that would not apply outside of those few places that lack the self respect to not kick people that suggest the notion out of whatever law making setup they have.

Moreover it was legal to have an unofficial controller working from day -1 if you wanted as long as the patents on whatever aspects have been patented by them (or others) and trademarks + whatever other design type rights a given play might have were respected. Been a while since I looked at all the various patents Nintendo had on NES controllers so I don't know how easy or not it would have been to provide a functional controller and respect patents (though I guess you could have done a joystick) or have a workaround for them but it seems within reason. It might get trickier by the time you get to the 360 and Microsoft et al started embedding DRM in the controllers themselves.

I remember PS2 fake controllers looking almost the same as real ones, and you only noticed a month or two later became the plastic was much flimsier and the controller broke down quite easily. Heck even the plastic warping had the correct logos and that.

Anyway, does Amazon has his own gaming service or something like that? Is amazing how much they have grown from that website that scammed you with book prices.

 

[Xzi]

But you're arguing that Nintendo wouldn't bring it to court anyway. Which I suppose is fair. But that's like saying that it's okay to upload and seed pirated torrents because you'll almost certainly never be brought to court for it.

It's more just an observation than an argument, Nintendo hasn't taken action against sellers of reproduction carts despite the practice having been ongoing for the better part of two decades. In that same time frame we HAVE seen plenty of legal action taken against people who seed/host torrents of copyrighted materials, though if we're talking Nintendo specifically, they seem to target HTTP/FTP hosts almost exclusively.

 

[xile6]

was only a matter of time.
I believe some places in the word do no sell used games.

 

[diggeloid]

It's scary to me how many people are actually wondering whether selling used games should be legal. The future is going to be a terrible place to be a consumer.

 

[the_randomizer]

Wow, someone at Amazon is a dick.

Edit: Never mind, long day x3

 

[Pippin666]

I made two assumptions
1. Amazon earns a fixed percent from sale of items
2. Majority of people who shop for games on Amazon will not look elsewhere

I suppose an alternative could be pressure from Nintendo - but I doubt Nintendo has that much negotiating power

I think Nintendo does have negotiating power. Remember, last year most sold game on Amazon was Super Smash for Switch, it achieved that whiting a single month, during december.

Pip'