The Nintendo Switch 2 officially launched today (June 5), and within hours, resale listings flooded Japan's auction sites, with markups easily exceeding 30%. With limited units available through a lottery system and overwhelming demand, scoring one at retail was next to impossible, leaving social media filled with the cries of unlucky fans who missed out.
In response to this frenzy, Japanese news outlet Nikkan SPA! sat down with a professional scalper who claims to have raked in roughly 10 million yen (approx. $64,000 USD) just from flipping the original Nintendo Switch. So, how are the pros viewing the Switch 2 gold rush?
Speaking to the outlet a week before the launch, the scalper was surprisingly calm about the new console's debut.
"Guys like us? We're not even going all-out yet. During this initial lottery-only phase, the stock is too low to move serious volume, so you can't make stable money. I'm guessing the initial resale price will land around 70,000 yen. If I win a lottery, I'll sell it. If not, no big deal," he explained. He admitted that while prices are high now, the inconsistent supply isn't profitable enough. The real time to strike, he says, isn't at launch.
▼ Resale prices on Mercari on launch day
For seasoned scalpers, the launch window isn't the main event. "Our time to shine is when the console becomes widely available for everyone to buy." He revealed that the most profitable period for the original Switch was during the time when "the market price was consistently stable and just slightly above retail."
"The original Switch's value never really dropped. Right up until the Switch 2 was announced, the buyback price was still 95% of the original retail price. That's what made it so lucrative. We'd combine that with points programs from places like Yahoo Shopping and Rakuten, or regional e-payment promotions, and turn all those points into pure profit."
"For example, I could use Rakuten points to get a small discount on a console, then flip it to a reseller for about a 3,000 yen profit per unit. I could move 30 to 40 units a month, netting an extra 100,000 yen. Nintendo really made me a fortune. What scalper wouldn't be grateful?"
Using this method, the scalper bought over 250 Switch consoles through Rakuten alone in 2019. It’s no wonder consoles would sell out in seconds—"professional buyers" like him were sweeping up the stock.
Although he claims he's "not even trying yet," he's still entering all the retail lotteries. He notes that retailers are putting up more barriers, "like requiring their own credit card or having a minimum spending history as a member," all in an effort to block scalpers. He also gives credit where it's due: "Nintendo is actually getting serious about fighting us with the Switch 2. With the original Switch, it was cheap to buy in Japan and super profitable to resell to places like China and Russia, where buyback prices and demand were high."
"But Nintendo got smart this time. The Japanese version is priced at 49,980 yen, while the multi-language version is 69,980 yen. They created a 20,000 yen price gap and restricted the international version to their official store, effectively killing the export route for overseas markets. That was a tough move. I'm impressed."
The scalper also noted that the new console's nearly 50,000 yen price tag might deter casual gamers, who may stick with the original Switch for a while. "If that cools down market demand, it will definitely affect buyback prices and our profit margins." But he ended with a laugh: "Even if the Switch 2 isn't a big earner, we'll just move on to the next thing. There's always something profitable out there. Nintendo isn't the only golden goose. If it's gone, we'll find another."
Reselling is constantly condemned, especially on social media, with comments like "It's the scalpers' fault I can't win" and "My kid wants one but parents can't buy it" everywhere. But the scalper is unfazed. "We honestly don't care. We're buying legally and selling legally. What's the problem? It's not illegal. Even within our circles, if someone says, 'Hey, are we really getting that much hate?' we all just laugh it off."
He put it even more bluntly: "If you're the type to get thin-skinned over some online hate, you can't do this job. The criticism doesn't affect our income at all. Instead of worrying about feelings, it's more practical to just sell a few more units. You want to eradicate scalpers? Impossible. We're like cockroaches."
When asked about his future plans, his answer was just as candid: "Whether it was the original Switch or the PS5, we targeted them simply because 'this thing makes good money.' We don't hate anyone, and we don't do it because we like or dislike a product. We just see an opportunity to profit, and we take it. That's all."
As long as there's market demand, scalpers aren't going anywhere. The launch of the Switch 2 will inevitably bring them back into the spotlight—it's just that for them, the main event hasn't even started yet.
via： 日刊SPA！