LINE Yahoo Japan announced on November 6th that it's rolling out a new policy for "Yahoo! Auctions" and "Yahoo! Flea Market": newly released game software will be prohibited from being sold above its retail price. This fresh rule officially kicks in on November 13th.
The company hopes this move will curb the rampant reselling of games at inflated prices online and foster a better environment for both buyers and sellers.
The core of this initiative is straightforward: in the games category, for new game releases, within one month of their launch date, it's forbidden to list them for sale above their official suggested retail price (MSRP). This is a direct shot at scalpers and aims to prevent regular gamers from being priced out of new titles.
According to the official announcement, this rule applies to new game software released on or after November 13, 2025, and prohibits listings above MSRP within one month of their release. However, "auction store accounts" operated by businesses or individual merchants are exempt from this restriction. The platform also reminds users that when listing items, both the "starting bid" and "buy it now" prices must be set at or below the MSRP. Violations could lead to item deletion or even account suspension.
In recent years, hot new game releases have frequently sparked buying frenzies, driving resale prices far beyond retail and leaving gamers fuming.
Yahoo Japan has actually implemented several preventative measures for such situations before. For instance, when the "Nintendo Switch 2" launched this past June, listings were temporarily banned entirely to "prevent transaction chaos." Similarly, for "Pokémon Legends Z-A," released on October 16th, bundle versions sold with the "Switch 2" console were also prohibited from being listed.
With some games becoming "limited edition" due to skyrocketing resale prices in recent years, Yahoo Japan's latest ban is seen as a clear red card to scalping. The big questions now are: How effective will it be? How many illicit listings will get pulled? And will other platforms follow suit? Everyone's curious to see how this plays out.
via： 日本Yahoo！拍賣官網