Summary
The idea is that these rules will weed the opportunists out from actual players, and it’s been pretty effective so far. You can’t exactly conjure up two years of a continuous NSO subscription overnight. But third-party retailers like Argos, Smyth, and Game were far more lenient, so this strategy hasn’t entirely stopped scalping.
And Yes, People Are Buying Them
As reported byEurogamer, one look at online retailers like eBay reveals that pre-orders are being sold at a huge markup. “Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Cart Bundle”, misspellingMario Kart, was sold for $773.61, not including the $49.23 delivery fee. “Mario Kart World Console Bundle”, this time at least getting the spelling right, sold for $724.80, with an eye-watering delivery fee of $120.80.
Mario Kart World got a brand-new trailer during the latest Direct.
Things aren’t much better in the UK, either. Dozens of the same bundles were sold from £540 to £630. Someone even bought the console, not including Mario Kart World, for £550. Though, for the most part, these at least have free delivery, so while you are being robbed of hundreds of pounds when you could just wait a bit longer, you’re at least not spending $100 on shipping.
But there’s a reason the delivery fees are so high in the US right now. As pre-orders haven’t gone live yet (they were scheduled for April 9, buthave since been delayed due to the new tariffs implemented by President Trump), many are buying from Canada and Australia instead. However, far fewer have been sold than in the UK, no doubt because of the ambitious listings hoping to scurry away with $900 to $1,300 for a $400 console. Thankfully, nobody has given into these prices yet.
