Nintendo fans are clapping back at scalpers by creating fake listings for the Nintendo Switch 2 on auction sites, flooding the site and making it more difficult for buyers to find scalper listings.
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are popping up all over sites like eBay, offering the highly anticipated console for anything between $500 and $2,000.
While we’ve already seen U.S. Nintendo fans unite in their frustrations both about the pre-order delay and the preponderance of over-priced pre-orders on eBay to take scalpers down together, now we’re within 40 days of the Switch 2’s June 5 launch day, scalpers can legitimately put up their overpriced console listings as long as they stress the pre-order will ship within 40 business days of purchase.
To make it more difficult for those auctions to be seen, however, Nintendo fans are posting fake listings at retail prices or lower to push overpriced scalper auctions further and further down the page.
Take this listing, for example. Entitled “Nintendo Switch v2 video games console PREORDER,” it’s asking for $450, which doesn’t seem too bad at all.
Read the description, however, and it says: “PRE-ORDER SCREENSHOT Please note: You are ordering a picture of the Nintendo Switch 2. This listing is to combat bots and scalpers. No refunds. No cancels. > You will receive an png image of a switch 2. No console.”
You can usually tell which listings are from frustrated fans and which are real scalpers, as the listings selling screenshots rather than consoles have “read description” in the listing heading.
Another $550 listing reads: “Do not, I repeat DO NOT BUY this unless you are a bot or just wish to donate $550 to me. I will be shipping a laser-printed image of the Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle and that will be all you get. NO REFUNDS. NO. REFUNDS. NO REFUNDS. You will NOT BE REFUNDED you will be receiving the picture whether you like it or not.
“I’m just gonna make sure to state this again, there will be NO REFUNDS, and you will be getting a laser printed image of a Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle. That is all you will be getting.
“Oh, one last thing. Did I mention NO REFUNDS? Ok but actually though, it will ship after you order instead of after it releases so you should be getting it before Switch 2 release date.”
“This listing is for a printed picture of my Nintendo Switch 2 console confirmed preorder,” states another $499.99 auction. “You will receive a printed picture, folded, and sent in a standard letter envelope. This is NOT for the console itself. No refunds, No returns. F the bots.”
Nintendo Switch 2 was supposed to arrive on June 5, 2025, with prices starting at $449.99, but the Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order date was delayed in the United States after import tariffs enacted by President Trump sent financial markets spiraling.
Consequently, Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders went live on April 24, with the price still fixed at $449.99 — and they went about as well as you’d expect. Check out IGN’s Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide for more.
This week, Nintendo clarified compatibility concerns surrounding its all-new GameCube controller, confirming that there may be “issues” using it to play contemporary Nintendo Switch games.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
