> Amazon is doing exactly what we've been asking them to do for ages -- policing their marketplace against counterfeit products
Banning the 3rd party sale of an entire category of product to defend against counterfeiters is like cutting off your arm to prevent paper-cuts. This is a lazy way to combat counterfeit products that will not scale to every other product they sell. What they should be doing is making more of an effort to identify and remove bad sellers across their platform but tracking complaints, vetting sellers, and identifying scammers takes actual work on their part.
the ban is not against an entire category of products. the ban is against USED products. I think this is a good thing. Because many people believe that amazon NEVER sells used products. (btw. I already gotten used products and I tried to buy new ones)
Amazon makes it pretty clear they sell used products and it's hard to imagine people not realizing that they offer used products unless they are new to the site and have never searched for any number of out of print books or old video games.
They aren't banning all used products anyway they are only banning used Nintendo products which is a bit of problem when Nintendo stops making "new" copies of old games and consoles. If I want an original gameboy or a copy of Super Metroid I should be able to buy them on Amazon from every available seller and if I'm a small used game shop i should be able to sell my products on the largest market place in the country without begging Nintendo for their permission.
For a large number of games and platforms, USED products are the entire category. Specifically with Nintendo, the vast majority of games for NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, Wii, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS can only be acquired on the secondary market.
Some games have been updated for newer platforms (or even emulated on newer platforms by Nintendo to re-offer them for sale). But many, many more have not. To say that this decision on Amazon's part is not a ban against a product category because it is just banning resale of used products ... Is incredibly myopic.
Indeed. About 10-12 years ago, when I started working and having disposable income, almost every book or video game I bought came from the second hand market, and the vast majority of it came in fact from Amazon.
I'm a bit baffled by GP's claim that many people don't know that Amazon doesn't sell second hand products. It's displayed quiten clearly, and in fact, for a lot of us it was a big part of the appeal of buying there. I understand that the demographics of the average Amazon buyer have changed in the last years, but I don't think people are not aware of the presence of the second hand market.
Very bad move from Amazon. Nowadays I'm way less likely to buy from them, and this only reassures me.
Banning the 3rd party sale of an entire category of product to defend against counterfeiters is like cutting off your arm to prevent paper-cuts. This is a lazy way to combat counterfeit products that will not scale to every other product they sell. What they should be doing is making more of an effort to identify and remove bad sellers across their platform but tracking complaints, vetting sellers, and identifying scammers takes actual work on their part.