Most Animal Crossing players have a list of favorite villagers that they want to live on their islands. Opportunistic people and scalpers have taken advantage of that fact, and have made a profit off of the Animal Crossing black market. One scalper in Japan was interviewed about reselling amiibo cards and scalping Nintendo products in general.
In the interview, the scalper talks about the shortages of the Nintendo Switch and the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch. They say that the Switch has always been a hot product since launch and that the release of the New Horizons Switch only helped their business. They also talked about how they can sell the limited edition console for double the amount that they paid.
They also talked about the Animal Crossing amiibo cards. The scalper would buy the amiibo cards for around 100 yen, or 93 cents, and sell them for ten times the buying price. The scalper talks about the lottery system for buying a Nintendo Switch. In Japan, people enter a lottery for the chance to buy a Nintendo Switch, since they are hard to come by during the pandemic. This scalper gets around the lottery by purchasing the console from lesser-known game stores. They have been able to buy one console a day, which is pretty impressive considering the shortage of the Nintendo Switch. The scalper also buys amiibo cards on the same trip as buying the console.
The Animal Crossing amiibo cards were released five years ago with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, so finding one specific card is challenging to find. With the explosion in popularity, everybody is scrambling to find the perfect villager for them. However, there are cheaper alternatives to getting specific villagers. People can buy generic NFC cards and loading the amiibo data into those cards. People can also use popular Animal Crossing trading websites like Nookazon and Nook. Market to get desired villagers.
When it comes to scalping, people aren’t happy that someone is buying up products and selling them for a higher profit. Comments in the interview with the Japanese scalper ranged from getting a normal job to hoping the scalper gets swatted. COVID-19 has caused shortages for many video game products. Fans are looking for entertainment while they are locked in, and it frustrates them when they can’t find products at retail prices. People have to make money somehow, and this particular scalper is making bank on Nintendo products.
Source: NintendoSoup
