Malicious Reselling: Don’t Allow Bulk Purchases that Disregard Rules

Editorial

16:26 JST, September 10, 2025

The practice of buying popular products or rare promotional items in bulk for the purpose of reselling them at a higher price continues unabated. It is crucial to strengthen efforts to prevent malicious reselling that disregards rules and manners.

Reselling tickets for events such as music concerts or sports matches at prices exceeding the official prices is prohibited by law.

However, resale of other items is generally not illegal, leading to rampant bulk purchases and high-priced resales. This poses a problem because it deprives those who really need the products of the opportunity to purchase them.

When McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd. sold its Happy Meal sets — a menu item for children — in August, the company gave away Pokémon trading cards featuring characters from the popular Japanese video game, leading to customers buying the sets in bulk for the purpose of reselling the cards.

McDonald’s limited the purchases to five sets per person in advance. The company also shared information with the major flea market site Mercari and urged customers not to buy the sets in bulk.

However, McDonald’s failed to prevent the bulk purchases because it had not explicitly restricted practices such as repeatedly lining up at the restaurants or placing online orders for pickup.

It must be said that the measures against bulk purchases and resales were inadequate. Some customers only kept the cards and discarded everything else, forcing McDonald’s to issue an apology.

There may have been cases in which many children, the primary target customers, were unable to purchase the sets. The Consumer Affairs Agency has asked McDonald’s to take measures to prevent a recurrence from the perspective of food waste reduction.

Regarding the Happy Meals it will begin selling from Sept. 12, McDonald’s will suspend online orders on the first day. It also will not allow multiple purchases by the same group. It is vital to demonstrate a firm stance by refusing sales to customers who violate the rules.

The company needs to consider whether it is appropriate to give away items that could be resold at prices higher than the products themselves.

Nintendo Co. has limited sales of its popular Nintendo Switch 2 console, which was released in June, to lottery-based sales only. This is because widespread bulk purchases for resale purposes occurred when the original Switch console was released.

The proliferation of online sales has made bulk purchases easier, while resale destinations, such as flea market sites, have expanded channels. Measures against malicious resales tend to become a cat-and-mouse game between companies and resellers.

While resellers are fundamentally to blame, companies also need to recognize that it is an era in which they will face criticism if they fail to implement effective countermeasures.

It is hoped that flea market sites will also respond sincerely when companies request the removal of product listings. Consumers also need to exercise restraint when purchasing high-priced resold items to avoid benefiting malicious resellers.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 10, 2025)