Selling Pokemon Games on Amazon

Hey all, been selling on Amazon for over a year now.

Just got a couple pokemon games over the weekend, emerald, and ruby.

Tried putting them up today and got this error on both:
"IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
**Please note: The item for which you have attempted to create a listing is a restricted item."

I know how to check for the authenticity of pokemon games, I have sold 9 copies of these games over the last year and not one complaint from a buyer.

Anyone else have any trouble with this? Ive checked around the amazon seller forums and found people talking about restrictions when selling DVD's. Amazon doesnt really like to answer the questions, people have both heard stories of many buyers complaining about authenticity so they restrict people allowed to sell, or that publishers enact some rights about people selling used copies of their stuff.

[quote name='Artrigis']Hey all, been selling on Amazon for over a year now.

Just got a couple pokemon games over the weekend, emerald, and ruby.

Tried putting them up today and got this error on both:
"IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
**Please note: The item for which you have attempted to create a listing is a restricted item."

I know how to check for the authenticity of pokemon games, I have sold 9 copies of these games over the last year and not one complaint from a buyer.

Anyone else have any trouble with this? Ive checked around the amazon seller forums and found people talking about restrictions when selling DVD's. Amazon doesnt really like to answer the questions, people have both heard stories of many buyers complaining about authenticity so they restrict people allowed to sell, or that publishers enact some rights about people selling used copies of their stuff.[/QUOTE]

I have seen that with other items....I think the reason varies for item, but I would not be surprised at all if it is about authenticity issues. I was looking on eBay and they have SO many fake Pokemon games. I even bought one by accident because it was from a US seller so I thought it'd be OK.

EDIT: Also, I'd imagine this restriction is to all sellers or most sellers and not personal to you.

I just ran into this same issue when trying to list Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Platinum games for sale. Such a shame - I am 100% sure that my copies are authentic, but I know how bootleg Pokemon games can flood the market, which explains the restriction. There are many copies of these Pokemon games for sale currently by various sellers, so obviously the restriction isn't for everybody. I'll be looking into this and try to figure out how to become one of the non-restricted sellers.

Never had a game show up as that, but I have a lot of blu rays come up as being restricted when I try to sell ones I want to get rid of.  Very annoying.

skcin7 said:

I just ran into this same issue when trying to list Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Platinum games for sale. Such a shame - I am 100% sure that my copies are authentic, but I know how bootleg Pokemon games can flood the market, which explains the restriction. There are many copies of these Pokemon games for sale currently by various sellers, so obviously the restriction isn't for everybody. I'll be looking into this and try to figure out how to become one of the non-restricted sellers.

Click to expand...

I asked seller CS about it, got a generic nonanswer. They told me not to try and list pokemon games either. Though at one point when this restriction was added I was trying many times throughout the day to list. One time I was almost able to.. made the listing submitted, but it just switched over to inactive (not the usual inactive out of stock you will see when something has sold)

I have $200 worth of pokemon games atm.. im going to sit on them for a month, if nothing on amazon changes I think I will try to CL them.. im afraid of ebay as a seller.

Weird. I listed and sold a copy of Black 2 (though mine was brand new) with no problem.

Sometimes it's to do with only certain paying sellers being able to sell. I had an issue once, I was forced to sell under collectible, and used (although I explained under conditions).

These listings have been restricted based on reports that some customers have received products that are inconsistent with the product detail pages. Due to the nature of this removal, Seller Support cannot provide further information or approve requests to relist. You will not be penalized for this restriction, but we request that you refrain from relisting any restricted products until further notice. Please note that although certain sellers may be permitted to continue to list these products at this time, Amazon is not accepting new requests.

white3er said:

These listings have been restricted based on reports that some customers have received products that are inconsistent with the product detail pages. Due to the nature of this removal, Seller Support cannot provide further information or approve requests to relist. You will not be penalized for this restriction, but we request that you refrain from relisting any restricted products until further notice. Please note that although certain sellers may be permitted to continue to list these products at this time, Amazon is not accepting new requests.

Click to expand...

And this is BS I printed the sellers of used GBA pokemon games for a few days in a row.

All types of different sellers listed including JUST LAUNCHED!

Total BS

Makes sense. It's the most bootlegged games. I'm sure every seller said they were official too before selling them only to have the buyer claiming they are fakes.

I personally would never buy the older pokemon games online from any dealer mainstream or private sale. Unless I'm in person I pass on the old pokemon games. I seen so many knuckleheads trying to make a quick flip with them and then they get stuck with a bootleg.

Often enough because they are pissed off at getting ripped off they put it back into circulation without mentioning it's fake. It's a vicious cycle of hot potato with the bootleg until someone gets stuck holding the hot potato and gets burned.

These Video Game is currently restricted to all but pre-approved sellers. It has nothing to do with your individual performance metrics. 

The sellers who are currently offering them are pre-approved by our Category team. At this time, we are not approving additional sellers to list against top-selling ASINs in our Video Games Category. The restrictions might be removed at a later date and when it happens we will inform you at the earliest. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this Amazon policy may cause you. 

Due to the nature of this restriction, Seller Support cannot provide further information or approve requests to relist. 

Keep in mind, all sellers can continue to list against non-restricted ASINs in these stores, as well as against other ASINs in our other categories. 

Thank you for your understanding in this matter. 

Have a great day!

And as an aside, if you haven't booted them up yet you'll find that Pokemon Ruby's internal battery is dead. All Pokemon games from Gen III and older, with the exception of Emerald for the time being, have run out of juice. Could also play a factor, as I imagine many people have bought games and couldn't save or activate clock-based events.

This restriction is also on most HBO DVDs and Blu Rays.