Zelda Switch 2 Scalpers Flood eBay With Impossible Delivery Estimates
Nintendo's new Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition Switch 2 sold out across major retailers almost immediately after preorders opened this week, while eBay quickly filled with hundreds of listings at steep markups.
The $519.99 console was announced during Nintendo's September 8 Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct and is scheduled for release October 29, along with matching Pro Controllers and a carrying case.
A search on Wednesday afternoon returned 431 results for "Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2," including console-only presales and bundles priced far above retail.
One US seller was asking $2,000 plus shipping for a bundle pictured with the console, anniversary Pro Controller, carrying case and physical copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The four products have a combined retail price of about $720.
Another US seller was asking $1,700 for a similar bundle while eBay gave buyers an estimated delivery window of September 14-18. The listing title and description also did not appear to identify the item as a presale.
Nintendo says the anniversary Switch 2, Pro Controllers and carrying case will not be released until October 29, while the physical Ocarina of Time game pictured in the listing comes even later on November 5. Other Zelda presales reviewed by Value Added Resource were also showing September delivery estimates.
eBay expanded its presale policy from 30 calendar days to 40 business days in 2023. Under the current policy, listings must identify the item as a presale in both the title and description and state when it will be available to ship, while handling time should include the time needed for the seller to acquire the product.
The October 29 console release is close enough that console presales purchased this week could comply with eBay's 40-business-day limit, but September delivery estimates clearly do not account for when sellers can actually obtain the products.
Under the eBay Money Back Guarantee, buyers generally have 30 calendar days after the estimated or actual delivery date to report an item that was not received, with eBay using the estimated date when no tracking information is available.
With no tracking, a September 14-18 estimate would put the normal Item Not Received deadline on October 18, 11 days before the Zelda console is released.
Value Added Resource has documented buyers getting caught in that gap before, including presale cases where buyers waited for the disclosed release date only to have eBay initially deny refunds because too much time had passed.
Liz Morton
The same problem showed up again with the Xbox X25 in August, when one $2,500 presale gave buyers an estimated September 1-9 delivery date while the seller said they would not pick up the console from Microsoft until November 13. Thirty days after eBay's latest estimate fell more than a month before the seller expected to have the product.
Liz Morton
In 2021, eBay promoted a Funko Funkoween event filled with listings that exceeded its presale limits. The company acknowledged some sellers had circumvented the policy and removed the promotional page after Value Added Resource raised questions, but many of the violating listings continued to sell.
eBay also made an exception to its own rules for an official MetaZoo Wilderness booster box presale in 2022, allowing purchases roughly 60 days before release while assuring buyers in that particular promotion they would remain covered if anything went wrong. Scalpers quickly piled in with their own MetaZoo presales, many outside the normal policy window.
Liz Morton
eBay records gross merchandise volume when a buyer pays and does not subtract subsequent cancellations, returns or refunds. A Zelda Switch 2 sold in September will contribute to eBay's third-quarter GMV even though none of the products will be released until the fourth quarter. If the seller loses a retail preorder or otherwise cannot fulfill the transaction and refunds the buyer after release, the sale remains in the GMV eBay already reported.
Final value fees are also calculated from the amount paid, with advertising fees potentially added when Promoted Listings are involved, though some fees may later be credited if the transaction is refunded. Removing a bad presale before someone buys it means the transaction never generates those fees or enters GMV in the first place.
Comparing an official release date with the handling time and estimated delivery date should flag the most obvious cases, while a dedicated presale format could keep impossible delivery estimates from being shown and make sure buyer protections extend through the period when the item can actually be shipped.
The marketplace controls how those delivery estimates are calculated and displayed, the Money Back Guarantee rules and whether these listings stay live. If it keeps allowing the transactions and booking the GMV while its own systems leave buyers exposed, that's on eBay.
