When looking for older systems, games, or accessories, online auction sites can be a great resource to use. While Nintendo does not endorse any specific auction sites, you can use the following guidelines to search for a reputable auction site:
- We recommend shopping only within your country. It's harder to investigate and/or settle a claim if the product was purchased abroad. To help determine this, you can do a whois search on markmonitor.com to verify the administrative/billing address.
- You should check the auction site's reputation at consumer.gov, bbb.org, or naag.org to see what complaints have been registered.
- As a general rule of thumb, online stores - those that sell new products - are often more trustworthy than pure auction sites. In other words, if the retailer operates both a standard retail and an auction site, they are often more accountable for their transactions.
- Retailers who operate auction sites also often have links back to their main site. This can also be used as an indicator of reliability. If there is no connection, it is a good idea to question the integrity of the site.
- Always ensure you are buying legal, licensed products. Some sellers offer older game pak titles on disc, products for copying game software, or multiple titles on one disc or game pak. All of these products are counterfeit, illegal, and may damage your system.
