Kerry Wan/ZDNET It's been about a month since the Nintendo Switch 2 debuted, breaking records by selling over 3.5 million units around the world in the first four days of availability. Even weeks after launch, restocks are hard to come by, as consoles sell out within minutes of the announcement. And with physical stock being so scarce, it's tempting to jump at the chance to get your hands on one when you see a listing on Amazon. But with such a high-demand item combined with a high-traffic opportunity like Prime Day, it's a recipe for scalpers and scammers. Also: The best Amazon Prime Day Nintendo Switch deals live now "How can you tell?" I can already hear you asking. After all, it seems like a legitimate enough listing: an invite-only deal, a link to the Nintendo brand page on Amazon, official media, and documentation. But there's a glaringly obvious mistake: Amazon is not an approved retailer for the Nintendo Switch 2. At the time of this writing, the official Nintendo Switch 2 website has a page that lists every Switch 2 console and bundle available to buy and which retailers are approved to sell them. The approved retailers are: While Nintendo hasn't given any clear-cut reason as to why Amazon doesn't appear as an official retailer for the Switch 2 console, it's likely because it's the only major retailer to not have physical store locations. The official sellers listed are also often only allowing in-store purchases of consoles to help control stock. This helps safeguard Nintendo Switch 2 consoles from being snapped up by scalpers looking to completely buy out stock and resell them online at a ridiculous markup. And as anyone who has tried to shop on Amazon during the holidays for anything video game-related, especially Nintendo, there are scalpers galore. Read the review: I managed to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 - and it's easy to see why it's flying off the shelves The thing about Amazon is that anyone can set up a seller page and create an invite-only deal; and there are plenty of sources online to get your hands on official Nintendo press kits, logos, photos, and ad copy. It's likely that an intrepid scammer realized there was potential for a huge profit. And by making it an invite-only transaction, it gives the listing an air of authenticity that's harder to debunk. Especially as it wouldn't be far-fetched for an official Amazon listing to have similar restrictions in order to protect stock from being bought out by resellers. The reviews on the product page show that people have already started to catch on that this is a fake listing set up by a scammer hoping to cash in on being the only available listing for the Switch 2. The negative reviews all make similar comments about Nintendo's official seller page on its website, encouraging potential scam victims to wait for restocks at approved retailers instead of taking a chance on this listing. Also: Best Prime Day deals 2025: Live updates on 140+ sales on MacBooks, Kindles, AirPods, and more The single positive review seems to be planted by the seller with photos of a unit that was probably bought legitimately or borrowed for the purpose of taking pictures to add even more confusion for potential scam victims. I did a reverse image search on Google in case the photos had been ripped from a legitimate review elsewhere online, but couldn't find any exact matches. With all this evidence, it's highly likely that this listing is a fake product page set up by either a reseller hoping to offload scalped units at outrageous markups, or it's a completely fake listing with the sole intent of taking your money. You can help remove this listing from Amazon by clicking the link on the product page that allows you to report both the seller and listing as fraudulent.