Illegal to now sell second hand goods in Japan

[IDNCowboy]

http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11230-X.html

[rhys]

God this is just going to set Japan back. Although the Japanese auto inspection system wasn't only meant to prevent a used market, it was put in place in a time after the war when Japanese cars actually sucked and were dangerous. Now it remains a very convenient artifact for the auto industry.

I see this as a great opportunity for someone outside Japan to purchase all that second hand product and resell from outside Japan.

The Japanese game industry lobbied to keep rental and used games illegal but finally those were reversed a couple of years ago. But now the old time SNES and PS1 and N64 will be illegal I guess.

Oddly the Japanese allow rental music CD's. Isn't that about the stupidest thing ever?

[Drewbert]

Is this sort of thing the reason eBay isn't in Japan?

[blastfromthepast]

In Russia they crack down on these things too, for example with used mobile phone sales, ostensibly to prevent thieves from reselling goods, but actually to extract money from extra paperwork.

[Olney]

If you guys seriously think this will even put a dent on things selling on Yahoo auction Japan, I'll sell you the IDN for the Brooklyn Bridge....:)

This won't hold squat. You know how many things are supposed to be illegal in Japan but still happens openly. The law is stupid... I can buy plenty of stuff on Yahoo Japan that you're not supposed to sell.

[Drewbert]

Does Yahoo Auction Japan have an affiliate program?

[rhys]

Is this sort of thing the reason eBay isn't in Japan?

eBay had to pull out of Japan because Yahoo and Rakuten got the market. A great sense of self-importance and lack of urgency killed eBay's chances in the world's second largest economy. They regret it too - now.

Olney, I agree that the law won't stop a lot of things from getting sold. That is precisely why I said it is so unnecessary a hindrance to the larger scale used business.

[alex]

As I understand it, this will only apply to retail sales rather than private sales between individuals, so it shouldn't slow down the online auction market. Even on the retail side, sales aren't banned completely, but the retailer has to be certified to do an inspection of the used devices being sold. It remains to be seen whether those requirements will be cost-prohibitive enough to kill the retail used electronics market. Also, devices that use external AC power adapters may not neccessarily fall under the same requirements as eletronics with internal power supplies.

2nd hand electronics sales will NOT soon be illegal in Japan (http://www.mutantfrog.com/2006/02/22/2nd-hand-electronics-sales-will-not-soon-be-illegal-in-japan/)

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth: METI Explains Stance on Secondhand Game Consoles (http://www.mutantfrog.com/2006/02/22/straight-from-the-horses-mouth-meti-explains-stance-on-secondhand-game-consoles/)