I have a question about selling imports...

[Magmavision2000]

Let's say i bought a video game lot from Japan and it contains Japanese games, would I be able to sell this lot in america?  or would I need some sort of import license to sell them? 

[HoshiChiri]

I have zero legal expertise on the matter, so if someone knows otherwise they'll correct me... but I would assume you're in the clear.

 

You aren't doing any importing. The company that actually brought the game from Japan would be the ones who had to deal with the tariffs/liscenses/customs. You're selling a secondhand good that simply happens to be Japanese. Only secondhand doctrines apply to you- which in the case of software, I believe just means it's illegal to keep any backup copies once you no longer own the item.

 

I so guess, don't rip the games before you sell & you're good.

[Tanooki]

I've bought and sold imports from Japan, UK/Europe, and Australia before, you're fine.  You're not an importer by the legal definition, it's more of you buying an item and just second hand selling it so it really doesn't matter where the source is.

[fiddlepaddle]

I know of several retro game stores (in the US) that will not buy any game that looks like a bootleg, import or otherwise. Besides that, they all seem to have no compunctions. I'm not a lawyer, but I wouldn't worry about it.

[mr_me]

Other than owing some taxes on import, and any eula limitations, I think you're free to do whatever you want with them.

[Flojomojo]

@Magmavision2000

I’ve found that selling Japan-only items from an American eBay account get a lot of attention. It’s just easier for US buyers because there’s no language barrier and shipping is way cheaper and faster. 

You won’t be able to sell them back to GameStop but Amazon Marketplace and EBay should be totally fine. 

I used to buy and sell Japanese SEGA Saturn stuff all the time on eBay. If anything, it’s gotten easier than when I was doing that. 

[jhd]

On 6/27/2019 at 6:12 AM, Flojomojo said:

You won’t be able to sell them back to GameStop

 

Is this a new policy? Some years ago, back when original PlayStation games were still available, I found a PAL-format sports game at my local EB Games. The case was very obviously different from the NTSC releases, so it's not like they made a mistake.

 

I remember being surprised that they would be selling something that was not playable by the vast majority of their customers.

 

Slightly O/T, but I have twice found imported games at a thrift shop -- a bootleg(?) Famicom game and some Japanese PS 2 games. Bizarrely, the PS 2 games were in a shop in a small, mostly Francophone community in New Brunswick. The shop clerk had no idea where they had come from. 

 

[Flojomojo]

That's cool. I was just assuming that they wouldn't take anything that wasn't in their computer with a pre-assigned value -- or would create support or return hassles for them. I think I've tried selling imports to them, but not anything recent. PS2 era or earlier would have been the time I would be doing that. 

 

Not that selling stuff to Gamestop is a good deal for anyone other than Gamestop, of course. 

[DragonGrafx-16]

I've imported many games from Japan. Mostly Famicom, Super Famicom, and PC Engine. I've also bought imports from my local game store (more PC Engine games and one PAL NES game). PC Engine is my only imported system. My NES has the lock out chip disabled so I can play PAL games and I busted the tabs out of my SNES for SFC games. It's worth it importing certain games that are way cheaper than the US versions. Heck some of them have the exact same rom!