Online marketplaces in Japan often ban items deemed inappropriate for resale. In some cases, it’s because sellers are attempting to profit from human misery. The most recent banned product, however, is one that some say has only one purpose: blackmailing men.
No actual cases of ultrasound blackmail
Japanese marketplace Mercari is one of the country’s go-to locations for people to get rid of old items. As we’ve covered before, you can sell just about anything—including old Nintendo employee manuals.
Starting September 1st, however, a new item will enter the list of banned products. Mercari announced on its Mercari Biyori news site that it will ban the sale of fetal ultrasound pictures. All such listings will be summarily deleted as the company discovers them or users report them.
Why the sudden action? The move comes after X user Natsuki Aoi posted a picture of fetal ultrasound auctions on their X account. “This oughtta be regulated,” they wrote. “What would you use this for, outside of a pregnancy scam?”
The post garnered 85,000 likes and 12,000 reposts. Natsuki followed up with a comment expressing the fear that unscrupulous women could use these pics to force someone into marriage or to get naturalized (not quite sure how that works, but okay).
The problem’s been raised before on social media, most notably in 2018. However, as far as I can tell, there aren’t any documented recent cases of these photos being used for fraud. This panic feels driven more by male rhetoric about “gold-digging women” than actual case law.
Mercari under fire
The photos join a long list of other merchandise that you can’t sell on the service. This includes digital items (online gaming accounts, QR codes, etc.), adult items, tobacco, fertilizer, illegal drugs, etc. However, it also includes items that could be used for fraudulent purposes, such as official business receipts, credentials, and in-contract SIM cards.
Mercari and similar sites like Rakuten have also forbidden the sale of other items that were deemed public interest goods. The most recent example was a ban on reselling rice released from Japan’s strategic reserves.
Mercari has taken a lot of heat for its inability to crack down on resellers, who buy up limited-edition collectibles en masse to sell at a markup. Resellers have reaped healthy profits on everything from Hello Kitty and My Melody goods to McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.
In comments on the latest news, some users take Mercari to task for failing to crack down on exorbitant resale prices for the Nintendo Switch 2. The new gaming console was in short supply upon initial release and drew a premium price on sites like Mercari.
“There should be legal regulations to rein in the behavior of Mercari, Yahoo! Auctions, Rakuten, and other marketplaces,” one user griped.
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Sources
メルカリ、「胎児のエコー写真」の出品を禁止 「不適切なものに該当すると判断」. ITMedia News
【再掲】胎児エコー写真の出品禁止について. Mercari Biyori
禁止されている出品物. Mercari
