Fujifilm is Cracking Down on Camera Reselling in Japan

Fujifilm has a problem, albeit a good one, in that it is struggling to make enough cameras to meet demand. The excess demand has resulted in a significant issue: scalpers, people who buy a popular product to resell it at a markup. Fujifilm is doing something about it, at least in Japan.

As spotted by Fuji Rumors, the Fujifilm Mall, the company’s official online store for photography products, has changed its terms of use to crack down on resellers.

“Currently, Fujifilm Mall, the official shopping site for photography-related products, is experiencing difficulties for customers who need products to obtain them due to large-scale purchases that appear to be for the purpose of resale,” Fujifilm says in a machine-translated press release. “In order to improve this situation, Fujifilm Imaging Systems Co., Ltd. has added Article 8, ‘Prohibition of purchases for the purpose of resale,’ to the terms of use for Fujifilm Mall today.”

In addition, Fujifilm has prohibited certain acts, including accessing and ordering products through software that automates purchasing. The company has also forbidden purchasers to use different names, telephone numbers, or email addresses at the same shipping address to order products in quantities beyond limits when there are limits.

Further, taking a page out of Ricoh’s book, the Fujifilm Mall will begin using a reservation and lottery system to sell its most popular products to prevent large-scale commercial resale and scalping. The company also says it is exploring avenues for getting products de-listed from some particularly egregious resale websites.

Those who violate the new article may be suspended or banned from the Fujifilm Mall altogether, a punishment that presumably would come with a shipping ban to related addresses.

“We will continue to make efforts to deliver our products to customers who need them,” Fujifilm concludes.

The Fujifilm X100VI released earlier this year is an excellent example of a product that would benefit significantly from a lottery system. Beyond the limited edition X100VI that was limited to just 300 units in the United States and 1,934 units worldwide, which unsurprisingly ran into issues with resellers, the standard X100VI remains extremely difficult to purchase at retail.

Sure, customers can pop onto eBay and pay a premium to a reseller, but those looking to pay the $1,599 MSRP for the X100VI are nearly always out of luck, even nine months after the camera’s release.

There are a few ways to ensure that photographers are able to purchase popular cameras at suggested retail prices. The most obvious solution is for Fujifilm to make more cameras, which is not fast or easy. Besides, Fujifilm has already expanded production by a massive amount for the X100VI. The next-best option is selling cameras directly to customers with specific restrictions to prevent reselling as much as possible. There’s no way to stamp it out entirely, but there are ways — as Fujifilm Mall is trying to do — of improving the situation.

It is worth noting that Fujifilm’s online store in the U.S. employed similar restrictions for its 300-camera allotment of the limited edition X100VI, although does not use such strict systems for regular cameras, including the still-sold-out X100VI.