Topic: Pls help with retrieving games on eshop

Last year I bought 3 games online, mario kart delux, super mario deluxe and 3d world w/ bowser fury under a child account using a parent account(mine). I have full access with the parent account . Earlier this year in January, I deleted the child account. Now when I want to redownload those 3 games, they are not on the list on eshop to redownload. I called nintendo and they said too bad it's lost. the child account is its own account, after 100 days when you delete the child account all games purchased from the child account cannot be redownloaded, even though I have online receipt email proof that I purchased it.

is there any way i can redownload those 3 games? I feel this is not far on nintendos part because the receipt did not say anything about that rule of child account deletion, you cannot redownload games back.

@kijijiguy82 This is the first time I've heard of someone deleting a nintendo account that owned games, but it sounds plausible. If you suspect the nintendo support employee didn't do everything possible to solve your situation, you could ask to speak to a manager of nintendo support. Sometimes, the manager is more motivated to fix things, or may have more power to help you, or they'll do a very good job to explain what's happened so you can avoid that mistake in the future.

All I can do is review the basics to make sure there hasn't been a fixable mistake:

When you make a purchase on eshop, the ownership of that game/DLC gets assigned & tied to the ninendo account on nintendo's website. If you deleted that nintendo account on nintendo's website, then yes, it sounds like you destroyed your proof of ownership.

In order to redownload a game, open eshop icon on switch home screen, then pick the Switch User to open eshop with; That switch user is linked to a nintendo account, which is where your proof of ownership is.

@WoomyNNYes hi Woom, the eshop purchased was made with a child acct that was created using the parent acct and email address, this is where the eshop receipt was sent. the child acct profile was the only one deleted over 100 days ago, the parent acct is still active, the only proof i have is the email receipt showing the purchased by the child acct (now deleted) to my nintendo email acct (parent). for nintendo they said that is not enough proof of purchase which is unfair. once a child acct has been deleted over 100 days, games purchased under that child acct cannot be redownloaded .. i guess i will keep retrying to get a better rep for help. I've already called them twice with no luck.

@kijijiguy82 While it was a child account set up by you, as far as financial security goes and anti-hacking, I could see how security walls may still keep all accounts(including an added child account) isolated for financial security reasons. I'm just speculating & guessing based on what I've seen since the switch launched. And, as far as I know, there is no way to transfer digital ownership from one account to another.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

@kijijiguy82 can't you just log back into the account the games are tied to and redownload that way?

@Chaotic_Neutral If you re-read the first three sentences. They purchased the games with the child account. Later they deleted that child account. So, there's no account to log into.

If you're logged into a nintendo account, open the Privacy & Settings menu, there is a button at the bottom of that settings page for "Delete Account"

@WoomyNNYes can't you just sign in again though or is it different on Switch to other consoles?
Normally you just sign back in and you can access your games library, that's what I did when I swapped to the Oled - although I lost all of my Animal Crossing and Splatoon saves as they don't upload to the cloud for some reason.

I guess would be worth double checking if the account was indeed deleted for good, or if it was just removed from the switch

@Chaotic_Neutral You're talking about deleting a Switch User. That's not what the OP did.

A "switch user" is the user profile you create on your switch, and it's circle icon/mii is added to the upper left of your switch homescreen. Your switch user has to be linked to a nintendo account to access eshop & make purchases. Your official digital ownership data is stored on your nintendo account on nintendo's website.

If you delete your nintendo account, you destroy your proof of ownership & eshop purchase history from Nintendo's database.

edit: @Eel makes a good point. It's a common mistake to confuse terms, Switch User vs Nintendo Account. Those terms are not interchangeable. But I think we've already made the clear distinction between those terms in comment #2.

@WoomyNNYes that's pretty grim, I thought the OP had just deleted the account from the console, not deleted the Nintendo account as well.

@Chaotic_Neutral hi, the child account/user profile is deleted, this child acct is tied to the parent profile which is the nintendo account that's not deleted, this parent account is where the eshop email receipt went thru. nintendo rep on the phone said, if a child acct/profile is deleted for more than 100 days, you will not be able to redownload games even if the parent acct/profile is still active. i feel this is very unfair, the 3 games that i bought on eshop should all be tied to the parent acct and not the child profile. im very disappointed at nintendo, they're not very helpful on the phone, they basically said too bad can't do anything about it. not even getting credit to use to buy back those 3 games.
just wondering if anyone went thru a similar scenario

It seems like a very specific set of circumstances. I don’t think there’ll be a lot people with a similar situation.

Unfortunately, what they mention about the 100 days is true: after that grace period ends, the data is wiped out for good, there’s nothing they can really do about it.

I would simply recommend you to avoid deleting accounts that have made purchases, unless you’re ok with losing that content.

@Eel ya, but i wish there was a disclaimer on the email receipt advising, if you delete the child acct, after 100 days you cannot retrieve games back, all i know from the beginning is.. as long as your nintendo account is not deleted, you can redownload your games back anytime

@kijijiguy82 I think it would help to look a it from a different angle: the account is not a “child account” in the sense that it is an extension of yours, it’s simply an account set up for a child.

That’s how these services tend to work, the account might have restrictions based on age and settings, but the account itself is no different any other account. Any purchases made by it, are “owned” by it.

Apple and Android work the same; my Apple account is part of a family group, where my brother is listed as the leader of the group. We do this to share purchases. However, any purchase I make, even if I were to use his payment information, is mine. If I decided to delete my Apple account, my brother would lose access to all my games, music, and movies.

@Eel i get what you mean. it's just that i wasn't aware and not informed about account policy. I thought it was very simple. A nintendo account, like a parent acct or profile should have digital ownership regardless which account is made to purchase or deleted/removed under that nintendo account. ownership should be made by nintendo acct and not by user profile acct