Topic: Switch games not arriving sealed on Amazon (UK/Europe)

I bought two games within the last couple of days (Noob the factionless and Master Detective archives Raincode) and neither of them came new sealed in shrink wrap. Is this a normal thing to happen?
It's obviously good to cut down on plastic but I wondered if they had been tampered with or if it's just slowly becoming the norm now?

I bought them to play them obviously, but I have always thought that games lose a lot of their value once you remove the wrap.

I'm not a monster so I wouldn't dream of doing it, but what is to stop me playing them to completion and returning them after I've beat it? I have like a month to return it and get a refund.

That's odd for third-parties. Third-party games always come shrink-wrapped, at least in Australia (and when buying from a vendor that hasn't tampered with the packaging).

It's Nintendo's first-party releases that are usually not sealed in Australia, so I usually buy them at launch so that I can be confident that there has been minimal (if any) tampering/handling. The first time I ordered a first-party Nintendo game online from an official vendor was New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS, which was not sealed, and I was pretty peeved at the time not knowing of this practice.

I've heard that reprints are occasionally sealed, but this hasn't been the case when I bought two copies each of Pokémon Shining Pearl and WarioWare: Get It Together over the last few months.

Really? that's interesting that it varies by country. first parties are always sealed here in the UK as well, maybe it's something that's going to be phased in then, unless I just got super unlucky. But then I bought another third party this month (from Amazon) and that was sealed still.

@Nintendencies new games are sealed. Used games are not sealed

@1UP_MARIO Welp I bought them new :S

@Nintendencies Unsealed is a red flag, absolutely means used or someone has tampered with it. If you paid for new, it will be sealed. Every new switch game I've bought in the US, here, is sealed with a clear wrap, even from amazon.

I've noticed some amazon pages are VERY sneaky as to whether the product on the page is new or used. If you log into amazon and talk to amazon support via chat messenger or tell them to call you, you should be able to resolve this easy. If you thought you bought new, but got used, I think they'll allow you to return it. OR, if the seller was deceptive, they'll be especially motivated to resolve your situation with a return.

I always look to make sure the product page says sold & shipped by Amazon to avoid third party baloney, or at least has free returns. Disregard if anything I've said is a repeat of above, or things you already do.

I'd always expect it to be sealed. Not that I've bought a game from there for a while. But it's standard - if it was some plastic saving initiative then all games wouldn't have it. That or Amazon is personally peeling them off and recycling them (I doubt that).
The only weird experiences I've had was a couple were the Spanish or French versions, so the box was different. The game still PAL so I wasn't fussed.
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Definitely would check if it was a third party seller though, or from "Amazon Marketplace". Whatever it is. I wouldn't say it is normal.

Thankyou for everyone's kind and helpful words!

@WoomyNNYes
Yeah I thought so! Never had this happen before.
Yeah I thought I might have goofed and bought used, but nope new and sold by Amazon.

Thanks for the advice! All I was worried about is it would be my word against theirs since from their end I could have just opened it myself and played it.

No its very helpful, as I will be a lot more careful in future so I 100% know it wasn't me if this happens again.

@Wolfleaf Same here normally never had this problem before these two.

@Kimyonaakuma Yeah, I really thought that was a given when buying a new game. I seriously doubt it as well. Yeah double checked, was defo Amazon. It just seems to pointless and petty to return games I'm gonna open at some point anyway, it's just really miffed me.