Japanese Resellers Are Turning Old Nintendo Employee Manuals Into Yen

You can make a profit selling anything on the Internet, it seems.

Japanese reseller apps (“flea market” apps; フリマアプリ, furima apuri) prove that anyone can make money off of anything. It seems people are making some nice pocket change off of something most people wouldn’t think of even trying to resell: corporate onboarding materials. Of course, Nintendo is not just any corporation — which may explain why its employee materials are fetching good cocktail money on sites like Mercari.

A report from weekly magazine Friday notes that searches for 会社案内 (kaisha annai) on resale site Mercari shows a few sellers have made money off of selling old Nintendo company guides handed out to new company employees from previous years. For example, a few sellers have made between $1,980 yen (USD $13) and 7,200 yen ($47) selling copies of the 2014 Nintendo Company Introductory Guide. Another made 9,500 yen (USD $62) off the 2011 guide.

Copies of the company’s 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2020 guides are currently available for purchase. One ambitious seller is currently trying to hawk the pretty 2014 guide for 20,000 yen ($131).