Switch’s Japan eShop will no longer accept foreign cards or PayPal to ‘prevent fraudulent use’

Nintendo has announced that it will soon stop accepting payments on its Japanese eShop from credit cards or PayPal accounts issued overseas.

In a statement on the company’s support page, Nintendo said the new policy will start on March 25 and is designed to fight “fraudulent use”.

“In order to prevent fraudulent use, the Nintendo eShop and My Nintendo Store for Japan will stop accepting credit cards issued overseas and PayPal accounts opened overseas from Tuesday, March 25, 2025,” the statement reads.

“For customers who have previously used overseas-issued credit cards or PayPal accounts opened overseas, we ask that you please use other payment methods, such as credit cards issued in Japan, from now on.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.”

「日本国内向け『ニンテンドーeショップ』『My Nintendo Store』における海外発行クレジットカードおよび海外で開設されたPayPalアカウントの取り扱い終了について」を掲載しました。 pic.twitter.com/aY17lMTOfj

— 任天堂サポート (@nintendo_cs) January 30, 2025

While Nintendo doesn’t specify what it means by “fraudulent use”, the multi-region nature of the Switch means players can easily create extra accounts on their console, assign them to different countries then view that country’s eShop.

Some players based outside of Japan prefer to buy their games from the Japanese eShop, either because they aren’t yet available in their own country, or because the exchange rate sometimes makes it cheaper to buy from there.

Nintendo’s new policy means players who have been paying for these eShop purchases with a credit card or PayPal account set up in their own country will soon no longer be able to.

As such, they’ll need to look for alternative payment methods, such as buying prepaid Japanese Nintendo eShop cards online, which let them redeem a code to top up their eShop funds without having to disclose their location.