Coupons issued by local governments to help spark the tourism industry in areas hit hard by the pandemic have been popping up on online auctions, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
This has created a headache for local governments, which are dealing with the situation after basically banning the resale of such products.
The City of Hiroshima on June 25 began selling the coupons, which can be redeemed at hotels and inns within city limits.
The coupons were sold at places such as convenience stores in Hiroshima and in nearby prefectures, but a number of them went under the hammer on the Yahoo Japan auction site Yafuoku! and on the flea market app operator Mercari Inc. just a few days later.
The coupons come in two denominations, 5,000 yen and 10,000 yen notes, and can be purchased at half the face value. All 60,000 printed coupons sold out in mid-July, and as of early August, more than 50 of them had been listed on the two auction sites.
Egregious cases commonly saw the coupons with a total value of 100,000 yen sold for 70,000 yen -- the actual price was 50,000 yen.
Coupons valued at 3,000 yen and distributed for guests as a gift at hotels and inns in Sapporo have also been posted on the sites. The coupons can be used at restaurants and souvenir shops around hotels as well as for taxi fares.
By early August, the Mercari app had seen more than 100 coupons auctioned.
Staff members of the Tourism and MICE (Meeting, Incentive Travel, Convention, and Exhibition/Event) Promotion Section of Sapporo municipal government asked operators of the auction sites to delete the listings each time they verify items on the site.
"Taxes from taxpayers should be used to promote tourism. It is undesirable for individuals to profit from resale," a staff member from the government section stressed.
Meanwhile in Yamaguchi Prefecture, it was confirmed that accommodation coupons issued by the prefectural government were also auctioned online.
The prefectural government began selling them on July 17 and all 350,000 were sold.
"Ultimately, we have no choice but to rely on the honor of the buyers," a Yamaguchi Prefecture tourism policy division official said. The prefecture has also asked the operators to delete the listings.
In principle, the Mercari guidelines prohibit the listing of gift certificates or vouchers.
"There are many different types of coupons or cash vouchers, and they can't be completely deleted. We will handle malicious cases while balancing free individual transactions and regulations," a Mercari worker said.
"There is no specific rule prohibiting the listing of coupons on our site, but we will consider taking action if we find them," a Yahoo auction site worker said.
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