If you came up with the idea of reselling either the Google Pixel or the Google Pixel XL for profit, think again because Google just started sanctioning unauthorized resellers of its Nexus successors. As it turns out, several members of a money-saving website Dan’s Deals revealed that Google indefinitely suspended their Google accounts earlier this week after they sold their new devices to a reseller located in New Hampshire. For the uninitiated, New Hampshire is one of the four US states which doesn’t have any sales tax on a state or municipal level. In other words, purchasing the Google Pixel from Google’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Project Fi and selling it through a reseller in New Hampshire could net you some money if the said phone dealer is willing to split the profits with you. That’s exactly what people have been doing and, as it turns out, that scheme violates Google’s terms of service.
More specifically, the company’s TOS state that both the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL cannot be purchased with the goal of being resold commercially. Commercially as in “for profit”. No one involved in this deal was aware of that fact, which consequently led to more than 200 people having their Google accounts banned. Interestingly enough, the said phone dealer from New Hampshire claims that they’ve been reselling Google devices in this manner ever since the original Nexus hit the market in early 2010 and never had any issues.
The reseller also stated that they would gladly return all of the devices to Google if that could resolve the situation. People affected by Google’s banhammer would certainly prefer some kind of resolution seeing how the Mountain View-based tech giant opted for a rather aggressive measure against resellers in this case. More specifically, the company banned not only all Google accounts used to pre-order the device from Project Fi, but also indefinitely suspended each account used as a backup address for profiles which violated Google’s terms of service. Having a Google account suspended means you lose access to your Gmail, Google Drive files, Photos, Calendar markings, and pretty much everything else connected to any Google service. In other words, this is a rather severe sanction.
In addition to banning these accounts, Google also canceled approximately 500 Google Pixel orders made outside of New Hampshire which requested shipping to the New England state. The Internet giant has yet to make any official comments on the matter.