Ledger Bars Resale of Returned Devices and Pulls Wallets From Displays

Ledger is tightening controls over how its hardware wallets reach customers, telling authorized dealers and distributors to stop reselling returned units and remove its products from retail shelves and display stands.

Returned devices must not be sold again, even if they appear unused and remain sealed. Dealers are to keep inventory in warehouses and hand a device to a customer when a purchase is made under the handling rules Ledger sent to its authorized sales network.

The policy changes how Ledger products are stored and handed over at outlets. Instead of sitting on shelves or display stands, inventory is to stay in warehouse storage until a customer buys a device. The no-resale rule applies even when a returned unit looks new and its package has not been opened.

Ledger described the measures as a response to attacks in the distribution channel after devices leave its control. The company said its chips, operating system and servers have no defects and that its systems were not breached.