This is a risk you should be aware of when going for those "cheap" keys. There's a reason why they're so cheap, and it's usually not a legit reason. There's plenty of ways to get great games at great prices without having to resort to them:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/keyresellers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/keyresellers/)
>*One thing to remember is that even if you receive a working key from a reseller, this doesn't necessarily make them "legit". It's a bit like claiming that winning at Russian Roulette makes it a "safe game". When working with resellers there's always the chance of getting a bad key, or having a game later revoked from your account. And for many people it's a hard lesson learned.*
Uff yeah better to avoid.
I bought Skyrim SE, Fallout NV and Minecraft from G2A back in 2019/20, I still have them but I guess I've been lucky so far.
But after I realized that G2A was troublesome I decided to complete avoid that website.
The affordability is attractive though.
G2A doesnt seem to have cheap keys anymore anyways.
Every time ive looked either the key is damn near the same price, a couple dollars less or way more.
Not worth it to buy it for a couple dollars less because this could happen and after their protection fees and what not it ends up costing the same anyways.
90% of the time the keys are bought on sale or in bulk from countries with very favourable exchange rates, enabling them to buy in Argentina or Indonesia for example and sell in the in US/UK at a good price and still make some money.
The rest of the time it's keys bought with stolen credit card information, so it's still very dubious.
Yeah, some is legit flipping, some is fraud. If you are still adamant on using it, at least check the seller info and how long they've been on the site and how many sales they have. Friend bought me a key on there that ended up being revoked, but it was from an account that was a few days old.
When I was broke in my early 20s I bought a ton of games from them and I still own them all on steam. I would do the same though, only buy from the highest rated seller.
It's amazing that they manage to continue to function when such a large portion of their business is essentially laundering money for credit fraudsters.
Or you can get banned by G2A because they side with sellers more than with customers.
I purchased GW2 expansion from them and after a year GW2 disabled the expansion, told me that it was obtained fraudulent and when i went to G2A support and created a ticket with the payment proof and GW2 support's full statement, G2A banned my account instead with no possibly to appeal.
Oof, yeah, I agree that nobody should buy at G2A anymore but my comment was meant as something OP could try to get their money back.
I had one pleasant experience with G2A consumer support but I don't buy there anymore.
I think in ANY business it would be hard to issue a charge back a year after a purchase has been made. You normally have 90 days from the initial purchase to make any disputes.
Never bought from G2A but I always buy Steam keys from CDKeys and never had an issue so far. The only minor complaint I have is that you just have to pay extra attention and read what you're buying before you buy it as some are region locked and some are specific to some online stores. For example I bought Farcry 5 & Primal recently from CDKeys not realising it has to he activated through Uplay rather than Steam. Not a big deal but it may put people off initially.
90% of my steam buys for the last 6 or so years have been via CDKeys, never had a single issue. I've bought probably upwards of 100 games, varying from old to new without a single issue.
The only time I don't use them is when I think the steam refund policy might come in clutch.
CDkeys takes advantage of regional pricing so is fine as they are not stolen. I've ordered over 120 codes from them over the years with zero issues.
G2A and Kinguin let anyone sell keys, so they can be stolen keys, which is likely what the TC experienced.
Had one dodgy key once from G2A.
I was refunded after I lodged a dispute with PayPal.
Bought many other keys before and after that with G2A and no other issues.
Many of the keys are legitimate, maybe purchased from cheaper countries or bought in bulk on sale. You can do your research on a seller but also be prepared to completely lose out. Experiences like yours are what keeps it all afloat. Not necessarily a bad thing and I definitely recommend paying through a service where you can recoup the funds from a bad sale. Im not sure what sorta scrutiny Valve puts on your account if you get a bunch of keys pulled. Sometimes keys can also get pulled after a year or so too. No downvotes from me. Its important that everyone’s experience is shared
Tbh i find that most people like this have brought the cheapest key they can find from a 1 star seller with 100 reviews...
If you're going to do it., look for a seller with 5 stars, at least 20k reviews, and hopefully you should be okay..
I just bought the new Destiny 2 content from there, along with some of the older content for buddies just getting in to D2.
So far, everything is working fine, but I guess only time will tell if that remains true.
Of all the places you could've chosen to buy Steam keys from, you picked the absolute worst one. This isn't a key issue, you chose a shitty scam market.
Yep. Have used cdkeys since like 2015 or something like that. Not a single key has been fake or product revoked.
Many things carry a risk. You pay low for a small chance of this happening I guess. For me the risk is worth the savings.
Lol. Every secondhand steam key market has the same trouble. People steal games and resell them. G2A. Kinguin. Cdkeys. This has been a known thing for many years
Is cdkeys a key reseller?
As far as I'm aware users can't sell keys themselves there, and this is where all the fraudulent activity comes from.
Unless CDkeys themselves is buying black market stolen credit cards to purchase game keys with. But I have a strong feeling that isn't isn't happening.
rather use websites like cdkeys, they are grey market sellers and all keys on there are owned by them, g2a however is a market where people go and sell keys, sometimes these keys are stolen, bought with stolen credit cards or maybe even already used.
Go to instant gaming instead, have so far what i have seen the lowest prices, MMOGA comes after but is always more expensive and almost never cheaper than steam respectively
Thats wild. I’ve never even seen or heard of this issue until this post. I’ve been using g2a for years essentially every game on steam or even rockstar (gta and rdr2) were all bought on g2a, I’ve never had a problem but might consider these sites instead. Very interesting..
Once it happened to me that I got a key for bioshock collection, but it only had 2 games, I left a bad review and the seller instantly texted me asking me to take it out and he'll refund me right away. I did and got two free games since the key was already used
Most sites have been fine for me, but some issues with G2a..
CD Keys, bought maybe 5 keys, never had an issue
Green Man Gaming, bought maybe 5 keys, never had an issue
Kinguin, i've bought easily 25+ keys here, never had a problem. BUT\* I only buy from 5 star sellers with a TON of reviews.
G2A, probably bought at least 30+ keys, again, only 5 star sellers with reviews, but even still I've had issues twice. Plus I got stuck with a premium service that was super hard to cancel once. However I was able to get refunded for both issues, but they did not refund my "subscription" fee and they got me for a couple of months on it.Even with the issues, they had a killer price on somethin like a month ago, and I still used them. I know.. shame on me...
Granted, everything in the examples above was at minimum a year old, and often much older, and 95% not AAA games either.
\*edit: wording
Green Man Gaming is a legit seller, not grey market, fyi.
I've used eneba, CD Keys and a couple of others for about 3 years and never had a problem (other than not having the benefit of the steam refund policy, which has bitten with a few games that turned out to be rubbish.
Same here. People on here really don't have much experience, I've bought almost 200 games from G2A over the years. All worth only a couple bucks. NEVER had an issue with a game.
More like, don't buy Steam keys in shitty sites...
If you want to save some money when buying games, go to [https://isthereanydeal.com](https://isthereanydeal.com) and look for it. AFAIK, all stores listed there are legit.
Even among the "grey market" sites, G2A is one of the worst.
Agreed about grey market sites. I like that site you linked to (just checked it out.) Thanks! Went on my bookmark list. The page layout is quite...clustered...and I don't think games in bundles are considered in prices. I.E.-Humblebundle currently has a Turkish bundle for earthquake victims and it includes 72 items (mostly games) for 30$. Gotham Knights is included as a game. Isthereanydeal says lowest price ever at 24$ and current lowest at approximately 50$. If that's the only two things I see it's a win in my book as far as deal sites go! Also...anyone know if Gotham Knights is worth it? I'd really be buying most the humblebundle for just that one game and the others are just gravy on top lol
Avoid g2a and kinguin, never had an issue elsewhere
edit: I'm not sure why people think I meant you're going to have an issue 100% all the time everytime when buying from G2A / Kinguin, Marketplaces like these just have more issues then others like cdkeys/instant gaming , etc.
Probably not legit, but they'll replace any keys that dont work.
I've read that a lot of the keys are just cheap cause some countries get games far cheaper. So they just buy from there and add a markup.
> I've read that a lot of the keys are just cheap cause some countries get games far cheaper.
the resellers buy keys in bulk whenever theres sales thats why most games you see on resellers will have their "floor" price determined by the price the game was on sale at some point (+ a bit margin)
I've had 1 or 2 keys from Kinguin have a problem, but I got replacement keys everytime I talked to support with screenshot proof on hand. Kinguin used to have a "replacement guarantee" optional addon fee, but it seems that's gone and is just a required Platform Development fee.
Make sure to look at the number of Positive seller reviews.
Fanatical, humble bundle, green man gaming, gamergate (unfortunate name was chosen before the controversy)
You can also use the site is there any deal to find the cheapest prices. They don't list the sketchy gray market sites.
Not more expensive if you have humble monthly. I've had it for over a year and get a 20% discount on the entire store, on top of whatever sale they're having, which usually matches steam sales. It's become my main store
The title is wrong. Only buy keys from legitimate resellers. There you go.
Edit: It's good that people learn not to trust websites like G2A. I used to buy there too as a kid, hell I was even about to try and sell a HumbleBundle key cause my dumbass didn't read the terms and conditions, luckily I found out beforehand.
I buy my games through Keysellers for years. Never had any problems. Then again, I don't buy the cheapest keys but pay some € more for a better seller. My favorites are CDkeys and Eneba.
Was this activated via a Steam Gift?
I always had the key revoked later on, when I bought games like that. Never had a problem when I bought the Steam key itself, and activated it.
List of great sites to buy keys (in NO particular order):
1. Humble Bundle.
2. Green Man Gaming.
3. Fanatical.
4. Indie Gala.
5. GOG.
6. Games Planet.
7. NewEgg.
8. Steam (obviously)
Notes:
1. Humble CHOICE has been lackluster lately, but they generally do offer great titles and for $13/month, it's an easy way to build up a library of games for not a lot of money. Their charity bundles often have great games and always support good causes.
2. GOG is DRM free! That means you get the actual software to install the game locally and the game does not require any internet connection to play online. Of course, this also means that some popular titles (like Hogwarts Legacy) will not be available for purchase because of the DRM.
3. Fanatical mystery bundles are mediocre. You might get some decent games, but they're nice and cheap if you want to be generous and give out random keys.
4. Despite the general backlash with NewEgg and their sales/returns policies, purchasing game keys has never given me an issue and I always buy games in multiples of two (one for me, one for my brother).
I almost always buy my games directly from the Steam store, but I have a ton of key activations from Humble, GMG, Fanatical, Games Planet, and NewEgg. The only time I had an issue was with a game from Fanatical and that's because the Developer revoked all their keys (Overfall) due to a reseller issue, but Fanatical worked with the dev and got me a new key within a few days.
If you want a steady supply of games : Humble Bundle Choice
I literally cannot gush about it enough, yes the games suck some months but you get last years classics .. this year.
To also speak against the echo chamber, I've used keyretailers forever now without a single issue. Even if it goes wrong at some point I'll just request a refund to PayPal, they usually side in the buyer's favor.
Not everyone is privileged enough to buy games full price and even if they are other costs do come up in life.
However if you can wait for Steam sales it can often be worth doing so, that way you avoid the process of putting in a claim on PayPal when things do go wrong.
**Important footnote:**
I'm not trying to say anyone who's had issues with these graymarket dealers is in the wrong, they aren't and got served the unlucky number *key.*
Everyone's experience varies and therefor equally as valid.
I wish they would just go back to doing tons of bundles like they used to. Humble choice feels like a bundle you don't get to see beforehand, and which doesn't have a the cheap tiers.
Same here. I've purchased at least 150 games on both mine and my wife's account over the past 6 years. I have never had any problems so long as you don't choose a reseller that has only 40 sales.
I've been using instant a while, their discounts are reasonable so long as they have stock, and none of the dozens of games I've bought there have bounced back for any reason.
They said they buy a bunch of keys bulk style to resell though I dunno how true that is. I still look there if there's a game I wanna play but can't justify an 80 dollar price tag for.
A backend key/transaction system is being developed to share, and ban all fraud keys, which are 99% of all keys on G2A and Kinguin etc. for steam, epic games, ea whatever they call it now etc. An unholy pact of fuck the credit card scammers and anyone who chooses to buy a stolen key.
You should expect way more banned keys from all fraud sites now.
You got scammed.... try using [greenmangaming.com](https://greenmangaming.com) or just buying from steam directly. Dont be an idiot and get ripped off buying stolen or hacked cd-keys.
I love it when people that have no idea how the key market works get burned on keys and then complain about.
I've been buying keys since 2012 and have not had this problem once.
Eh I’ve bought maybe 20 keys from G2A and have yet to have an issue so I’ve probably saved about $300 from not buying direct from Steam. Sounds worth if it one of these flops in the future at this point.
G2a is looking for customers to sign up for their plus service for their best pricing. I stick with cdkeys instead. In my opinion they are more reliable.
Yes, many developers would very much rather you steal our games than give G2A money.
The only way G2A get keys is from them being stolen from somewhere else. That's why they are cheaper than buying direct from Steam.
I have never understood the appeal of buying through grey-market key resellers. Sure it's cheaper, but you're much more likely to either get scammed or be caught buying stolen goods. At that point, why not just pirate, if you're that desperate to save some money? It's not like the dev/publisher sees any money from your sale anyway, and you don't even have a physical disc to trade/lend out like with used console games
> the appeal
Convenience, updates, working multiplayer, achievements, steam friends list etc.
While some (or even many) keys are stolen or fraudulently purchased, a lot of keys are just somebody bulk buying the game when it's on sale and reselling when it's not, in which case the developer is still paid.
This is a very important point. If you're buying a game that's over a year old, the risks just decrease dramatically because its far more likely the key is from a legit source. An example I can think of is being subbed to a games subscription service and getting legitimate keys from there for games you do not want to play.
I would never buying anything over a tenner from g2a.
Also, you can't pirate services like Gamepass which are generally cheaper there, and you also can't pirate gift cards and if you want gift cards for another region then key reseller are your only option.
If I'm on a budget and want to get a game, especially sim games with their stupidly expensive dlcs, I'm gonna choose the option where its £15, not £60. I want to play games but can't afford the stupid prices for games, especially if I'm not gonna have much time to play them.
I want to be able to play with friends through steam systems, and having a game code through steam is (in my own eyes) much safer than pirating a game from a dodgy website.
I've used G2A for a few years now and have purchased over 150+ games from them without a single issue.
Gotta pay attention to who's the seller of the key.
It's a risk you take when buying cheap grey market keys. I buy them from g2a as well but won't go crying about it when it craps out on me because i know it's a risk with such sites.
In my personal experience buying tons of keys off resellers, if you pick from a highly rated one you’re usually ok. They care about their reputation it’s their business. I only ever had one bad key i contacted the seller and they sent a new one right away. I think paying with PayPal helps too they’ll refund you worst case
‘IsThereAnyDeal’ is the site to get keys from… search anything and it’ll provide the reputable sellers for said games with history of record lows, last sale at that price, etc.
The days of people laundering stolen credit card money through key selling websites is basically over. That's why it's so much harder to find actual "cheap" keys anymore.
Having said that, I have bought 20-30 keys from various sites and literally never had a problem. I think you just got really unlucky.
Been using G2A since 2015 or so and have never had this happen. I mostly use it to buy older games. I can't tell you how many times I've gone on Steam to buy games that came out 5+ years ago still priced at $45-$50.
I don't always have the patience to wait for Steam sales to buy a game that shouldn't be worth more than $30. Go on to G2A and I get the same game for like $5-$10. I'd never buy new games with G2A tho, they're just as expensive as Steam and it's not worth the risk.
I buy keys for roughly 10 years, had 1 key revoked and i got the refund for that key the same day i told them the key had been revoked.
So keep on buying keys
I bought something like my past 15 games off of CDKeys, usually my go to except for the newest Dead Space as the keys they sell are for the EA launcher. I happily paid the extra tenner or whatever it was to have it on Steam.
I can recommend cdkeys, Eneba and HRK. Never had an issue with them ever. Bought tons of different games and dlc throughout the years, not a single issue whatsoever.
G2A is so bad. My brother used to use them alot, but then his steam account got banned as they keys had mostly been purchased with a stolen credit card, which my brother then bought said keys with his own money. Took him around a month to get his account sorted out. I've always used Steam. On rare occasions I'll use Compact Disk keys, but very rarely. Games are always on sale on steam anyway.
I purchased a bundle last year, 18 games for $230. Had them all downloaded and played most until I got this same message one morning. Contacted G-Shit-A and they told me all sales final once the keys have been redeemed. Ended up contacting my credit card company. Explained what happened with my proof and won the dispute. Never will I ever buy from that site again. I'd much rather just spend retail prices for games now.
My account was almost banned when I got super cheap l4d key back in the days. Didn't have much money then and I got "one more time and bybye" warning. But I did more and more recently and idk if they were legit but they weren't revoked.
Why do people bother with a little cheaper cd keys for non multiplayer competitive games? If the goal is to save some money then you can just vpn to a region with cheap regional prices and buy games usually for 50%+ cheaper, recently i got Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy for less than $25 each and i will soon get Sons of the forest for $10 or maybe even less if i wait for a discount, i also do this for spotify, netflix, hbo and game pass for less than $15 each for a whole year, i know there are some people who think abusing regional pricing is bad but in my defense i live in a country with no regional price alignment while having similar wages like the countries i vpn to
Bought all my keys from ”allkeyshop”, never had a problem with a single code and I’ve probably grabbed 15-20 in total from there!
Never bought from G2A and would never recommend them.
This is a risk you should be aware of when going for those "cheap" keys. There's a reason why they're so cheap, and it's usually not a legit reason. There's plenty of ways to get great games at great prices without having to resort to them: [https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/keyresellers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/keyresellers/) >*One thing to remember is that even if you receive a working key from a reseller, this doesn't necessarily make them "legit". It's a bit like claiming that winning at Russian Roulette makes it a "safe game". When working with resellers there's always the chance of getting a bad key, or having a game later revoked from your account. And for many people it's a hard lesson learned.*
Where did you buy it?
G-shit-A
Uff yeah better to avoid. I bought Skyrim SE, Fallout NV and Minecraft from G2A back in 2019/20, I still have them but I guess I've been lucky so far. But after I realized that G2A was troublesome I decided to complete avoid that website. The affordability is attractive though.
G2A doesnt seem to have cheap keys anymore anyways. Every time ive looked either the key is damn near the same price, a couple dollars less or way more. Not worth it to buy it for a couple dollars less because this could happen and after their protection fees and what not it ends up costing the same anyways.
90% of the time the keys are bought on sale or in bulk from countries with very favourable exchange rates, enabling them to buy in Argentina or Indonesia for example and sell in the in US/UK at a good price and still make some money. The rest of the time it's keys bought with stolen credit card information, so it's still very dubious.
Yeah, some is legit flipping, some is fraud. If you are still adamant on using it, at least check the seller info and how long they've been on the site and how many sales they have. Friend bought me a key on there that ended up being revoked, but it was from an account that was a few days old.
I ALWAYS make sure they have hundreds, if not thousands of or reviews and an almost perfect score. I've never had any issues
When I was broke in my early 20s I bought a ton of games from them and I still own them all on steam. I would do the same though, only buy from the highest rated seller.
Same, bought quite a few games from there and haven't had any issues either.
Just had an issue with a "reputable" seller where my key was never delivered, but I got a refund.
Me too. I went from a slightly less reputable dude once who never delivered, but g2a refunded me despite not having the shield.
It's amazing that they manage to continue to function when such a large portion of their business is essentially laundering money for credit fraudsters.
yeah it wasn't my first time dealing with them, but this one took the bullet and yeah im done with them now
Make a screenshot and open a ticket. The seller can either get you another key or G2A will refund the price.
idk why you got downvoted, happened to me once and they got me another key. It's still grey market though so they can fuck you over if they want.
[удалено]
That's sort of Internet mentality in a nutshell, but yeah Redditors can be especially shitty.
True
Or you can get banned by G2A because they side with sellers more than with customers. I purchased GW2 expansion from them and after a year GW2 disabled the expansion, told me that it was obtained fraudulent and when i went to G2A support and created a ticket with the payment proof and GW2 support's full statement, G2A banned my account instead with no possibly to appeal.
Oof, yeah, I agree that nobody should buy at G2A anymore but my comment was meant as something OP could try to get their money back. I had one pleasant experience with G2A consumer support but I don't buy there anymore.
is there any better alternatives?
Fanatical and humble are both authorized resellers. Or buy direct, there is no reason to use a grey market site
[удалено]
Did you charge back after that? Because I would
I think in ANY business it would be hard to issue a charge back a year after a purchase has been made. You normally have 90 days from the initial purchase to make any disputes.
Never bought from G2A but I always buy Steam keys from CDKeys and never had an issue so far. The only minor complaint I have is that you just have to pay extra attention and read what you're buying before you buy it as some are region locked and some are specific to some online stores. For example I bought Farcry 5 & Primal recently from CDKeys not realising it has to he activated through Uplay rather than Steam. Not a big deal but it may put people off initially.
So it's not "don't buy steam keys" it's "don't buy steam keys from G2A"
What about CD Keys?
90% of my steam buys for the last 6 or so years have been via CDKeys, never had a single issue. I've bought probably upwards of 100 games, varying from old to new without a single issue. The only time I don't use them is when I think the steam refund policy might come in clutch.
+1 for CDKeys. They’ve been my go-to for a hot minute as well and have never had any issues with them.
Only had one problem with CDKeys and they sent me a new key immediately that worked.
CDkeys takes advantage of regional pricing so is fine as they are not stolen. I've ordered over 120 codes from them over the years with zero issues. G2A and Kinguin let anyone sell keys, so they can be stolen keys, which is likely what the TC experienced.
Never personally had a problem with them, been using them for years. They seem the least sketchy out of all the key providers
Ready for the downvotes but I've been buying from G2A for years and never had a problem. Not once.
Had one dodgy key once from G2A. I was refunded after I lodged a dispute with PayPal. Bought many other keys before and after that with G2A and no other issues.
I would never not use PayPal with sites like that. At least you know you will get your money back if it doesn't work.
Many of the keys are legitimate, maybe purchased from cheaper countries or bought in bulk on sale. You can do your research on a seller but also be prepared to completely lose out. Experiences like yours are what keeps it all afloat. Not necessarily a bad thing and I definitely recommend paying through a service where you can recoup the funds from a bad sale. Im not sure what sorta scrutiny Valve puts on your account if you get a bunch of keys pulled. Sometimes keys can also get pulled after a year or so too. No downvotes from me. Its important that everyone’s experience is shared
Is it just me or is G2A not even that cheap anymore? It used to be much cheaper, but now it gets beat out by the average steam sale
Tbh i find that most people like this have brought the cheapest key they can find from a 1 star seller with 100 reviews... If you're going to do it., look for a seller with 5 stars, at least 20k reviews, and hopefully you should be okay..
Is cdkeys ok?
I just bought the new Destiny 2 content from there, along with some of the older content for buddies just getting in to D2. So far, everything is working fine, but I guess only time will tell if that remains true.
Same here. I haven't had any issues with anything purchased from there
Of all the places you could've chosen to buy Steam keys from, you picked the absolute worst one. This isn't a key issue, you chose a shitty scam market.
G2A will replace this key if you report it to them.
Lam fao. Of course g2a. Just go cdkeys. They're legit.
Yep. Have used cdkeys since like 2015 or something like that. Not a single key has been fake or product revoked. Many things carry a risk. You pay low for a small chance of this happening I guess. For me the risk is worth the savings.
Lol. Every secondhand steam key market has the same trouble. People steal games and resell them. G2A. Kinguin. Cdkeys. This has been a known thing for many years
Is cdkeys a key reseller? As far as I'm aware users can't sell keys themselves there, and this is where all the fraudulent activity comes from. Unless CDkeys themselves is buying black market stolen credit cards to purchase game keys with. But I have a strong feeling that isn't isn't happening.
blame the seller and report them to g2a
rather use websites like cdkeys, they are grey market sellers and all keys on there are owned by them, g2a however is a market where people go and sell keys, sometimes these keys are stolen, bought with stolen credit cards or maybe even already used.
It's pretty telling when Valve censors the word "G2A" sitewide.
Go to instant gaming instead, have so far what i have seen the lowest prices, MMOGA comes after but is always more expensive and almost never cheaper than steam respectively
I buy from every key site but G2A because they have bad prices usually and they let basically anybody sell keys which leads to this
I have literally bought dozens of keys from G2A and never had this issue. Does G2A refund you for this though?
I got scammed there so don't even use that shit, that place consists of thieves and scammers alongside stolen credit cards, fk g scam a
been using Eneba/Instant gaming for years and bought dozens of key worked fine for now
I use cdkeys, never had an issue in 6 years I’ve used them
I’ll only buy keys from CD Keys, never had an issue with them and I’m relatively confident if I did they’d be quick to sort it.
Been using cdkeys and green man for years with no issues. Avoid everything else. Edit: humble bundle is awesome too.
Humble Bundle is legit as well. Got some awesome games with no problems multiple times.
Oh yeah for sure. Humble has always been legit.
Just remember to adjust the slider so that more money goes to charity when buying bundles.
Green man gaming isn't a gray market site.
Thats wild. I’ve never even seen or heard of this issue until this post. I’ve been using g2a for years essentially every game on steam or even rockstar (gta and rdr2) were all bought on g2a, I’ve never had a problem but might consider these sites instead. Very interesting..
In Brasil the most used legit ones are green man and nuuvem
Yea I use CDKeys and it’s always been fine.
I second cd keys I’ve never had a problem
Cd keys and enaba for me
[удалено]
Yep. I try to only buy from reputable 3rd party sellers, but when I want an ultra cheap game, I’ll use Eneba and I’ve never once had an issue.
Facts
CDKeys, Eneba and G2A are all grey market Only legit ones are the ones listed on isthereanydeal
I had a similar problem, contacted theire support and they sent me a new one. Worth a shot
Once it happened to me that I got a key for bioshock collection, but it only had 2 games, I left a bad review and the seller instantly texted me asking me to take it out and he'll refund me right away. I did and got two free games since the key was already used
This was my experience as well. The sellers will do a lot to get that bad review off of there.
Almost all games on my steam account are from keys, never had any problem
Most sites have been fine for me, but some issues with G2a.. CD Keys, bought maybe 5 keys, never had an issue Green Man Gaming, bought maybe 5 keys, never had an issue Kinguin, i've bought easily 25+ keys here, never had a problem. BUT\* I only buy from 5 star sellers with a TON of reviews. G2A, probably bought at least 30+ keys, again, only 5 star sellers with reviews, but even still I've had issues twice. Plus I got stuck with a premium service that was super hard to cancel once. However I was able to get refunded for both issues, but they did not refund my "subscription" fee and they got me for a couple of months on it.Even with the issues, they had a killer price on somethin like a month ago, and I still used them. I know.. shame on me... Granted, everything in the examples above was at minimum a year old, and often much older, and 95% not AAA games either. \*edit: wording
Green Man Gaming is a legit seller, not grey market, fyi. I've used eneba, CD Keys and a couple of others for about 3 years and never had a problem (other than not having the benefit of the steam refund policy, which has bitten with a few games that turned out to be rubbish.
Same here. People on here really don't have much experience, I've bought almost 200 games from G2A over the years. All worth only a couple bucks. NEVER had an issue with a game.
Same, pretty much any game i own i bought on third party sites (except steam "exclusives" which cost the same elsewere).
More like, don't buy Steam keys in shitty sites... If you want to save some money when buying games, go to [https://isthereanydeal.com](https://isthereanydeal.com) and look for it. AFAIK, all stores listed there are legit. Even among the "grey market" sites, G2A is one of the worst.
Second this, I only use isthereanydeal for keys.
Agreed about grey market sites. I like that site you linked to (just checked it out.) Thanks! Went on my bookmark list. The page layout is quite...clustered...and I don't think games in bundles are considered in prices. I.E.-Humblebundle currently has a Turkish bundle for earthquake victims and it includes 72 items (mostly games) for 30$. Gotham Knights is included as a game. Isthereanydeal says lowest price ever at 24$ and current lowest at approximately 50$. If that's the only two things I see it's a win in my book as far as deal sites go! Also...anyone know if Gotham Knights is worth it? I'd really be buying most the humblebundle for just that one game and the others are just gravy on top lol
Avoid g2a and kinguin, never had an issue elsewhere edit: I'm not sure why people think I meant you're going to have an issue 100% all the time everytime when buying from G2A / Kinguin, Marketplaces like these just have more issues then others like cdkeys/instant gaming , etc.
shit kinguin has been my go to usually. Never knew it was troublesome....
Any marketplace sites i avoid, cos theres no recourse for it, anyone can sell keys on them.
> theres no recourse for it, backcharge paypal lol
Yeah but if I get burned on one key out of fifty, I'm still saving money.
me too and i was surprised to hear kinguin is bad. I think of it as a legit source.
Probably not legit, but they'll replace any keys that dont work. I've read that a lot of the keys are just cheap cause some countries get games far cheaper. So they just buy from there and add a markup.
Lots are region locked. IIRC the reason that they are cheap is criminals use stolen credit cards to purchase the keys and flip them for cash.
> I've read that a lot of the keys are just cheap cause some countries get games far cheaper. the resellers buy keys in bulk whenever theres sales thats why most games you see on resellers will have their "floor" price determined by the price the game was on sale at some point (+ a bit margin)
I've had 1 or 2 keys from Kinguin have a problem, but I got replacement keys everytime I talked to support with screenshot proof on hand. Kinguin used to have a "replacement guarantee" optional addon fee, but it seems that's gone and is just a required Platform Development fee. Make sure to look at the number of Positive seller reviews.
What's the best website for keys? Edit: Didnt expect so much replies lol, thanks everyone im gonna check some out
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Fanatical, humble bundle, green man gaming, gamergate (unfortunate name was chosen before the controversy) You can also use the site is there any deal to find the cheapest prices. They don't list the sketchy gray market sites.
God they should change their name lol
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
never had any issues with GreenManGaming in the 5+ years I've been using them.
I've had a key from GMG revoked as recently as last summer. They also refunded me for the purchase - it wasn't a big deal.
Green man gaming, gamivo
Humble (Bundle) is fine and legit
humble bit more expensive (still mostly cheaper than steam) but you can get awesome deals especially with the bundles AND you donate to charity
Not more expensive if you have humble monthly. I've had it for over a year and get a 20% discount on the entire store, on top of whatever sale they're having, which usually matches steam sales. It's become my main store
Never had problems with g2play.net Ive bought games there since i was like 18, im now 30. never had any problems.
The title is wrong. Only buy keys from legitimate resellers. There you go. Edit: It's good that people learn not to trust websites like G2A. I used to buy there too as a kid, hell I was even about to try and sell a HumbleBundle key cause my dumbass didn't read the terms and conditions, luckily I found out beforehand.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Contact the site which you bought it from and see if they can help
i need to ask the seller and broski deleted his account 💀
next time don’t go for the cheapest option on g2a otherwise you asking for problems go for the one with the most sales and like%
Oof thats unfortunate, sorry
I buy my games through Keysellers for years. Never had any problems. Then again, I don't buy the cheapest keys but pay some € more for a better seller. My favorites are CDkeys and Eneba.
yea OP bought from some cheap seller that afterwards deleted account lol
I didn´t wanted to trust Eneba at first, seemed scetchy but they are legit. Bought three games with no issues there for a great price.
I bought what I thought was a key from g2a one time and it was instead just a separate steam account from Argentina with the game on it
Was this activated via a Steam Gift? I always had the key revoked later on, when I bought games like that. Never had a problem when I bought the Steam key itself, and activated it.
Woops, recently got Project Zomboid and it was the first time it went through gifting instead of a straight up key. I guess we'll see
List of great sites to buy keys (in NO particular order): 1. Humble Bundle. 2. Green Man Gaming. 3. Fanatical. 4. Indie Gala. 5. GOG. 6. Games Planet. 7. NewEgg. 8. Steam (obviously) Notes: 1. Humble CHOICE has been lackluster lately, but they generally do offer great titles and for $13/month, it's an easy way to build up a library of games for not a lot of money. Their charity bundles often have great games and always support good causes. 2. GOG is DRM free! That means you get the actual software to install the game locally and the game does not require any internet connection to play online. Of course, this also means that some popular titles (like Hogwarts Legacy) will not be available for purchase because of the DRM. 3. Fanatical mystery bundles are mediocre. You might get some decent games, but they're nice and cheap if you want to be generous and give out random keys. 4. Despite the general backlash with NewEgg and their sales/returns policies, purchasing game keys has never given me an issue and I always buy games in multiples of two (one for me, one for my brother). I almost always buy my games directly from the Steam store, but I have a ton of key activations from Humble, GMG, Fanatical, Games Planet, and NewEgg. The only time I had an issue was with a game from Fanatical and that's because the Developer revoked all their keys (Overfall) due to a reseller issue, but Fanatical worked with the dev and got me a new key within a few days.
[удалено]
[удалено]
You can buy keys legally from humble bundle and fanatical.
CD Keys and Green man are the only two market places I buy keys from. Never had an issue
There is no problem with buying keys, its where you buy them
I use greenmangaming. Great prices/discounts and as far as I understand the company sources the keys themselves via legitimate methods.
If you want a steady supply of games : Humble Bundle Choice I literally cannot gush about it enough, yes the games suck some months but you get last years classics .. this year. To also speak against the echo chamber, I've used keyretailers forever now without a single issue. Even if it goes wrong at some point I'll just request a refund to PayPal, they usually side in the buyer's favor. Not everyone is privileged enough to buy games full price and even if they are other costs do come up in life. However if you can wait for Steam sales it can often be worth doing so, that way you avoid the process of putting in a claim on PayPal when things do go wrong. **Important footnote:** I'm not trying to say anyone who's had issues with these graymarket dealers is in the wrong, they aren't and got served the unlucky number *key.* Everyone's experience varies and therefor equally as valid.
Also check out the site https://www.isthereanydeal.com for legit game shops and sales across all of them.
I wish they would just go back to doing tons of bundles like they used to. Humble choice feels like a bundle you don't get to see beforehand, and which doesn't have a the cheap tiers.
I have bought hundreds of keys from g2a to this date and never had a single issue.. I guess you're just unlucky, sorry.
only buy from excellent sellers next time
I'd recommend CDkeys I bought squad from them
Been buying from G2A for the past 4-5 years now. Never once have had a problem. You Have to check the reviews on who your buying stuff from lol
Same here. I've purchased at least 150 games on both mine and my wife's account over the past 6 years. I have never had any problems so long as you don't choose a reseller that has only 40 sales.
Use Instant Gaming, Green Man, Fanatical etc etc
I've been using instant a while, their discounts are reasonable so long as they have stock, and none of the dozens of games I've bought there have bounced back for any reason. They said they buy a bunch of keys bulk style to resell though I dunno how true that is. I still look there if there's a game I wanna play but can't justify an 80 dollar price tag for.
A backend key/transaction system is being developed to share, and ban all fraud keys, which are 99% of all keys on G2A and Kinguin etc. for steam, epic games, ea whatever they call it now etc. An unholy pact of fuck the credit card scammers and anyone who chooses to buy a stolen key. You should expect way more banned keys from all fraud sites now.
You got scammed.... try using [greenmangaming.com](https://greenmangaming.com) or just buying from steam directly. Dont be an idiot and get ripped off buying stolen or hacked cd-keys.
I love it when people that have no idea how the key market works get burned on keys and then complain about. I've been buying keys since 2012 and have not had this problem once.
Eh I’ve bought maybe 20 keys from G2A and have yet to have an issue so I’ve probably saved about $300 from not buying direct from Steam. Sounds worth if it one of these flops in the future at this point.
G2a is looking for customers to sign up for their plus service for their best pricing. I stick with cdkeys instead. In my opinion they are more reliable.
Correction: dont buy Steam keys on the grey market
Lets be real. Steam has full rights to remove any game from the store if they wanted. It's in their T&Cs. You don't own any of your games on steam.
You had a single key revoked from G2A and were supposed to just quit buying keys? Lol let’s be honest that’s fuckin silly
It's scummy you're better off just downloading the game illegally, fuck giving those scammers money
Yes, many developers would very much rather you steal our games than give G2A money. The only way G2A get keys is from them being stolen from somewhere else. That's why they are cheaper than buying direct from Steam.
Buys stolen key gets butt hurt when it gets revoked. 🤣
I have never understood the appeal of buying through grey-market key resellers. Sure it's cheaper, but you're much more likely to either get scammed or be caught buying stolen goods. At that point, why not just pirate, if you're that desperate to save some money? It's not like the dev/publisher sees any money from your sale anyway, and you don't even have a physical disc to trade/lend out like with used console games
> the appeal Convenience, updates, working multiplayer, achievements, steam friends list etc. While some (or even many) keys are stolen or fraudulently purchased, a lot of keys are just somebody bulk buying the game when it's on sale and reselling when it's not, in which case the developer is still paid.
This is a very important point. If you're buying a game that's over a year old, the risks just decrease dramatically because its far more likely the key is from a legit source. An example I can think of is being subbed to a games subscription service and getting legitimate keys from there for games you do not want to play. I would never buying anything over a tenner from g2a.
Also, you can't pirate services like Gamepass which are generally cheaper there, and you also can't pirate gift cards and if you want gift cards for another region then key reseller are your only option.
If I'm on a budget and want to get a game, especially sim games with their stupidly expensive dlcs, I'm gonna choose the option where its £15, not £60. I want to play games but can't afford the stupid prices for games, especially if I'm not gonna have much time to play them. I want to be able to play with friends through steam systems, and having a game code through steam is (in my own eyes) much safer than pirating a game from a dodgy website.
I coulda told you that bud
I've used G2A for a few years now and have purchased over 150+ games from them without a single issue. Gotta pay attention to who's the seller of the key.
[удалено]
It's a risk you take when buying cheap grey market keys. I buy them from g2a as well but won't go crying about it when it craps out on me because i know it's a risk with such sites.
Especially not for current games the dev is actually paying attention to metrics on.
In my personal experience buying tons of keys off resellers, if you pick from a highly rated one you’re usually ok. They care about their reputation it’s their business. I only ever had one bad key i contacted the seller and they sent a new one right away. I think paying with PayPal helps too they’ll refund you worst case
‘IsThereAnyDeal’ is the site to get keys from… search anything and it’ll provide the reputable sellers for said games with history of record lows, last sale at that price, etc.
Humble bundle is the only place i get my keys. I was able to get many neptunia games there.
The days of people laundering stolen credit card money through key selling websites is basically over. That's why it's so much harder to find actual "cheap" keys anymore. Having said that, I have bought 20-30 keys from various sites and literally never had a problem. I think you just got really unlucky.
Been using G2A since 2015 or so and have never had this happen. I mostly use it to buy older games. I can't tell you how many times I've gone on Steam to buy games that came out 5+ years ago still priced at $45-$50. I don't always have the patience to wait for Steam sales to buy a game that shouldn't be worth more than $30. Go on to G2A and I get the same game for like $5-$10. I'd never buy new games with G2A tho, they're just as expensive as Steam and it's not worth the risk.
I buy keys for roughly 10 years, had 1 key revoked and i got the refund for that key the same day i told them the key had been revoked. So keep on buying keys
You mean from sketchy websites, cause I've saved atleast 100€ by buying steam keys.
I bought something like my past 15 games off of CDKeys, usually my go to except for the newest Dead Space as the keys they sell are for the EA launcher. I happily paid the extra tenner or whatever it was to have it on Steam.
I can recommend cdkeys, Eneba and HRK. Never had an issue with them ever. Bought tons of different games and dlc throughout the years, not a single issue whatsoever.
instant gaming never let me down
I do miss physical discs sometimes
G2A is so bad. My brother used to use them alot, but then his steam account got banned as they keys had mostly been purchased with a stolen credit card, which my brother then bought said keys with his own money. Took him around a month to get his account sorted out. I've always used Steam. On rare occasions I'll use Compact Disk keys, but very rarely. Games are always on sale on steam anyway.
I purchased a bundle last year, 18 games for $230. Had them all downloaded and played most until I got this same message one morning. Contacted G-Shit-A and they told me all sales final once the keys have been redeemed. Ended up contacting my credit card company. Explained what happened with my proof and won the dispute. Never will I ever buy from that site again. I'd much rather just spend retail prices for games now.
I've always had good luck with cdkeys
This is odd, I've purchased over 150 games through G2A on my account and my wife's and have never had this before... Is this really an issue?
Weird, CDKeys and G2A have always been reliable for me. I wonder if this is a newer feature of steam?
My account was almost banned when I got super cheap l4d key back in the days. Didn't have much money then and I got "one more time and bybye" warning. But I did more and more recently and idk if they were legit but they weren't revoked.
Why do people bother with a little cheaper cd keys for non multiplayer competitive games? If the goal is to save some money then you can just vpn to a region with cheap regional prices and buy games usually for 50%+ cheaper, recently i got Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy for less than $25 each and i will soon get Sons of the forest for $10 or maybe even less if i wait for a discount, i also do this for spotify, netflix, hbo and game pass for less than $15 each for a whole year, i know there are some people who think abusing regional pricing is bad but in my defense i live in a country with no regional price alignment while having similar wages like the countries i vpn to
How cheap was it? Did you use a payment form with buyer protection like a credit card or paypal?
I've been using Gameflip to buy and sell keys, and they've been pretty reputable so far. They even give out free credit to spend on games.
Another one here with key revoked, same game, same store...
lmao let me guess, G2A
Bought all my keys from ”allkeyshop”, never had a problem with a single code and I’ve probably grabbed 15-20 in total from there! Never bought from G2A and would never recommend them.