*** PC Gaming - Daily Deals Thread ***

They most definitely are.
They've got a better reputation than a lot of the others, but that's primarily because they're a direct sales channel rather than a marketplace.
 
WantoN said:
That’s interesting, I’ve used CDkeys a few times, always been great.

What makes them grey market?
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They are safe to use and pretty much always have some of the cheapest prices. They don't sell games purchased fruadently. They do however play the market. Since games aren't region locked they buy bulk from cheaper regions and sell on. Not authorised by publishers to resell their games.
 
Spacedeck said:
They are safe to use and pretty much always have some of the cheapest prices. They don't sell games purchased fruadently. They do however play the market. Since games aren't region locked they buy bulk from cheaper regions and sell on. Not authorised by publishers to resell their games.
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Is this illegal, or do the publishers have grounds to take them to court?

If not I don’t see how they’re a grey market as leezer is suggesting.
 
The fact that they aren't buying direct from the publishers is what makes them grey-market.

Whether or not it's illegal really depends on how much you've paid your lawyers :P
The EULA for most software will specifically prevent unauthorized resale (e.g. CDKeys et. al), and sale outside of the designated region.

In order to determine whether this is illegal or not, the EULA itself would have to be tested in court. To the best of my knowledge, this hasn't been done with games sold outside of authorized channels/ regions; It's simply not big enough business.
On the megabucks commercial software side, it's not uncommon for stuff purchased outside of unauthorized retailers to be deactivated or similar, and there have been some pretty big lawsuits to-do with this sort of thing.
Look into the actions of Oracle and Adobe, & to a lesser extent Microsoft if you want details.
 
leezer3 said:
The fact that they aren't buying direct from the publishers is what makes them grey-market.

Whether or not it's illegal really depends on how much you've paid your lawyers :p
The EULA for most software will specifically prevent unauthorized resale (e.g. CDKeys et. al), and sale outside of the designated region.

In order to determine whether this is illegal or not, the EULA itself would have to be tested in court. To the best of my knowledge, this hasn't been done with games sold outside of authorized channels/ regions; It's simply not big enough business.
On the megabucks commercial software side, it's not uncommon for stuff purchased outside of unauthorized retailers to be deactivated or similar, and there have been some pretty big lawsuits to-do with this sort of thing.
Look into the actions of Oracle and Adobe, & to a lesser extent Microsoft if you want details.
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It’s my understanding that a lot of the time the bigger sites like these purchase keys in bulk to help their supplier hit targets. It essentially bolsters total sales, and benefits everyone in the chain. I doubt you’ll be seeing issues with them because it offers publishers protection and works in favour of all those involved. I certainly don’t purchase from market sites or similar as I don’t consider them safe or legitimate.

From reading your (very good) post I’ve gathered it’s not illegal and there’s no precedent, but as cdkeys aren’t an official supplier, you could consider them grey market. I don’t believe they’re illegitimate, but it does make me consider the long term viability of my purchases there. Better get completing!

Cheers mate.
 
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WantoN said:
It’s my understanding that a lot of the time the bigger sites like these purchase keys in bulk to help their supplier hit targets. It essentially bolsters total sales, and benefits everyone in the chain.
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I've heard this saying before. How true this is we don't know, nobody has proved this is the case. If CDKeys simply bulk buy from the publishers on a deal, I'd be happy enough to support them. Until they prove that, I'd rather buy from people who actually work with their suppliers and can gaurantee they don't buy from cheaper regions.

I'll personally use anyone on Isthereanydeal.
 
Spacedeck said:
I've heard this saying before. How true this is we don't know, nobody has proved this is the case. If CDKeys simply bulk buy from the publishers on a deal, I'd be happy enough to support them. Until they prove that, I'd rather buy from people who actually work with their suppliers and can gaurantee they don't buy from cheaper regions.

I'll personally use anyone on Isthereanydeal.
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Good on you fella.

I particularly like Humble Bundle due to their charitable efforts, and always buy indie titles from Steam or GoG. For the large studios who for the most part are happy to screw money out of their fans, I have no issues using cdkeys.
 
Spacedeck said:
They are safe to use and pretty much always have some of the cheapest prices. They don't sell games purchased fruadently. They do however play the market. Since games aren't region locked they buy bulk from cheaper regions and sell on. Not authorised by publishers to resell their games.
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Its all a matter of perspective, isn't it? Region locking and pricing is a dirty practice in itself - we could argue that anyone working with publishers is actually colluding with them. Go figure!

Cdkeys is safe and reliable. That's all that matters to me. If any publisher thinks that I'm morally obliged to pay an extra tenner because of my address, they can go suck a lemon.
 
bfar said:
Its all a matter of perspective, isn't it? Region locking and pricing is a dirty practice in itself - we could argue that anyone working with publishers is actually colluding with them. Go figure!

Cdkeys is safe and reliable. That's all that matters to me. If any publisher thinks that I'm morally obliged to pay an extra tenner because of my address, they can go suck a lemon.
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This is an excellent counter point. Region locking is a pretty disgusting practice. Brick and mortar shops have to do it due to regional rate and rent differences. What’s the publishers excuse?
 
WantoN said:
This is an excellent counter point. Region locking is a pretty disgusting practice. Brick and mortar shops have to do it due to regional rate and rent differences. What’s the publishers excuse?
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That £50 is a reasonable reflection of costs vs required revenue and a reasonable amount to pay for a game if you live in a wealthy country, but that it's absurd to expect people in poorer countries to pay that: better to get £5 each from those guys than nothing at all if they just pirate.
 
cheesyboy said:
That £50 is a reasonable reflection of costs vs required revenue and a reasonable amount to pay for a game if you live in a wealthy country, but that it's absurd to expect people in poorer countries to pay that: better to get £5 each from those guys than nothing at all if they just pirate.
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The same argument holds true for "rich" customers - ie better to get some money than no money if they just pirate. As with most things, it's little to do with cost, and more to do with what the market will bear in any given region.
 
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