Purchasing 2nd Hand Games for use on Steam?

[JoeFX]

Question:

What would happen if I purchased a 2nd-hand game from a shop which had already been installed by someone else onto their steam account?

Example: I go into a shop and purchase a hard copy of L4D2 which had been traded-in by someone else. I then try to install it to my steam account - if the previous owner had already installed it to their steam account, would I be able to install/play it on mine?

I'm guessing not?

 

[SixTwoSix]

Most second hand places won't take the likes of L4D2, Fear 2 and so on unless they are sealed.

 

[CliffyBiro]

I doubt they would sell it to you if you can't?

Not that I know, haven't bought any 2nd hand Steam games.

 

[xen_]

Nope, I don't think you can un register steam games from accounts.

 

[JoeFX]

It's actually a mate of mine who wants to get L4D2.

CEX have it listed for £15 (used)... but I'm just thinking that if someone else has already installed it, then nobody else can.

... unless you can install it off the DVD and not need to use Steam.

 

[SixTwoSix]

It's actually a mate of mine who wants to get L4D2.

CEX have it listed for £15 (used)... but I'm just thinking that if someone else has already installed it, then nobody else can.

... unless you can install it off the DVD and not need to use Steam.

CEX will not take second hand copies of L4D2, if it's second hand, it means someone has traded in a sealed copy

 

[Xenoxide]

I had this problem before.

When you go to register the serial it'll say it's already registered. You can then take a photo of the serial number on the box along with your username written somewhere on it, send it to Valve, and they'll remove it from the other persons account.

 

[Jsbeer]

Err, and what happens to the other person's account in this case. Selling games is against the Steam EULA and Valve will wonder how they obtained the serial. Dodgy territory here methinks.....

 

[orderoftheflame]

It's actually a mate of mine who wants to get L4D2.

CEX have it listed for £15 (used)... but I'm just thinking that if someone else has already installed it, then nobody else can.

... unless you can install it off the DVD and not need to use Steam.

I'd have thought that would be the Xbox version?

 

[ps3ud0]

I had this problem before.

When you go to register the serial it'll say it's already registered. You can then take a photo of the serial number on the box along with your username written somewhere on it, send it to Valve, and they'll remove it from the other persons account.

Would that work with other games that you can register with Steam?

ps3ud0

 

[JoeFX]

I'd have thought that would be the Xbox version?

Nah, it's deffo for PC.

You can see it on their website, it even tells you that they have it in-stock and at which stores.

Sounds very dodgy to me... I can't see how this would work. I've got games which I've bought new from a shop, installed them to Steam and then put the DVD back in the box and never needed to touch it again since (FM2010 springs to mind). I could easily sell the boxed version and my steam copy would still work, at least until someone sends a photo of the box to Valve etc... but what would stop me from taking a photo before I sold it, so I can do the same later.

 

[SixTwoSix]

Nah, it's deffo for PC.

You can see it on their website, it even tells you that they have it in-stock and at which stores.

Sounds very dodgy to me... I can't see how this would work. I've got games which I've bought new from a shop, installed them to Steam and then put the DVD back in the box and never needed to touch it again since (FM2010 springs to mind). I could easily sell the boxed version and my steam copy would still work, at least until someone sends a photo of the box to Valve etc... but what would stop me from taking a photo before I sold it, so I can do the same later.

As i've already mentioned, it will be a sealed copy, notice the (S) next to the description, this means it's sealed, same as if you search for Left 4 Dead 1, an (S) next to the description, sealed