What is the score with cd key resellers on steam?

Ace Modder · 29 May 2015 at 14:47

Hi

I want to buy dying light, but its £40 on steam.
£25 on Amazon for a retail disc copy

Or CDkeys are selling the steam key for £17

Im tempted to buy the cd key, but have there been a load of cd key bans etc on steam lately?

Not sure of the situation etc.

MissChief · 29 May 2015 at 14:52

Have never had a problem with cdkeys.com, cjs or greenmangaming.com. Sure there have been some issues around codes being originally bought with stolen cards then resold but generally you're safe with the bigger sites.

Gimpymoo · 29 May 2015 at 15:21

The keys are from the "grey" market.

Retail versions purchased in regions where prices are cheaper then re-sold to the rest of the world.

Generally this means lower tax/vat is paid, if any.

Mileage may vary on keys.

You pay your money, make your choice.

Ignoring the Steam prices, retail disc with a Steam key or purchasing from an official reseller, GMG and the like, the price difference becomes less.

~>Dg<~ · 29 May 2015 at 15:21

use the big sellers you wont ever have a issue. i would never look to steam or origin first to buy a game now.

spoffle · 29 May 2015 at 15:24

CDkeys.com are legit, I've had Dying Light from them since release. I buy most of my games from there now unless elsewhere is cheaper.

Ace Modder · 29 May 2015 at 15:36

ok, gunna get dying light then now

AtaRo · 29 May 2015 at 16:31

If you're already using the auction site and don't want to use cd key site you can get dying light from th auction site for about <£19.

I also don't use cd key sites and bought my steam keys from the auction site if they are cheaper.

Ace Modder · 29 May 2015 at 16:32

Already bought from cdkeys from everybodies recommendation here now

Installed fine and I even got the DLC to play as a zombie. £16.99 bargain.

Flack88 · 29 May 2015 at 16:49

Always buy from cd key sites, never had a problem in at least 2 years.

Ace Modder · 29 May 2015 at 17:02

I have bought from them previously, but recently there has been talk of problems in the media etc.

Spacedeck · 29 May 2015 at 17:50

spoffle said:
CDkeys.com are legit, I've had Dying Light from them since release. I buy most of my games from there now unless elsewhere is cheaper.

I've never understood the reasoning for this, just because you personally have had a good experience. Unless you can verify the keys are not purchased fraudulently, they are risky to use compared to using an authorised reseller.

DaleTheWhale · 29 May 2015 at 19:07

Spacedeck said:
I've never understood the reasoning for this, just because you personally have had a good experience. Unless you can verify the keys are not purchased fraudulently, they are risky to use compared to using an authorised reseller.

I think 99% of us on here have been fine, 90% of my keys are from them and the rest from Kinguin/G2A.

jasonsony735 · 29 May 2015 at 19:08

CDkeys is the most used CD Key site used in the world so its 100% Good

cjs-cdkeys Is my Fav thou , Its a uk based company and it has won a number of business awards..

Spacedeck · 29 May 2015 at 19:20

ThaReaperGuy said:
I think 99% of us on here have been fine, 90% of my keys are from them and the rest from Kinguin/G2A.

While I can agree that most people are safe with using such sites, calling them legit is something else. If the reports about how and where they obtain the keys are correct in anyway, then they aren't exactly legit, are they?

the biggest problem is we will never know where or how they obtain these keys, so you could easily be buying a key that they have obtain unlawfully.

Gimpymoo · 29 May 2015 at 19:49

jasonsony735 said:
cjs-cdkeys Is my Fav thou , Its a uk based company and it has won a number of business awards..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ds-reveal-the-best-British-entrepreneurs.html

Smith buys “authorisation keys” in bulk from the games’ publishers and resells them. He is expected to generate a £1m turnover this year and has a valuable database of 28,000 gamers.

In the two years since Smith set up CJS CD Keys, he has built one of the world’s biggest game activation code stores online and distributes 7,000 games a month to customers in 94 countries. By making security keys available, PC games can legally be downloaded without the need for CDs.

So much fail in all of that.

Spacedeck · 30 May 2015 at 00:56

What are peoples thoughts on the W3 keys that GMG are selling?

http://www.n3rdabl3.co.uk/2015/05/gmg-and-gog-are-having-a-tiff-over-cd-keys/

To me this just sounds like they are being greedy and petty. Considering GMG are a reputable reseller for many places, also having been a reseller for CDPR for the past 2 years, I don't see why they have such an issue.

We believe that CDPR’s desire to support their own platform by working with retail outlets that would not conflict with their own is greater than that of meeting the demands of their audience, therefore we made the decision to indirectly secure the product and deliver it to our customers. To do this, we reached out to third parties and retailers that were approved by CDPR, to legitimately pass these keys onto our customers. This means that at some point, revenue has been passed directly onto CDPR, and any additional discount on the title is absorbed by us, as we want as many people enjoying The Witcher 3 as possible.

I don't know about you guys but to me, considering they are still obtaining these keys from legitimate resellers for W3 and haven't done anything in the terms of using any fraudulent payments, they aren't doing anything wrong here while taking a loss themselves. These keys are still legit keys initially purchased from a legit reseller to sell on.

Also seems "Zenimax is deactivating fraudulent CD keys for The Elder Scrolls Online" - http://www.gamewatcher.com/news/201...audulent-cd-keys-for-the-elder-scrolls-online

The one good thing about these guys, is they produced a list of authorised resellers - http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/171736.

All these companies need to do is create a list such as this one so we can know who to purchase the games from.

spoffle · 30 May 2015 at 01:27

Spacedeck said:
I've never understood the reasoning for this, just because you personally have had a good experience. Unless you can verify the keys are not purchased fraudulently, they are risky to use compared to using an authorised reseller.

Why are you assuming they aren't legit? It doesn't matter that they aren't an authorised seller. Authorised just means the distributor is "happy" with the fact that they're selling copies.

I don't understand the automatic assumption that CD Key sites are automatically fraudulent in nature. They aren't risky, if you have any issues with a key, they'll give you a new one.

Keys being revoked isn't something that actually happens that often.

spoffle · 30 May 2015 at 01:30

Spacedeck said:
What are peoples thoughts on the W3 keys that GMG are selling?

http://www.n3rdabl3.co.uk/2015/05/gmg-and-gog-are-having-a-tiff-over-cd-keys/

To me this just sounds like they are being greedy and petty. Considering GMG are a reputable reseller for many places, also having been a reseller for CDPR for the past 2 years, I don't see why they have such an issue.

I don't know about you guys but to me, considering they are still obtaining these keys from legitimate resellers for W3 and haven't done anything in the terms of using any fraudulent payments, they aren't doing anything wrong here while taking a loss themselves. These keys are still legit keys initially purchased from a legit reseller to sell on.

Also seems "Zenimax is deactivating fraudulent CD keys for The Elder Scrolls Online" - http://www.gamewatcher.com/news/201...audulent-cd-keys-for-the-elder-scrolls-online

The one good thing about these guys, is they produced a list of authorised resellers - http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/171736.

All these companies need to do is create a list such as this one so we can know who to purchase the games from.

The problem is that some of these companies are up their own arses and see no difference between fraudulent, and unauthorised, because they believe they should have full control over what is done with their products through the whole chain.

That's delusional, once they've sold a copy, they should relinquish the rights of control over that particular copy.

Spacedeck · 30 May 2015 at 01:48

spoffle said:
Why are you assuming they aren't legit? It doesn't matter that they aren't an authorised seller. Authorised just means the distributor is "happy" with the fact that they're selling copies.

I don't understand the automatic assumption that CD Key sites are automatically fraudulent in nature. They aren't risky, if you have any issues with a key, they'll give you a new one.

Keys being revoked isn't something that actually happens that often.

Well the reasoning behind this would be the various reports that have come to light over the years. some saying keys being deactivated from certain key seller sites with the company deactivating them saying they had been purchased with a fraudulent method. Then I'm also sure some have reported that they have received messages saying the game cannot be activated due to too many activation or something along that line. In which case it would suggest they sometimes are reselling some keys over and over.

Sure, not many people have the keys deactivated but it isn't something that doesn't happen, but I guess most other companies don't care that much about the these key selling sites.

Nobody can guarantee where they do acquire the keys from, nor will we ever find out. But even if they was making purchases which was illegal, they wouldn't admit to that anyway.

I'm not saying don't use them, but it is more risky than using a place like GMG.

opethdisciple · 30 May 2015 at 02:01

Never had an issue with CD Keys. All my gameso ver the last year or more I have bought from them.