Previously used keys for brand new steam games....

[thealien2000uk]

i have bought several games from game the highstreet game retailer and when installing from disk or using the code from inside the sealed game package Steam reports that the key has already been attached to an account.... i took the games (orangebox and dishonored 2) and they refused a refund or an exchange due to the seal being broken and the codes have been used..... what the hell i just bought the games from their shop.... i believe someone in the shop is "borrowing" games and keeping them on their steam account then resealing the games and putting them back on the shop's shelves..... any idea what i can do ...i did report the orange box package to steam and provided scans of the original code etc a while ago but i received no come back.... any ideas.... i try to avoid steam games as they are a pain when crap like this happens...

[Count_Dandyman]

Dr.Shadowds 🐉 の投稿を引用：

Γαῖα の投稿を引用：

As far as i know GAME havent sold new packaged PC hard copies in ages so im assuming your talking about console unless theyve taken to flogging really old stock they didnt shift way back when ?

They're not found as often, as most stores don't order PC versions of the game, some may order only few copies of it at best but they don't get every game that comes out. It's harder to find them in store because no one really wants them as most cases they're just codes in the case with single disk to download the game client to get it from.

A lot of it comes from their heavy focus on the second hand sales why waste much space on PC games where even without making it clear the warnings about lack of codes means the game will be basically guaranteed to be unplayable most customers know to avoid them when you can use that space for another rack of console games.

Its no coincidence that the sections in their stores for PC games shrank as Steam grew and more
companies moved to one use activation codes instead of the old reusable ones.

[crunchyfrog]

brian9824 の投稿を引用：

It's also probable that they are accepting refunds for unopened games which is a big no no. The reason most stores won't accept refunds at all for games is because people buy them, open them carefully, redeem the code and then return the game after re-sealing it.

Thus screwing over whomever buys it next.

Actually, this is Britain. Our consumer Righst Act overrules any store policy about non returns of opened games. (You know "your statutory rights are not affected").

If the original purchaser comes in and says "these games don't work and I've tried everything" there's nothing much the store can do except offer an exchange or refund. The burden is on THEM to prove the person wrong, and it would be silly and non-cost effective to do so.

So it's entirely possible someone activated these and returned them, probably YEARS ago (because GAME LOVE to rewarehouse stuff then dig it out at various times to sell somewhere else).

But thankfully this return also applies to the guy now. The Consumer Rights Act is VERY clear on this.

And that's why if the store are giving him ♥♥♥♥, then I recommeneded he just write to the CEO - shoot straight for the top as it ALWAYS works for me.

[crunchyfrog]

Γαῖα の投稿を引用：

As far as i know GAME havent sold new packaged PC hard copies in ages so im assuming your talking about console unless theyve taken to flogging really old stock they didnt shift way back when ?

GAME sometimes do this, especially when they have a clearout.

Stuff that goes in those "reduced" bins? You notice there's always a load (especially sports games) that get left and never get bought, yet they disappear after a while en masse? They get returned to centralised or regionalised warehousing.

Then, when periods like this crop up again, they get shipped somewhere else to try their luck in their bargain bin. I don't know if this happens a lot in other countries, but in Britain it's quite common. HMV used to do it A LOT, to the extent that back in the early 1990s, myself and a few other DJs could rely on it and even predict what would go where, and capitalise on it. Yes, we were that anal about it all. Can't neglect a cheap deal, y';know.

So it doesn't surprise me at all that stuff like this old stuff turns up. It probably sat there in such a warehouse gathering dust on some pallet of other garbage, when somebody thought "let's clear this out somewhere" and dumped it on whichever store.

So yeah, it certainly happens.

[J4MESOX4D]

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

There is no such loophole from reputable retailers plus games bound to a DRM is still a digital copy even if it is purchased in physical form. The game has to be factory sealed and if the seal is even remotely damaged, managers are advised to remove the products from sale and send it back to the publisher.

External auditors also doing spot-checks cover two key aspects; a) pre-order stock check and b) sealed product integrity. Any shop that breaches these two elements can be liable of fines of up to £10,000 per copy. There is likely some corruption at retail level but consumers are largely protected and it's harder for staff to get away with pulling any stunts assuming things are investigated thoroughly.

My advice to anyone buying physical at retail is to ensure the seal is official, tight and intact.

I don't recall ever claiming Game were a reputable company.

They have for years been the questionable company copying the methods of gamestop from the US so much that people find it hard to believe they aren't just the same company under a new name.

Oh as for saying they won't sell pre-owned pc games take a look at what they have on their website

https://www.game.co.uk/en/m/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-40780

Those aren't sold by GAME - those are external purchases sold and fulfilled by other sellers. GAME just provides links to stock they don't have. Just like eBay, malicious sellers have to be reported. It doesn't mean the base company isn't legitimate. Not sure why people would choose the pre-owned option anyway especially when it's £1.63 new.

The GAME marketplace is nothing to do with store level either.

[crunchyfrog]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

I don't recall ever claiming Game were a reputable company.

They have for years been the questionable company copying the methods of gamestop from the US so much that people find it hard to believe they aren't just the same company under a new name.

Oh as for saying they won't sell pre-owned pc games take a look at what they have on their website

https://www.game.co.uk/en/m/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-40780

Those aren't sold by GAME - those are external purchases sold and fulfilled by other sellers. GAME just provides links to stock they don't have. Just like eBay, malicious sellers have to be reported. It doesn't mean the base company isn't legitimate. Not sure why people would choose the pre-owned option anyway especially when it's £1.63 new.

The GAME marketplace is nothing to do with store level either.

You're absolutely right on that point, however he is not wrong about GAME's reputation. The have been hauled up in front of Trading Standards many times for their dodgy business practices.

One they repeatedly offended at was the bundling of goods. Remember when the Wii came out and nobody could get one coming up to the holiday period? GAME sold their allocations ONLY with bundles of useless tat HUGELY pushing the price up. You couldnt buy a Wii on its own - they refused you.

Of course, this was absolutely illegal and they got stung over it, at least twice.

But again, them selling the PC games are probably what I said earlier rewarehoused stuff that someone found and didn't know what to do with so shipped it out to store. Highly likely these were leftover returns, and poor warehouse management meant they got left behind.

[Count_Dandyman]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

I don't recall ever claiming Game were a reputable company.

They have for years been the questionable company copying the methods of gamestop from the US so much that people find it hard to believe they aren't just the same company under a new name.

Oh as for saying they won't sell pre-owned pc games take a look at what they have on their website

https://www.game.co.uk/en/m/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-40780

Those aren't sold by GAME - those are external purchases sold and fulfilled by other sellers. GAME just provides links to stock they don't have. Just like eBay, malicious sellers have to be reported. It doesn't mean the base company isn't legitimate. Not sure why people would choose the pre-owned option anyway especially when it's £1.63 new.

The GAME marketplace is nothing to do with store level either.

Hmm where have I heard that defense before oh that is right its the one that certain sites whose names get filtered like to use about why they aren't at all shady or to blame for the fake and used keys sold on them.

Also unlike E-Bay their list of what can be sold is much smaller and something as simple as allowing people to list pre-owned PC games is the barest basics of care that a company whose focus is in the gaming market should do.

[J4MESOX4D]

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Those aren't sold by GAME - those are external purchases sold and fulfilled by other sellers. GAME just provides links to stock they don't have. Just like eBay, malicious sellers have to be reported. It doesn't mean the base company isn't legitimate. Not sure why people would choose the pre-owned option anyway especially when it's £1.63 new.

The GAME marketplace is nothing to do with store level either.

Hmm where have I heard that defense before oh that is right its the one that certain sites whose names get filtered like to use about why they aren't at all shady or to blame for the fake and used keys sold on them.

Also unlike E-Bay their list of what can be sold is much smaller and something as simple as allowing people to list pre-owned PC games is the barest basics of care that a company whose focus is in the gaming market should do.

Scam sites directly sell fraudulent keys or ones that have not been obtained through the safe channels. External marketplace sellers are a totally different model.

I am not defending GAME or any other retailer that sells physical PC games - I am just stating that it's quite a watertight system at retail level and for discrepancies to exist is pretty unusual. The GAME marketplace is a separate entity and is there to assist smaller retailers or sellers to offload stock that people want but may not be able to get easily. There will always be the odd mistaken listing or even something shady but it's easily rectifiable because buyers are protected.

[Count_Dandyman]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

Hmm where have I heard that defense before oh that is right its the one that certain sites whose names get filtered like to use about why they aren't at all shady or to blame for the fake and used keys sold on them.

Also unlike E-Bay their list of what can be sold is much smaller and something as simple as allowing people to list pre-owned PC games is the barest basics of care that a company whose focus is in the gaming market should do.

Scam sites directly sell fraudulent keys or ones that have not been obtained through the safe channels. External marketplace sellers are a totally different model.

I am not defending GAME or any other retailer that sells physical PC games - I am just stating that it's quite a watertight system at retail level and for discrepancies to exist is pretty unusual. The GAME marketplace is a separate entity and is there to assist smaller retailers or sellers to offload stock that people want but may not be able to get easily. There will always be the odd mistaken listing or even something shady but it's easily rectifiable because buyers are protected.

take a walk into a Cex or Game store and check their shelves someday there may be much less than the console sections but you will see the PC ones there.

[J4MESOX4D]

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Scam sites directly sell fraudulent keys or ones that have not been obtained through the safe channels. External marketplace sellers are a totally different model.

I am not defending GAME or any other retailer that sells physical PC games - I am just stating that it's quite a watertight system at retail level and for discrepancies to exist is pretty unusual. The GAME marketplace is a separate entity and is there to assist smaller retailers or sellers to offload stock that people want but may not be able to get easily. There will always be the odd mistaken listing or even something shady but it's easily rectifiable because buyers are protected.

take a walk into a Cex or Game store and check their shelves someday there may be much less than the console sections but you will see the PC ones there.

Yes and those are sealed and purchased through their own secure supply chains. Nothing to do with external marketplaces with stock they don't even touch.

[Count_Dandyman]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

take a walk into a Cex or Game store and check their shelves someday there may be much less than the console sections but you will see the PC ones there.

Yes and those are sealed and purchased through their own secure supply chains. Nothing to do with external marketplaces with stock they don't even touch.

You might want to look again at what Cex are before saying that they don't do new stock they resell things they purchase from other customers

[J4MESOX4D]

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Yes and those are sealed and purchased through their own secure supply chains. Nothing to do with external marketplaces with stock they don't even touch.

You might want to look again at what Cex are before saying that they don't do new stock they resell things they purchase from other customers

I never said anything of the sort. Not sure what you're going on about really. CEX take unwanted factory sealed PC games from the public or old non-DRM titles.

You've made two arguements against something that I haven't even said!?

[crunchyfrog]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Count_Dandyman の投稿を引用：

take a walk into a Cex or Game store and check their shelves someday there may be much less than the console sections but you will see the PC ones there.

Yes and those are sealed and purchased through their own secure supply chains. Nothing to do with external marketplaces with stock they don't even touch.

Sorry but you are quite wrong.

CEX "new" unused stock is only the games that go up after wholesale clearances. They have no tryue NEW stock ever.

What I mean by new unused is when you have games that don't sell (especially games like EA Sports games which they turn out a ridiculous number of - which is why you'll ALWAYS find them in supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury) they either get returned to wholesaler (if they were on sale or return) or just offloaded to some other wholesaler.

And they get bought cheaply en masse by stores like CEX, and they sell them as used.

I can spot these a mile away usually whenever I've bought them 0 there's some very telltale signs. But more than this, I've got a few friends that own their own game and used goods stores. They bid for these leftover stocks all the time, and often are competing with CEX,

Of course, I hope I'm not accusing you incorrectly here - it's a bit difficult to follow from the other user strawmanning you.

[J4MESOX4D]

crunchyfrog の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

Yes and those are sealed and purchased through their own secure supply chains. Nothing to do with external marketplaces with stock they don't even touch.

Sorry but you are quite wrong.

CEX "new" unused stock is only the games that go up after wholesale clearances. They have no tryue NEW stock ever.

I was more referring to GAME in this case although CEX do acquire some new stock which is usually dead stock from a variety of other sources. It's not in their publicised business model but a few of their 'flagship' stores have sold clutter from the likes of HMV and WH Smith.

[crunchyfrog]

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

crunchyfrog の投稿を引用：

Sorry but you are quite wrong.

CEX "new" unused stock is only the games that go up after wholesale clearances. They have no tryue NEW stock ever.

I was more referring to GAME in this case although CEX do acquire some new stock which is usually dead stock from a variety of other sources. It's not in their publicised business model but a few of their 'flagship' stores have sold clutter from the likes of HMV and WH Smith.

Yes, that's the sort of stuff I was talking about!

Yeah, I'm sorry, I wanted to clear that up in case anyone read this and thought otherwise - you know how I am for cracking on misinformation.

No worries then.

[J4MESOX4D]

crunchyfrog の投稿を引用：

J4MESOX4D の投稿を引用：

I was more referring to GAME in this case although CEX do acquire some new stock which is usually dead stock from a variety of other sources. It's not in their publicised business model but a few of their 'flagship' stores have sold clutter from the likes of HMV and WH Smith.

Yes, that's the sort of stuff I was talking about!

Yeah, I'm sorry, I wanted to clear that up in case anyone read this and thought otherwise - you know how I am for cracking on misinformation.

No worries then.

No worries and sorry if I wasn't clear!