Is it legal to resale spare Steam keys you own?

[Waifu4Life]

Going to be straight, I buy games on Steam that will most likely never see the light of day on other platforms like GOG and Itch. By doing so, I often end up with spare Steam keys that I'll never use since this was a bonus when buying from those other platforms. So I was wondering if it was legit or not to resale unused keys since sites that sell them are often frown upon?

Cheers

[max]

I think it is not illegal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Steam Subscriber Agreement

🔗 https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement

[SLAYER187]

pc games can be aquired without keys all day lol i only buy from steam now but just sayin that any site that still uses keys i do not want them period.

[DiceDsx]

You cannot resell them:

2. LICENSES ⏶

A. General Content and Services License

Steam and your Subscription(s) require the download and installation of Content and Services onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use

[Waifu4Life]

Originally posted by DiceDsx:

You cannot resell them:

2. LICENSES ⏶

A. General Content and Services License

Steam and your Subscription(s) require the download and installation of Content and Services onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use

But that's Steam T&C, if the keys come from Itch, do you think that still applies?

[Radene]

Originally posted by DiceDsx:

You cannot resell them:

2. LICENSES ⏶

A. General Content and Services License

Steam and your Subscription(s) require the download and installation of Content and Services onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use

That goes for the ones you acquire from Valve. The ones acquired elsewhere have their own terms.

In short - Valve can't tell me what I can or can't do with a key I got from Fanatical. Only Fanatical can.

[DiceDsx]

Originally posted by Radene:

In short - Valve can't tell me what I can or can't do with a key I got from Fanatical. Only Fanatical can.

From Fanatical ToS:

PLEASE NOTE THAT TO INSTALL THE PRODUCT, SERIAL KEYS WILL REQUIRE ACCESS TO THE RELEVANT THIRD PARTY PLATFORM SUCH AS STEAM, UPLAY, ROCKSTAR, ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE, ARC, EPIC, BETHESDA, ORIGIN etc.

All products which are purchased via our website and redeemed via third party platforms are subject to licence terms covered by their individual terms of service. By downloading and using a product, you agree to their licence terms.

[cinedine]

Originally posted by DiceDsx:

You cannot resell them:

2. LICENSES ⏶

A. General Content and Services License

Steam and your Subscription(s) require the download and installation of Content and Services onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a non-exclusive license and right, to use the Content and Services for your personal, non-commercial use

"Non-commercial" doesn't mean "don't ever sell them". It means don't make a business selling them. There is nothing wrong with selling your surplus occasionally as a private person.

[Spawn of Totoro]

It is not legal, nor illegal. It is a grey area and at your own risk.

The rest depends on where you purchased it and what you agree to when purchasing it there.

[Waifu4Life]

Originally posted by DiceDsx:

From Fanatical ToS:

PLEASE NOTE THAT TO INSTALL THE PRODUCT, SERIAL KEYS WILL REQUIRE ACCESS TO THE RELEVANT THIRD PARTY PLATFORM SUCH AS STEAM, UPLAY, ROCKSTAR, ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE, ARC, EPIC, BETHESDA, ORIGIN etc.

All products which are purchased via our website and redeemed via third party platforms are subject to licence terms covered by their individual terms of service. By downloading and using a product, you agree to their licence terms.

Can't seem to find the same type of policies on Itch.io: https://itch.io/docs/legal/terms

Originally posted by cinedine:

"Non-commercial" doesn't mean "don't ever sell them". It means don't make a business selling them. There is nothing wrong with selling your surplus occasionally as a private person.

Sort of remind me of games that came bundled with a console and said "not for resale" on the box. That was obviously meant for stores, but not really for consumers who bought the console and then sold the game.

[J4MESOX4D]

If you have legitimate spare keys then you could probably sell to friends privately and securely. Once you start going down the commercial route i.e selling online then you put yourself at risk of getting scammed, being branded a scammer or getting embroiled with chargeback issues and you have no protection.

[DiceDsx]

Originally posted by cinedine:

"Non-commercial" doesn't mean "don't ever sell them". It means don't make a business selling them. There is nothing wrong with selling your surplus occasionally as a private person.

I thought about Humble Bundle (which is very strict about the "don't sell keys" part) and the whole "grey market" debate.

That's why I thought "non-commercial" directly meant "don't sell keys".

[Waifu4Life]

I guess this topic is pointless since I've just checked the biggest sites where you can resale your keys and they seem to be more focused on AAA titles, not indie games. Guess I'll look on trading sites instead, maybe I can get a couple of games for them.

Cheers

[Radene]

Originally posted by DiceDsx:

Originally posted by Radene:

In short - Valve can't tell me what I can or can't do with a key I got from Fanatical. Only Fanatical can.

From Fanatical ToS:

PLEASE NOTE THAT TO INSTALL THE PRODUCT, SERIAL KEYS WILL REQUIRE ACCESS TO THE RELEVANT THIRD PARTY PLATFORM SUCH AS STEAM, UPLAY, ROCKSTAR, ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE, ARC, EPIC, BETHESDA, ORIGIN etc.

All products which are purchased via our website and redeemed via third party platforms are subject to licence terms covered by their individual terms of service. By downloading and using a product, you agree to their licence terms.

Of course. That was just an example. My point was, you need to follow the terms of where you both the keys from, not Valve's terms (unless that's where you bought the keys from)