Bought steam key off-site, returns duplicate product error : buyer needs info from Steam

[Naryar]

Hello there,

I have purchased a few days ago Steam keys off-site for Cities : Skylines and a few DLC. All of them work fine except for one (for Natural Disasters DLC) which did not, and gave me a duplicate product error.

I am currently in contact with G2A's customer service to solve the issue and they are asking me to contact Steam support to know when was that code first redeemed. Can anyone help me with finding out that ? I'd post screenshots of the issue here but on second thought, I'd rather not post private screenshots in a public forum, and even less screenshots with Steam keys.

Thanks for your help.

[Paratech2008]

That's a scam site that Valve doesn't like discussed in the forums.

[rawWwRrr]

Naryar님이 먼저 게시:

I am currently in contact with G2A's customer service to solve the issue and they are asking me to contact Steam support to know when was that code first redeemed. Can anyone help me with finding out that ?

Steam Support isn't going to give you that information, and G2A CS already knows this. Issue a chargeback if possible and stop buying keys from there.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

You were scammed and now you're being brushed off by the seller. Steam will provide no such information as it wasn't purchased from them and you are not the original purchaser of the key.

[Your Mom's Oshi]

You gave money to a scammer and they are trying to deflect your attention to steam. Learn to verify that a retailer is legitimate before ever making a purchase.

[Paratech2008]

They don't get the keys from the people selling the games in the first place and are ripping them off.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

Paratech2008님이 먼저 게시:

They don't get the keys from the people selling the games in the first place and are ripping them off.

Stop shilling. Keys come from publishers one way or another, someone might have gotten them from another party who purchased them from a publisher.

If there's an issue, you always got the almighty charge back.

Ironic to tell someone else not to shill while shilling.

[Pscht]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

Stop shilling. Keys come from publishers one way or another, someone might have gotten them from another party who purchased them from a publisher.

If there's an issue, you always got the almighty charge back.

Defending a company that is so bad, multiple developers have told people to rather pirate than give them money. That's rich.

[LowJack_VA1]

I've noticed OP stopped responding , so I'm unsubscribing.

[ReBoot]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

Pscht님이 먼저 게시:

Defending a company that is so bad, multiple developers have told people to rather pirate than give them money. That's rich.

If it works, it works, if it doesn't, then charge back. It's obvious that you take a little bit of a risk when purchasing these keys, but when they work, you end up saving money. Why should I care if someone resells a key they bought from someone who purchased it from the publisher directly? The publisher got paid when the initial key was sold to the first buyer. If someone bulk buys some keys 2nd hand, they were still keys the publisher got paid for.

If it works but screws over (indie) devs, than "if it works it works" is somewhere between ignorant & short-sighted.
If a kid y is obtained through payment fraud & then sold on G2A, it costs the (indie) dev more, than piracy.

[ReBoot]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

ReBoot님이 먼저 게시:

If it works but screws over (indie) devs, than "if it works it works" is somewhere between ignorant & short-sighted.
If a kid y is obtained through payment fraud & then sold on G2A, it costs the (indie) dev more, than piracy.

We don't know for a fact the keys were fraudulently obtained.

EXACTLY! We, as G2A users, can't know this. As such, it's impossible to avoid fraudulently obtained keys. I mean, if the likes of ActiBlizz/Kotick lose a few bucks, who cares, amorite? But when I die deutsche vs suffer, it's real people suffering.

[ReBoot]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

Here's the way i see it, if the keys were fraudulently obtained, then the publisher can and should void those keys

You're simplifying things a bit.
1. Not all devs got the infrastructure in place to invalidate keys
2. devs STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE PAYMENT FRAUD USED TO OBTAIN THOSE KEYS!

Your reasoning stands with PUBLISHERS. Big companies with crapton of money basically lying around with dedicated lawyer teams. Unless you're a soulless corporate drone yourself, you should be able to recognize the existence of small groups of people or singular people greating games. A three-heads team doesn't have a department dedicated to payment frauds and other legal issues. To them, every fraudulently obtained key is an actual ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem, not something you wink off as "yeah, let's pass that to our legal guys and let them handle this".

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

I've purchased 3 keys from G2A, never had a problem

When indie devs speak out against G2A preferring people to pirate their games, it's about indie devs suffering. Not about you. There's things happening that don't affect you, there's things happening outside of what you see. It doesn't make them any less real.

Anyway, indie devs have spoken out against G2A, favoring piracy. Quite frankly, I'm more inclined to believe the ones who are actually affected over believing your "formally, it's a solved problem". I mean, it's not like I don't understand you. Formally, the solution is absolutely clear. It's just that it still comes with costs in reality and real costs is what we actually have to pay, not formal costs.

[Crazy Tiger]

OP, as others have said you won't be getting that info from Steam support. That the support of a site asks you for info they know you won't get, should tell you something about that site.

These kind of threads pop up quite regularly (second one this week), that too should tell you something.

[ReBoot]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

You're making this about indie devs specifically, even though I wasn't referring to them categorically.

Becuse they're the victims here. Framing a topic in the light of it's victims is a classic discussion technique. Disregarding the harm something does, on the other hand, can easily be used to justify anything, really. I mean, were WW1 and WW2 really THAT bad, if you disregard those killed/maimed/traumatized?

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

Nearly all of the keys I buy are for AAA games, and long after launch date, like 1-2 years after games typically get all their patches and DLC, and are hugely discounted.

I PERSONALLY don't give a toot about A publishers suffering from grey market resellers. The likes of EA, ActiBlizz, Take2, 2k, Gearbox, Bethesda (have I forgotten anyone?) are pretty open with their "as long as our means are legal, not care how they are immoral" prerogative so ♥♥♥♥ them, really.

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

However, I don't typically buy indie games at all anymore, and can categorically say I've never purchased a key for an indie game off G2A if that makes you happy.

It's not so much about making me happy. It's about me saying "indie devs suffer" then you saying "nah, it's a solved problem". Let's just agree on "it's a solved problem for big companies, not a solved problem for game devs in general", shall we?

[ReBoot]

Ah, now I see the problem:

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

I to be a champ for them too, until more recent years, where indie developers are not coming up with anything new, just lower quality stuff of what we've seen before, regurgitated. They're now less about pushing innovation and new ideas, and thinking out of the box, and more about pushing the same old, same old. Sorry, but I don't really care if they're victims.

you don't care about "X being a victim of Y->Y is a problem", it's SPEFICICALLY about indie devs for you.
That's your problem, really. Your personal bone you have to pick personally with indies is your personal problem. To me, I couldn't care less if it's indie devs suffering from G2A, or hairdressers or car mechanics. To me, "[Insert a group not having the legal ressources to make it a non-issue here] is suffering from G2A/grey market sites in general" is enough reason to be at least skeptical if not outright dismissal of G2A/grey market sites in general. It's great you are fine with indie devs suffering, but that's your problem. To the rest of mankind, it's just a "[Insert a group not having the legal ressources to make it a non-issue here] is suffering from G2A/grey market sites in general".

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

You're trying really hard to make me care

No, I am not. But you're trying hard to make this about you. It is not. I don't give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about your quarrel with indie devs. I very much give a ♥♥♥♥ about you saying "it's a non-issue" BECAUSE IT IS!

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Hero of Kenosha님이 먼저 게시:

ReBoot님이 먼저 게시:

You're simplifying things a bit.
1. Not all devs got the infrastructure in place to invalidate keys
2. devs STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE PAYMENT FRAUD USED TO OBTAIN THOSE KEYS!

Your reasoning stands with PUBLISHERS. Big companies with crapton of money basically lying around with dedicated lawyer teams. Unless you're a soulless corporate drone yourself, you should be able to recognize the existence of small groups of people or singular people greating games. A three-heads team doesn't have a department dedicated to payment frauds and other legal issues. To them, every fraudulently obtained key is an actual ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem, not something you wink off as "yeah, let's pass that to our legal guys and let them handle this".
When indie devs speak out against G2A preferring people to pirate their games, it's about indie devs suffering. Not about you suffering. Not everything revolves around you, there's things happening outside of what you see. It doesn't make them any less real.

Anyway, indie devs have spoken out against G2A, favoring piracy. Quite frankly, I'm more inclined to believe the ones who are actually affected over believing your blinder perspective.

You're making this about indie devs specifically, even though I wasn't referring to them categorically.

You want my honest opinion, so I'm gonna give it so you stop setting goal posts on indie devs - There's too many trash indie games out there, basically shovelware trash with a few gems in the mix (like Hades), and in recent years indie devs have honestly gotten as bad or worse than AAA devs. So, just to be blunt, indie devs by and large are also on my s*** list.

However, I don't typically buy indie games at all anymore, and can categorically say I've never purchased a key for an indie game off G2A if that makes you happy.

Nearly all of the keys I buy are for AAA games, and long after launch date, like 1-2 years after games typically get all their patches and DLC, and are hugely discounted.

Oh and what about the swarm of trash AAA games that have come out? You're fine with paying 70 bucks for those because they've got "LOOK AT THIS BIG NAME YOU WANT THIS GAME" tied to it? Buying on G2A ACTIVELY supports a marketplace that doesn't even care how keys are obtained, whether or not you've purchased shady keys or not.

It's like supporting the CSGO gambling sites because "I've never been scammed" meanwhile thousands of people get their accounts emptied by them.