Redeem key to gift copy?

[Arno]

I'm 100% sure this has already been asked an answered a million times, but I can't find anything in the search and it's something I've always wondered about.

How come, when you redeem a key for a game that you already own, it just says "you already own this game, you can't use this key" rather than adding it to your account as a gift? I wouldn't say it's really a practical problem, 'cause obviously if I have the key I can just gift that to the person and they can redeem it themselves, but there are advantages to having that transaction happen within the Steam ecosystem.

For example, if I have a Steam key that I want to exchange for something else, I have to have some kind of trust relationship with the other party, where they believe that my key is valid. That, or I have to give them the key first so they can redeem it, then hope they follow through with their side of the bargain. On the other hand, if I could convert that key into an inventory gift, we could use Steam's built-in trade offer system to trade the items without worry about scamming.

So that's my argument in favor of being able to redeem keys to your inventory; what's the counter-argument?

[LowJack_VA1]

You can't save gift copies to your inventory anymore, too many people were abusing it.

[Arno]

Originally posted by LowJack_VA1:

You can't save gift copies to your inventory anymore, too many people were abusing it.

Well yeah, I figured it'd be something like that, but how? I mean, I have the key, right, so I already have a copy of the game. What's the difference between having it in key form versus inventory item form?

[HLCinSC]

Originally posted by LowJack_VA1:

You can't save gift copies to your inventory anymore, too many people were abusing it.

I think he's talking about redeeming a key from a third party site to a gift in your inventory, which I don't think has ever been the case for a whole host of reasons from fraud to financial/business reasons to customer service issues and more.

[999999999]

Adding a CD key never gave you and inventory stored game gift. Keys purchased from other sites have only 1 purpose and that is to be redeemed for a game on that account and nothing more. They have no other purpose.

[wuddih]

neither steam keys not steam gifts are tradable items on Steam. they do not fit into a trade window. gifting is not trading. you also need the same trust for a steam gift as for a key.

[Arno]

Originally posted by CharlestONE:

I think he's talking about redeeming a key from a third party site to a gift in your inventory

Yeah, like when I get extra keys from Humble Bundle or something like that.

Originally posted by CharlestONE:

which I don't think has ever been the case for a whole host of reasons from fraud to financial/business reasons to customer service issues and more.

As far as I know, you're right...it's never been the case. I'm just curious as to why that is.

Let's try asking this question from the other direction. Imagine for a minute that it did work: you could redeem a key for a game you already have and get a giftable copy of that game in your inventory. Now, how could I use that ability to abuse the system or defraud someone?

[Arno]

Originally posted by wuddih:

neither steam keys not steam gifts are tradable items on Steam. they do not fit into a trade window. gifting is not trading. you also need the same trust for a steam gift as for a key.

We must be talking about different things with the same terminology then, because I tested it before I wrote the original post, just to make sure I was illustrating a valid use case. I opened up a new Trade Offer, picked one of my friends, set my inventory section to "Steam > Gifts", and dragged a game into the trade contents area.

[HLCinSC]

Short answer: Steam cannot verify the key was bought legitimately and it would hurt steam's gifting bottom line.

[Arno]

Originally posted by CharlestONE:

Short answer: Steam cannot verify the key was bought legitimately and it would hurt steam's gifting bottom line.

Hmm...I suppose, but I'm not sure it's really solving a problem. I mean, if the problem is not being able to verify the legality of the key, you're going to run into that same problem whether I redeem it and then gift the game out, or just send the key to the recipient and they redeem it themselves.

As far as hurting their bottom line, the key is already acquired; if the concern is loss of a sale, well, that sale's already lost. I guess you could argue that they just consider third-party key sites to be inherently undesirable to their bottom line, but then why have a key redemption infrastructure at all?

[DareN]

?

[wind_candle]

Steam keys are a way to help developers run their own digital or retail business with matching offers on Steam. Steam does not sell keys, nor profit from them, why should they ever let you transfer a product you bought elsewhere for use with Steam's own services?