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Should I feel guilty about buying CDKEYS off certain websites...?
- Thread starter Liquid Plejades
- Start date
There are a lot more than that, any site listed on isthereanydeal.com or gg.deals is an official reseller.
Considering how MS screwed me over on my Windows Pro licence upgrade the last time, I have zero qualms about buying my Windows keys from Kinguin until the end of time.
You are spreading misinformation and are bordering on slander here with the "not-so-legal" allegations. They work with hundreds of publishers directly, including 2K, Warner, Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Bethesda: https://www.greenmangaming.com/publishers-and-developers/.
I like to use http://isthereanydeal.com/ which will check various sites to find you the lowest price. They don't include cdkeys and G2A in their results, or any other shady sites.
I was literally reading about this yesterday, also lol, slander.
That said, I checked up on it just now, and they seem to have been reinstated on /gamedeals a little over a year ago, after sending proof of how they do business, as well as recently starting to identify where all of their keys came from as well as the exact date that customers can expect to receive the key . None of this is in any way hidden and you can easily google for it. I was also surprised at the accusations, since I've been using their services for a while.
So, and this has nothing to do with your post, my knowledge of them being banned was outdated, and this seems to no longer be the case. Disregard my post.
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G2A is pretty much no questions asked as far as where the keys come from, to the point that they sell "insurance" for just in case the keys you buy get revoked.
When people have bothered to actually trace back where G2A keys come from, it's been proven that the site is used for things like money laundering.
I got most of my pre-orders on the same day. So i would not count on preload. That's the price you pay for not paying the full price ;)
I buy off CD Keys all the time i go wherever i can find the cheapest price.
Never pay MSRP for a fucking windows key.
I love Kinguin. I've directed at least 8-9 friends there to get a windows key when they were building a PC.
Never pay MSRP for a fucking windows key.
We had this kind of thread before - I can't find it again but there was also someone posting who was selling big amounts of keys to sites like cdkeys. He said those were legit pre-order keys sent out to bolster pre-order numbers for the publishers - especially if those are not where publishers want them to be.
You don't have to feel bad by ordering at cdkeys and some other sellers but don't buy at g2a and other places - those keys are often not legit and might even be revoked by steam later.
You don't have to feel bad by ordering at cdkeys and some other sellers but don't buy at g2a and other places - those keys are often not legit and might even be revoked by steam later.
Did they pivot? GMG at least used to be present in authorized reseller lists
CDkeys really doesn't ask questions, either.
It just rolls the insurance cost in the baseline
GMG is an authorized seller for most companies, but not for others.
Definitely wouldn't compare them to G2A, Kinguin, or CDKeys
"Everything else" includes places like Humble and Fanatical which are not what I would call shady.
CDKeys is grey-area but pretty legit. G2A and Kinguin is straight-out piracy and should not get advocated, especially not on Era.
I got a Rocksmith Steam key off G2A last night and I've had no issues since. I typically buy from CDKeys but the last time I purchased a key from them, it was region-locked even though the listing stated it being a worldwide key.
It took them a month to get me my refund. Kind of soured on them at the moment.
It took them a month to get me my refund. Kind of soured on them at the moment.
I recently bought 5 years of PS Plus for 27 dollars a year. All five worked, so I assume they're legit. My only fear was that the price was so cheap cause they knew Sony was killing PS Plus, which was a silly fear.
Depends on how the keys are sourced. Try to do some research on the seller first.
There have been incidents with marketplace sites like G2A and Kinguin. Maybe the key you're buying is legitimately sourced, maybe it's not.
Use https://gg.deals/ for games.
CDKeys is the least sketchy keyshop. I have not heard of any foul play, but you still don't know the source.
Surely if it was as bad as G2A and Kinguin we would've heard about it. On GGDeals, 1 risk is listed, vs 4 and 8 for the others.
Just less overarching sense of sketchiness.
There have been incidents with marketplace sites like G2A and Kinguin. Maybe the key you're buying is legitimately sourced, maybe it's not.
Use https://gg.deals/ for games.
CDKeys is the least sketchy keyshop. I have not heard of any foul play, but you still don't know the source.
A perception based on CDKeys having operated for a long time without any reported incidents (at least as far as I'm aware.)
Surely if it was as bad as G2A and Kinguin we would've heard about it. On GGDeals, 1 risk is listed, vs 4 and 8 for the others.
Just less overarching sense of sketchiness.
The awkward thing is that the industry will say things like this until it needs a sponsor for an esports team, or a streaming event, or a conference, and they're back on board.
I don't use the sites myself, but it's hard to muster up moral outrage towards individuals who do when companies like Riot, Valve, Blizzard, Amazon, etc. are all willing to do business with them.
If it is within reason that a pub/dev could prevent the stores from being used, and they choose not to, then I wouldn't get too bothered about using them. Depending on where the store is located that may be difficult but that would factor into my decision making.
CDKeys is a store where they sell keys which they have sourced on their own (usually by buying the games in cheaper countries and scanning the keys).
G2A / Kinguin a marketplaces where anonymous users are selling keys that are often obtained in illegal ways in example by stealing or credit card fraud.
Both variations are not authorized dealers but you can be sure that CDKeys are original keys while G2A/Kinguin is pretty often a straight-out stolen or pirated key.
Imho the best way is to stick to authorized dealers tho so you don't have to wonder if something is still within the grey-market range or already completely illegal.
I've never had an issue with CDKeys the official site. Everything has always worked and I even got refunds for a couple of games I didn't like or didn't work well. I haven't ussed them in awhile since they really seem to mainly be European only region now for a lot of games.
My news were outdated :) They were banned somewhere before 2018/19 due to a big kerfuffle about their keys, repeated complaints and non-working codes, then got back in again after finally, after months of back and forth, providing proof of some sort. They now apparently can be linked on r/gamedeals again, I didn't find anything more recent.
It's probably been 7 years since I've bought XBL Gold anywhere other than CD Keys. It's actually like half the price of the RRP here
As far as I know, gmg has always been a licensed reseller, with the exception of witcher 3 codes. CDPR refused to give them codes for some reason, so they went around them and bought them from a different licensed seller. CDPR made a huge stink about it, and gmg got pulled from certain unofficial "licensed sellers" lists for a bit.
The keys were all official, fully paid for, from the correct region, etc., and gmg have promised not to do it again.
OP
OP
I got a serial number after I purchased it, entered it on my adobe account and it gave me a year of sub time.
I did it two times and i felt dirty after that, but the last time not so much because it was a Konami game.