G2A

[MaxBunny]

What you just said couldn't be anymore wrong sir.

"Got working keys so they're legit" is not a valid argument ya know.

[watts300]

G2A Sheild is a bit absurd. And as an extension, the site.

Let's pretend that you asked me to sell you a brand new ball point pen.

I said "Okay. I've got one for half price, but, it might not have any ink in it. I know whether or not it has ink, but you don't. So if you give me a little bit more money, if it turns out the pen I hand you you has no ink, I'll hand you another one at no additional charge."

If I said that to some one and tried to be serious about it, I'd be laughed out of town.

Forget G2A and forget their shoddy business practices.

[MaxBunny]

snip

They actually don't know if the items they sell work or not because they don't get keys from the publishers. So instead of going to publishers and saying "hey, we want to sell your games and you get a cut!" like all legitimate retailers do (publishers get $0 off of g2a sales) they push the costs onto the users via a fraudulent insurance program. Under EU (and probably US) laws they're required to provide working products to customers. Whether or not they have a legal claim to resell products in bulk without permission from the publishers, yet another matter. They think that hiding their servers in China means they can do whatever **** they want but fortunately they're based in Poland.

 

So it's not that they know whether or not it has ink/works, but that they cannot get a replacement key if it didn't work. Not to mention that G2A Shield is users paying them to use Teamviewer and activate the key themselves on your computer. That's how shoddy their system actually is. That's also the 'charging people for something that's a free right guaranteed under law' violation, in addition to simply being their "it either works or doesn't" violation. 2 separate prosecutable violations. ^^

 

All the supporters are saying is "we support stores who violate all of our consumer rights that protect us and all of the rights of every IP owner everywhere...as long as they're cheap and they work!" I just need to get in contact with the right authorities and you'll see what I mean. Their online systems are rather poor though. :unsure:

[That Norwegian Guy]

I stopped using them when they started only accepting PayPal, as I will never give any money to that filth.

 

Luckily, there are other key sites that more often than not cheaper than G2A. What G2A usually has though is cheap Windows keys, but less commonly recently.

[leelaa14]

"Got working keys so they're legit" is not a valid argument ya know.

Like i said..you are wrong. If what they do is illegal then why haven't they been taken to court? why hasn't there site been taken down or blocked by isp's? use your head. What they do is just as illegal as ebay... personally they have a good record...thousands upon thousands of games are sold there every day and a few of them come back as "not working) every now and then....weather you like it or not they have a good record considering it's a marketplace.

[leelaa14]

They actually don't know if the items they sell work or not because they don't get keys from the publishers. So instead of going to publishers and saying "hey, we want to sell your games and you get a cut!" like all legitimate retailers do (publishers get $0 off of g2a sales) they push the costs onto the users via a fraudulent insurance program. Under EU (and probably US) laws they're required to provide working products to customers. Whether or not they have a legal claim to resell products in bulk without permission from the publishers, yet another matter. They think that hiding their servers in China means they can do whatever **** they want but fortunately they're based in Poland.

 

So it's not that they know whether or not it has ink/works, but that they cannot get a replacement key if it didn't work. Not to mention that G2A Shield is users paying them to use Teamviewer and activate the key themselves on your computer. That's how shoddy their system actually is. That's also the 'charging people for something that's a free right guaranteed under law' violation, in addition to simply being their "it either works or doesn't" violation. 2 separate prosecutable violations. ^^

 

All the supporters are saying is "we support stores who violate all of our consumer rights that protect us and all of the rights of every IP owner everywhere...as long as they're cheap and they work!" I just need to get in contact with the right authorities and you'll see what I mean. Their online systems are rather poor though. :unsure:

Like all legitimate retailers do...here's something for yeah..yeno all the used games that get sold in game shops (pre owned) the publishers get nothing for it. Thats why they had all of the online passes etc on console.

All they're doing to pc is what they tried to do to console but failed.

But you think it's ok for them to do it to us....well done sir. good game.

To put it in perspective...On console you can go to a game shop, buy a pre owned game and theres a chance it wont work as it may be scratched or damaged....

can you go to the publisher about this..no you got to the seller.

On pc you can go to g2a and buy a key and yes..there is a chance it may not work....do you go to the publisher about this...no you go to the seller.

It's that simple.

[MaxBunny]

Like i said..you are wrong. If what they do is illegal then why haven't they been taken to court? why hasn't there site been taken down or blocked by isp's? use your head. What they do is just as illegal as ebay...It's idiots like you that give the company a bad game...personally they have a good record...thousands upon thousands of games are sold there every day and a few of them come back as "not working) every now and then....weather you like it or not they have a good record considering it's a marketplace.

Nice ad hominem there. It's really the best you can do since you still have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. The reason they haven't been taken to court is because their effy jurisdictions and evasion. I can personally take them down once I get into contact with the correct authorities. I'm trying to but the contact forms keep on having technical difficulties.

 

The problem is exactly that they are NOT Ebay. Ebay is a company that lets people sell their wares and has regulations on what can be sold through their service. G2A is a company that actually sells stuff themselves, while also opening up a blackmarket for users that's in violation of the Steam terms of service itself. The big difference is that as a business they are not allowed to sell anything they get their hands on. Wal-Mart can't sell GTA V without Rockstar's authorization. But according to your incorrect logic, Wal-Mart could sell any product without consent of the owners just because you can sell your used DVD to a friend/pawn shop.

 

It's simple-minded thinking like this that you either are unwilling to accept or unwilling to understand that make you completely wrong. None of your explanations address anything having to do with legalities. They're all anecdotal based on you the individual. You have rights as an individual that you would not be able to do as a company/business. This is called "regulation". When you're dealing with certain products or a certain quantity of products you're required by law to follow regulations.

 

This is where you and many others get lost, which is fine except for the fact that you continue arguing against it as if emotional appeals have any merit. They do not. You can continue them but unless you have something of actual value to add I'll ignore any further disagreements from you since continuing to explain the actual case seems to be a waste of time. Not agreeing with something is not the same thing as said something being wrong. That's a common fallacious method of thinking. "If I'm not convinced then it's not true!" - If you don't care then you don't care. But you should attempt to wrap your head around the entire picture instead of the 1-2 pieces you think go together.

[typographie]

If what they do is illegal then why haven't they been taken to court?

 

What they're doing is technically legal, but there is a possibility that they are facilitating some illegal behavior. G2A thrives on the fact that they don't actually have a way of knowing if the keys being sold on their site are fraudulent or not, until the next time a major publisher invalidates a couple thousand keys.

 

That said, I think there's a lot of people on both sides overstating their case in this thread. Most buyers will have a successful and positive experience with G2A—except all the ones that don't. It's a risk, which is why it's wise to avoid G2A unless you're comfortable taking that risk. For that matter, there have been more than enough cases of issues with these grey-market resellers to know that they are not "legit [sic]," and a few individual posters having fine personal experiences doesn't mean a damned thing.

[jay bee are]

Buy at your own risk.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/LeszekLisowski/20141001/226840/

 

Several developers have publicly stated they will not honor keys bought from G2A

 

G2A has a long history of buying stolen keys, tricking devs into sending them keys, spamming and using sock puppets to create a false impression

that they are 100% legit.

 

The reason developers are not suspending more keys then they have is they always end up being painted as the bad guy

it's just easier and better for their image to just take the loss and move on.

 

G2A is also a master at guerilla marketing and sock puppeting on forums like this to keep their image clean

it also helps that they have appealed to the greed of Youtubers like Jackfrags and Levelcap to make them look 100% legit

on the eyes of the gaming community.

 

A good number of gamers are also willing to look the other way if it gets them dirt cheap games.