You may notice we occasionally recommend deals from key resellers. You may ask yourself, is it safe to buy games from key resellers?
It can be, but it can also be an easy way to get scammed. We are going to go over a few simple rules today that will make it much safer for you to buy games from key resellers.
Recently Gog has warned people about buying Cyberpunk keys from resellers. There have been reports of key resellers selling the same, invalid, key multiple times. There have also been reports of people selling keys bought with a stolen credit card. When the card was reported stolen, and the transaction reverse, the game disappeared from people’s library. Does that make all key resellers bad?
I have bought many game keys from games from key resellers. I often use sites such as Eneba, G2A, and Kinguin to purchase games. In the hundreds of games I have bought from resellers, I have only had one key the failed to work.
Today we will go over the best practices to make it safe to buy games from key resellers.
Authorized Sellers and Key Resellers
The first thing we need to do is establish the difference between Authorized Sellers and Key Resellers.
Authorized sellers receive the keys that they sell directly from game publishers. A couple examples of authorized resellers are Steam, Epic Games Store, Fanatical, Humble Bundle, Gamesbillet, and Green Man Gaming.
These are all excellent sellers and you most likely will never have any problems purchasing from them. While reliable, they are not always the best bargain. Sometimes key resellers are much lower than Authorized sellers (they are also sometimes higher).
A Key Reseller is like an online marketplace for game keys. When you select a game, you will be able to choose from several sellers selling the game for different prices. In this case you are buying from an individual who has an extra key they aren’t going to use, and they are selling.
A few good examples of Key Resellers are G2A, Eneba, Kinguin, and CDkeys. All of the examples listed beforehand, I have used with virtually no problems. Eneba is the lowest rated of the 4. I have bought around 100 keys from them, and of those I’ve had one that didn’t work *the only one I’ve had that didn’t work from a reseller*.
There are hundreds of key resellers online. Some are more reliable than others. Let’s take a look at how to make it safe to buy games from key resellers.
How to make it Safe To Buy Games From Key Resellers
I often see two pieces of advice given that aren’t always accurate or good.
1. If you see a price lower than all the other prices, it’s probably a scam.
2. Never buy from someone if you’ve never bought from them before.
Number one is true most of the time, but not always. I have sometimes bought games for less than a dollar that or $10 or $20 other places. You do have to be careful though. There are a good number of scams selling pirated games, and you want to avoid those.
Number two is ridiculous. If you never buy from someone you’ve never bought from before, you will never buy from anyone.
The first thing to do before buying from a key reseller, is find a list of creditable resellers. Luckily there is a relatively easy way to do this using a couple of tools.
Allkeysshop.com is a good source for information about key resellers. If you go to allkeysshop.com and search for popular game, for instance Red Dead Redemption 2, it will list all the sellers (authorized and key resellers). Next to each seller will be a star rating.
GG.deals is another excellent tool for looking for key resellers. Search for a popular game on gg.deals. It will list Authorized Sellers, and below that it will list Key Resellers. If a Key Reseller is not listed on GG.deals, I wouldn’t even consider buying from them.
The final method I would use is Google site reviews. This, in my opinion, is actually the least reliable because it can be easily manipulated. It can be useful however, if you combine it with the other sites listed above.
After you find a reputable key reselling site, you need to find a reputable key reseller. Most key reseller sites will have the sellers rated. I recommend never buy with anyone rated less than a 99% rating.
Also watch out for extra fees. Many key reselling sites have boxes that are automatically checked to add extra fees, or even reoccurring charges to your transaction (yikes!). Go slow and make sure you pay attention to everything.
Make all purchases with a credit card, or with Paypal. That way if a key doesn’t work, you can refute the transaction with your payment provider.
Following these steps will help minimize your risk and make it safe to buy games from key resellers.
Summary
Buying from key resellers doesn’t have to be risky. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can eliminate the risk and make it safe to buy games from key resellers.
Also, if you find yourself constantly running out of space, make sure to read our article “How To Build a Gaming Nas!“.
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All great advices! and so true, if you don’t buy from anyone new… you’ll never buy! That goes for everything, and it makes for boring. So right about those google manipulations too. Thanks for the specific examples tho, useful, very useful!
No problem! Follow the tips and you are relatively buying a key from a reseller.
This is very helpful, thanks. I was wary about buying from a reseller, but the sites you’ve linked to sound useful. I’ll make sure to pay with my credit card too!
Just make sure to check the reviews of any site you are going to purchase from like it says in the article. It can save you a headache.
Great idea. I will try To Buy Games From Key Resellers next time.
It can sometimes save some serious dough!
Thanks for the detailed coverage of the problem. I will be confident buying keys from resellers.
Your Quite welcome
Thank you for providing such thorough coverage of the issue. I’ll buy keys from resellers with confidence.
No Problem. Anything to make gaming cheaper for the masses
Those are pretty good guidelines to purchase a key from Key Reseller. I have also bought many games from websites like G2A, Kinguin, and a couple of others. All of them provides key and it always works. I didn’t know some of the guidelines that are included here and it’s going to be useful in my next purchase. Thanks, mate.
You may want to give eneba a try. They sometimes have better prices than the others, though the site itself is not rated quite as high as the ones you mentioned. I’ve always had good luck with them though.
I’m not exactly sure what type of key we’re talking about but you always need to be careful, especially with secondhand items.
We are talking about video game keys for PC gaming.
Been skeptical of key resellers but this article does a great job showcasing some of the various sites that are safe to buy from!
Nothing wrong with key reselllers. You just have to be careful on where you purchase from. Not all key resellers are created equally.
Interesting article. I’ve been considering buyings game keys for cheaper since games on Steam tend to be quite pricy, this comes in handy.
No Problem
Been scammed before buying keys so glad I found this to help that not happen in future 🙂
it’s really confident me to buy games from key resellers..i will be buy.thanks.
Interesting article. I’ve been considering buyings game keys
If this saves me money I’m actually going to try it. I’ve only heard of g2a but I wasn’t sure of how good it was, but thanks for the extra sites to check out 🙂
Wonderful article with actual keys on the proper ways of dealing with keys 😀. Thanks for sharing