Thankfully this hasn't happened to me (yet), but I was always curious about this scenario. Suppose you create a giveaway and you know for a fact the key was never used and comes from a good site (so odds of it being bad are close to zero). If the winner already traded the key or regifted it on another site, there's no way to know that someone else activated it. And as long the winner doesn't activate it on their account there's no hint that they may be lying. I guess the giveaway creator can then either deliver another key (I know at least one user who delivered a extra key even though she knew the first key was good), or let the winner mark as Not Received.

Is there anything else to do in such cases? Any point in reporting the incident and hope that Support would keep track of other similar reports against the same user? This info could be used to show there's a pattern to this behavior (justifying a ban).

O.GA

8 years ago

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I'd ask the guy to take screenshots of him trying to activate it on his account, complete with today's date and time in the screenshot.
If necessary, tell him you need the screenshots to get him another key from [insert site here].
He can still get around it by using a dupe key he already owns , but maybe it will let him know you don't believe him and maybe pressure him a little more to activate the key.

8 years ago
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Yes, but this won't help if he/she already traded or regifted the key on another site, and another user activated it.

8 years ago
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I that case, I think you'd be SOL unless support from the seller can help you ...

Had something similar happen a couple of months ago, bought two of the same game on the same day, created a ga for one and the winner said it was a dupe. Luckily (and coincidentally) I still had the other key and guess what? That one worked just fine, along with every other key I bought that day from that site, so yeah ... I knew it wasn't a dupe.

Fortunately I haven't had it happen since ...

8 years ago
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If you knew the first key wasn't a dupe, why give another? This basically means the winner received 2 keys - one to trade/sell/regift, and one for personal use.

8 years ago
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And what else was I going to do about it? My word against his as far as I can see.

I could have taken the "Not Received", I suppose, but I also like my profile neat and tidy. ;)

EDIT: as a sidenote -- I did screenshot the second conversation and sending the key, along with him saying it was the 2nd key, so if he tried to get a third, I had proof. ;)

8 years ago
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I doubt many would hold 1 "Not Received" in 482 giveaways against you, but I see your point. Personally, I would much rather take the "Not Received" than deliver something I paid for to such a user.

8 years ago
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The real kicker --. I had blacklisted the person after that exchange, and recently I wiped my blacklist except for a handful of particularly unsavory fellows. I had forgotten his sg name since then, though, and removed him, too. Oh well, live and learn ...

8 years ago
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Did you create a support ticket? You could look through your old tickets.

8 years ago
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No, sadly I didn't know I could report for that back then (and in fact, didn't know til today that I could ...)
On the plus side, every day is a learning experience, it seems. :)

8 years ago
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Aw, too bad. That's very true. ^^

8 years ago
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I know that (I'm in the same boat) but I still don't want it.

I will, however, contact support for feedback abuse if necessary.

8 years ago
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This hasn't happened to me on any GAs I have created, nor have I ever won a GA where the key was a dupe...However, there have been at least 1 time where a game i bought from Humble store(Not in a bundle) listed the key as a dupe and I had to contact support. Another time my GF purchased a bundlestars bundle, and all of the keys worked but one. It was a game she didn't care about, so she didnt bother contacting them, but stuff like that CAN happen...those are the only 2 occasions I can think of though where a key retailer provided a "Dupe key"(Authorized anyway..im sure it happens a lot on places like G2A)

8 years ago
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Yeah, I realize it can happen, but it'd have been the first time in about (at a conservative guess) 250+ keys I've purchased from the site (and it's an authorized reseller). Plus the 2nd key for the same game, purchased that same day, worked fine ... You can never be 100% sure, but I was pretty damned sure, if you know what I mean. ;)

Oh well, it would have been my word against his either way, so I just replaced the key and moved on. It was a bundle game, so I wasn't going to stress over it. I used to keep a simple text document with what keys I'd used for giveaways and that's all -- these days I keep a spreadsheet so I can add notes and such. :)

8 years ago
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I dunno...I think I would take the mark against me in that situation. If I was fairly certain it was a good key. Just for the principle of the situation. Most people on here thankfully aren't that way, even the rule breakers don't normally lie, they just don't activate the key. So it's unlikely it would happen more than once, and I doubt anyone would hold 1 mark against me....knock on wood.(Though who knows)

If that situation does ever arise for me, I most likely would stop making public GAs altogether and just stick to making group GAs and WL giveaways...that way the people entering them I would be fairly certain are honestish and decentish folk.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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Humble Support is willing to revoke keys passed to other users (other than the original owner)? I'm impressed.

8 years ago
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Yep. Most don't state that particular reason though, as HB will most certainly not appreciate it.

8 years ago
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might want to make it a gift url first, redeem it on another email. if you wanna be paranoid

8 years ago
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Strictly speaking, regifting keys without gift links is against their ToS (same for a bunch of other bundle sites). They just never enforce it because, well, they are also realistic.

8 years ago
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I think it's even more horrible if you discovered an old bundle you bought ages ago but you remember that you didn't activate games you wanna give away.
Anyone can just fool you and you will think that everything is okay because you can accept that you forgot that you gifted it to someone...

8 years ago
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You should check to know when the key was activated on account X by asking the Y game store if you have bought it directly from there.

8 years ago
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The store can provide this info? This would be the ultimate proof that the winner received a good key.

8 years ago
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I'm not sure because i haven't tested it yet but it seems ( refer to Tempete comment ) The website you have bought your keys from there can check the key situation.

If you prove the X or Y game store support team that you are the owner of the serial key and your key doesn't work now, they probably / certainly can check the key for you to find the reason.

8 years ago
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give him another.
report to support.
too many tickets for the same issue, he will be warned or suspended.

or
if possible, ask the key provider to disable the key and give you another. i think humble bundle could do that with some games.

8 years ago
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Any point in reporting the incident and hope that Support would keep track of other similar reports against the same user? This info could be used to show there's a pattern to this behavior (justifying a ban).

Yes, that. If it never happened before, we can't really do anything since they might be saying the truth, but you can try contacting the support from the website you got the key from.

8 years ago
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It hasn't happen to me yet, though I have an experience to receive an used key. The creator said it was from Groupees, never used, but the key didn't work. So we agreed to delete the GA, I don't know whether the creator contacted Groupees' support.
After story... the creator suggested me to select one of their spare games as a token of apology, I accepted a game which was free once, cannot be made as a GA here.
I always write down(Ctrl-V) keys from sellers not to make a mistake, but two times Bundle sites gave me bad keys. Fortunately, the bad keys were for me, not for GAs. I'm afraid sometimes such an accident happen to me, too. -_-a
And if I'm in such a shoe and absolutely sure of not-used key, I'll check winner's record first such as any rule-breaking, trading feedback etc. Next step will follow the result.

8 years ago*
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Contact winner, buy a new key and send via chat, require immediate activation. If winner still claims it's duplicate, report to support (may also request a new winner). If it's cheap enough I might buy a gift copy on Steam and send to them directly and blacklist them after confirming receipt.

I only reveal the keys to be given away when I was about to create the GA, so I have 99.8% confidence the key would be working.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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I've had it come up a couple times. Once I thought it was the winner but turns out I just done goofed, but if the key is cheap I give them another (and then blacklist if I suspect foul play). I've never had it be an issue; sometimes I "encourage" the winner to "try it again" and suddenly the problem goes away.

8 years ago*
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I don't see how anyone could ever know for sure that any key isn't a dupe. I think I have gotten at least 2 duplicates from good trustworthy sites.

8 years ago
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I'd immediately give the "bad" key to a friend to try (or try it myself if I didn't have that game).

If it works, at least your friend got the game and not the cheater.

8 years ago
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