I feel dumb and disappointed at the same time

You can't activate it on Steam, and don't know if anyone would be willing to trade for a Steam copy, but you can always make a topic on SteamTrades and try.

As for not having an account there, its a sister site to SG and uses the same login. Your account.

While it remains unactivated, you can ask HIB for a refund and see if they'll oblige.

Ubisoft games are linked to Uplay automatically.
Basically, adding the non-Steam copy of the game to your Steam library will result in pretty much the same thing as owning it on Steam, except for the game count/achievements.
(This is an assumption, mostly. :P)

Don't worry, you aren't the only one! I did that with a game but sadly it was Yuplay! (worse then Uplay) I actually somehwhat like Uplay compared to the rest, other then steam of course ;)

well...even if you have the steam version, you also need uplay, so it does not really make a difference

Reddit could also be useful for this. head on over to /r/SteamGameExchange and see what they can do.

The game is Uplay only, so it's completely irrelevant. There are ZERO steam features for the game: http://store.steampowered.com/app/242050/ so you are not missing out on anything whatsoever by not having it redeemed on Steam. You can add it as a non-Steam game if you want Steam's overlay to show up while playing.

You won't get much even if you sell the game... So might as well play it on uplay.

I don't have any advice (sorry), but have a bump... maybe someone will turn up who can help you.

Stop whining and redeem the game, it's the same deal in the end as you are forced to startup uplay on steam in order to play the game... sigh.

Or if you want to be a good guy, drop the key to someone you see fit that diserves it, you won't see that person whining about getting an uplay-only activation code for game that was released not so long ago.

You get the samething in the end, only difference is that one is tracked on steam/uplay, the other one just on uplay, steam has no achievements or any unique thing about it, so it's no big deal.

Wanting Steam keys instead of Uplay kays is an old and common issue. Every attempt to request any help from Ubi has met with failure. The difference in value between a Steam and Uplay key tends to be large, so I'm not sure how much luck you'll have there, but suppose it isn't impossible and you can try. Digital goods refunds are rare, but that may be your best option.