Hi all.

I've traded and gifted a number of games here and on reddit in the last few weeks, all successfully, some Fanatical keys, some Humble keys and some Humble gift links.

But today I found a surprise logging into Humble. Or rather, not logging in, since my account is apparently disabled.

I've asked humble support to explain themselves, especially as I've yet to redeem several recent bundles worth of games to my steam account. I usually redeem 90% of the keys for myself, just stumbled open this subreddit when I looked around for what to do with spare keys. I have gifted some, traded others, but pretty low volume.

Figured I'd PSA this here as I reckon it's gift links that I've provided that are the issue.

Anyone else had problems like this. I'm gutted 😮

3 years ago

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There have been tons of similar reports for ages already. It's a known fact that they just refuse any support if you have been flagged as a trader.

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/mEgdb/humble-bundle-account-disabled
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/usg5m/humble-bundle-warning

3 years ago*
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Loads. 1 a month ago, the other 4. Must admit didn't see the 4 month old one when I searched before posting. The one I did see confirmed he was a trader etc, but I'm really really low volume, and only a third of those relate to humble.

3 years ago
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Those were just the 2 most recent ones that I bothered searching for. It has never mattered one bit what the volume is. Even just using SG to give them away is exactly same as selling/trading in their eyes since you earn CV. So most likely you're just screwed like everyone else they flagged, but you can always hope for the best.

3 years ago
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Humble used to be a great little charity that actually cared. Things changed though and they haven't cared about their customers for quite some time now. As far as I'm concerned they're just another store front. Regardless of my personal opinion; you should always generate a key and never ever use their gift links. Also if you're going to trade always use a throwaway account and immediately copy the keys to a text file.

3 years ago*
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That happens when they get sold to some greedy people only caring about profit.

3 years ago
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HB was behaving like this way before the sale to IGN.

3 years ago
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Generating keys is precisely what triggers their warning bells. Their ToS states that if the keys are not activated on your account, the gift links are there for a reason.

3 years ago
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That's not true according to the previous threads. They can't track Steam keys as easily, but with gift links they can easily see where you've sent them (or received them from).

3 years ago
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nope that isnt the case, i mean u dont even have to link ur steam account to HB

3 years ago
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This^. How can they even check whether u have activated that key on any account at all if no Steam was linked?

3 years ago
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I had to. When I first started using HB I had to link my Steam Account to HB.

3 years ago
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oof im sad you thought this was true lol. they invented their gift links specifically so they can monitor who is activating games.

3 years ago
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PSA: Don't trade gift links - always trade in keys.
This is probably where you got flagged - some dodgy trader you gave a giftlink to most likely. Keys are much less able to be tracked, whereas giftlinks are generated and can be linked back to the account they were given out on.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Unless the winner is a throwaway...

3 years ago
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Well there are ways to redeem a game on your account, but still have the gift link you sent; namely, just redeeming a separate code for the same game.

I've heard of a practice in which people will buy up games that were just in a bundle, and so are lowered in value, then wait and sell them when they are a higher price. I can't remember exactly why they cycle the codes the way they do, there was a reason. Them bypassing something or other.

I've never done it or ever would, so didn't really bother to look into it. I know it was/still is, super bad on steamtrades, the once sister site to this one. I think they want giftlinks because they are better somehow? You'd have to ask someone that knows the specifics of it all, as it's amazingly convoluted, fiddly and time consuming for just a few pennies on the dollar.

3 years ago
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They want giftlinks because they plan to resell the key. By revealing the key themselves, they ensure that it won't be used before they get a chance to sell it on. I don't agree with the practice, but that's why they ask for links.

3 years ago
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3 years ago*
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3 years ago
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3 years ago*
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Yep, I never said it doesn't happen, just that most complaints have been regarding giftlinks & trading, not often is it about keys and just normal gifting.

3 years ago
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3 years ago*
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I guess I didn't expect a swathe of responses to my reply, sorry.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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HB can trace thier giftlinks

I think this is the major thing at play here. For instance, my links get redeemed in other countries (whether based on IP or the Humble account of the link redeemer), then I may be less likely to be gifting to friends.

check API for activations vs purchases

...which is only possible if they know your Steam/store profile, which Humble users are not required to provide in Humble user settings.

view public profiles including on SG

...which also relies on user to voluntarily give their Steam profile info to know how to look for the SG account.

Even if these last 2 things are possible, that doesnt make them probable, as those things would require non-trivial tooling to automate investigations & suspensions on Humble's end.

It is most plausible that whatever IP and redemption data Humble already can access is what facilitates suspensions like OP. Beyond that is much more speculative.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Fanatical is much rarer with region locks than Humble. Not sure about IG.

In any case, steamdb.info has info on each game's package/sub, and that info tab will warn if there is region exclusivity or bans. Lilly does a great job maintaining this with most bundle games on barter.vg and her posts to our Deals section

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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3 years ago*
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Let's just say that with gift links, HB can easily see if you've been sending hundreds of gifts to as many different people located all around the world - a behavior quite unlikely for a normal user.

As for the bans for giving away keys directly that someone else mentioned, I don't know how they could reliably trace that, apart from being in cahoots with Steam. Or maybe they just end up flagging people who always buy multiple bundle copies (although that would be quite unfair to real families...)

3 years ago
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I wonder if it's connected in any way to the Wirecard fiasco.

3 years ago
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3 years ago
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Whelp. I didn't know this. Never doing gift link trades ever again.

3 years ago
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When you want to redeem one of the free games offered by Humble Bundle, you need to connect your Steam account. Checking the percentage of redeemed games can be a way to identify traders.
In addition, many traders do not reveal the key of the gift link but trade it again as claimed-unrevealed key. This - I think - sound all HB alarms ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

(btw: PayPal/credit card issuer ToS > HB ToS. If you can't access recent purchases: open a dispute and ask for a refund.)

3 years ago*
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(btw: PayPal/credit card issuer ToS > HB ToS. If you can't access recent purchases: open a dispute and ask for a refund.)

Also, law > HB ToS. Not delivering a product and keeping the money instead of refunding it probably looks pretty bad in court in many countries 👀

3 years ago
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Sending too many gift links = they flag the account as reseller and put restrictions etc. And reselling is against their ToS so even if you appeal, they still think you resold them

3 years ago
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I'm making gift links instantly out of all of my purchases/subscriptions, like every single game is immediately being transformed to a link, and then i'm storing these links on my notepad instead of keys.

So far i'm not flagged neither banned after making like 150+ links (and this is the number only for the last 12 months, there was more in the past)

3 years ago
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yeah but when you send those links to different humble accounts, that's exactly when they flag your account. Like 150 links to 100 different humble accounts.

3 years ago
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I checked, I am at 526 links sent to over 500 different accounts through SteamGifts and barter.vg, and many of them are sent to countries associated with mass key trading. Humble never even asked me about them. I never used a key to send for years now.

3 years ago
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Ah that's weird. Idk what else they use to flag an account then!

3 years ago
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My guess would be "common sense." I haven't traded in years and I was low-volume even back then, but since Humble considers SteamGifts a key-trading site, it wouldn't matter to them in my case. I simply stick to gift links and spread them according to their terms.

3 years ago
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i mean they cannot differenciate if you are reselling a game by generating a gift link and sell it to resellers, or simple gifting it to a friend or giveaway. They see them all as violating their ToS and ban accordingly. But idk what criteria they follow in order to do so.

3 years ago
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Again, no proofs just some random text, and everyone believes in it like it's a fact.

Also, i'm sure that even if you were banned, it wasn't for gift links (hb has no problems with you making gifts), but like multi accounts or VPN or paypal chargeback or any other major violations.

3 years ago
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There is no proof but I'd rather believe what several users reported or at least conjecture that it's one of the possible causes for account flagging.

Several user reports> "hasnt happened to me, it can't be"

3 years ago
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Imagine tens of thousands of users making gift links, and so far less than 5 of them were banned (for god knows what reason exactly).

This percentage says a lot

3 years ago
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To be honest neither of us have the data to claim anything. You are assuming everyone uses gift links. I personally don't use them and could say most of my wins here were keys (which is true)... meaning that less people use gift links" but that'd be one huge bias as well.

You do bring up a pretty good point though. Hard to say if there was anything else going on with the "injustly" punished users.

3 years ago
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Combined with reddit, I recall maybe 12-20 cases in total. Consider that even on this site, up to thousands of people buy Humble bundles and spread them when they launch. If Humble were really behaving as these myths and accusations claim, we would know about several hundred if not even more cases. This phenomena is like VAC bans: whenever someone is crying of false accusations, if you dig enough, you learn the real reasons. (Granted, in some cases, they are really innocent and someone at support really fucked up something.)

3 years ago
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I don't know. You could be right. It's certainly true that we don't have access to all the evidence. That the people complaining are keeping something back is a hypothesis that fits our data.

But another hypothesis that fits our data is that IGN-Humble has instituted a new automated monitoring system to flag resellers. And, like many automated monitoring systems, it occasional false positives. (Even the VAC banning system notoriously flagged people for certain innocent mods and etc.)

Since both of these scenarios sound plausible, on what basis can I be confident it's the former and not the latter? Given the number of reports, I'm starting to think that the latter is at least pretty plausible, and I ought to take some precautions.

3 years ago
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Funny enough, the VAC system flagged people for an innocent mod once. Valve even publicly admitted it and reversed the thing. It was the one time and by now, it somehow grew into an "it happened frequently" myth. In reality, when pressed enough, most times it turned out that the "innocent mod" in question was usually "I made walls transparent with a texture replacer."
Don't get me wrong, VAC is a giant piece of shoddily coded shit, but false positives never came from mod usage, they most often come from netcode fuckups and in-game bugs, and they are individual cases that eventually tend to get sorted out.

3 years ago
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Fair enough. (Note I said "notoriously" not "frequently". We seem to be in agreement that the incident has become notorious.) But my uncertainty doesn't hang on that. There are all sorts of automated systems that flag things, and a lot of them flag things falsely--especially when precision accuracy isn't a high priority.

In the case of IGN-Humble we needn't even posit false positives though, because we really don't know their aim. And that's sort of my point: they haven't said anything clear about what they're doing or how they're doing it, so I'm not sure why I'd assume they're only banning bulk resellers.

3 years ago
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Their aim is to not get pressured by publishers for being a source of resold keys on the gray market. They don't give even the smallest amount of fuck about SteamGifts, SteamTrades, lestrades, barter.vg, or even the game trading subreddit, the problem is G2A and its ilk, with people around here getting in the crossfire (SteamGifts is just an excuses for their support, many of them are genuinely terrible, although I had some really good and lucky run-ins with few).
Sadly, since the users will never accept a system where bundles are directly bought onto their Steam accounts, this will be an issue ad infinitum.

3 years ago
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or VPN [...] or any other major violations.

Oh right, so VPN is a major violation now... WTF if wrong with the internet nowadays? Since when is lack of privacy the norm, and privacy automatically assumed criminal?
I'm always behind a proxy, I don't even think about it, it doesn't seem to bother my banks much (aside from the e-mail notifications I get from time to time, telling me about a "strange IP" from another country), and I certainly won't deactivate it for random shitty shops

3 years ago
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You think you're safer connecting to your bank from another country and giving access to all of your traffic to some foreign company? I guess in some countries that can be very true.

3 years ago
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What I meant was that I have the proxy running and I don't pay any particular attention to it, it's just the way I connect to websites.
As for connecting to the bank, since it's HTTPS and I know I'm at the right URL, I could connect over an unencrypted open wifi and be about as safe. I mean, an actor able to break TLS 1.2 probably has more valuable targets than my modest account ^^

3 years ago
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Sure, just like I run Steam 2FA on automatic on my PC, since if someone ever gets access to my PC enough to get access to my Steam account, they already got access to all banking information etc so least of my worries.

VPNs aren't always making you safer is just my point. By using them you're giving extra chances for foreign parties to get access to your traffic. I hope you're at least using one from a trusted country like Freedome, wink wink :)

https://restoreprivacy.com/vpn-warning-list/

3 years ago
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VPNs aren't always making you safer is just my point

Indeed it's worth mentioning, as some people forget that they're trading trusting their ISP with trusting their VPN company.
In my case, I don't use proxies for generic safety, I use them for privacy towards websites. Or more particularly, towards Google and a few other creeps. Seems to be working fairly well as ReCaptcha and CloudFlare keep thinking I'm a bot 👀

3 years ago
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It's not because of your purpose to hide privacy, but because there are different key regional packages, as well as some price dissimilarities invented just recently.

So technically using VPN is sort of exploit i'd say

3 years ago
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technically using VPN is sort of exploit i'd say

Not if you do declare your real country and/or if your proxy is from your country and/or they get your country from your payment method anyway (my case for all those 3 things)

3 years ago
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vi vse vreti ya vam ni veryu

3 years ago
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vizdoravlivay bratik

3 years ago
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So we are not allow to do giveaway with key that bought in humble bundle?
Most of the time I buy the bundle, let say got 12 games, I activate 7 games, then another 5 games i do giveaway because I already own that 5 games/dlc before buy the bundle.
Like this can be flagged by them or not? I never sell any game key.

3 years ago
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Yeah, I am thinking the same thing. I give some of mine away to friends and some here. I don't activate every game, yet Humble have been helpful when I asked for it.

I can see how someone trading their gift link away to a reseller could become an issue. That reseller is probably claiming 1000s of giftlinks per year. You trade or sell your giftlinks to those people, then your account might get flagged as being involved. If giving away here, or sending to friends, it's unlikely that the recipient is going to raise red flags from Humble.

3 years ago
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I just made a train solely out of gift links so here's hoping XD

3 years ago
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🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃

😊

3 years ago
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As the OP i can promise you that the only reason i posted here is because I’m so ordinary that it confuses me why i’d be picked on. I bought the very first HB, bought most of them since, activated the vast majority of games on my linked steam account (Approx 750 games), never had payment issues, never been banned for anything.

The only change is that i discovered giveaway subs over on reddit a couple of months back, and from that i discovered this site, and more recently i started trading a handful of keys.

I’ve gifted around 40 games recently, here, Reddit and elsewhere and I’ve traded around 20 games, most are really REALLY old HB keys, a few Keys from Fanatical/Groupees/Ebay and a few trades have been as gift links, mostly from the Racial HB bundle. It’s the gift links that i believe are the issue.

As you say, loads of people gifting/trading/reselling who don’t get touched so i might just be really unlucky. Odds are i gift-linked to that one trader who is a total stinker.

3 years ago
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It could also just as well be you getting a gift in trade that was bought with a stolen credit card or something. This is the other risk of trading, someone buys 100 bundles and quickly trades the games cheap to some big legit traders who in turn trade them to smaller fish who then get flagged for buying stolen goods. Just a theory tho.

3 years ago
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It is then the other side. Did support say nothing as usual? The problem can also be if you sell a gift link to a very bad individual and they just post it at the grey market. They do not care much about individuals sometimes selling keys, the problem is the grey market and the keys ending up there.

3 years ago
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Nothing from Humble. Other than a ticket number from an auto responder, I'm still clueless. Over on reddit the mods on a trading sub think they know the culprit and reckon it is because I created a gift link to them.

3 years ago*
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Yeah gift links are a sure way to get flagged as a trader. For some reason they offer you the possibility to trade but they don't want you doing it. Revealing keys and trading that is safer.

3 years ago
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C'mon, what's wrong with Humble? You paid for the games. Why don't they want them to be used in trades or gifted? You paid, it's yours and do with it whatever you please. Right? Or am I ignoring any consequences it may bring to Humble due to that practice? Anyone, please, educate me about the reason behind the existence of their apparently needless rule.

3 years ago*
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I honestly don't know how this is even legal.
You paid for keys that they hold from you because you have traded games? You buy it, you can do whatever you want with it!

Especially since a lot of people are being flagged for no reason.

So I guess the lesson is: get your keys from Humble before they decide to screw you because they think you're a criminal or something

3 years ago
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1 week later and I have yet to receive a response from Humble beyond the usual automation. Have to say it has been interesting reading this thread! I'm told the Humble ninjas don't work weekends so it might be a few more days yet...

3 years ago
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Humble have responded. It's the worst sort of email...

Thank you for reaching out to us. There appears to be some suspicious activity associated with this account that directly violates our Terms of Service. Further inquiries regarding this account will not be responded to. I apologize for the inconvenience, but hope you have a nice day.

Furious right now ☹️

3 years ago
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Seems HB is actively looking for traders (and gifters?) recently. My extra account dedicated to trading/giving games away got disabled as well. Almost everything was given as giftlinks on said account.

While my main account is fine (for now), that I use to redeem games to myself.

Neither has my steam account linked so from this theory, revealing as steam keys is always better than giftlinks, at least. Too little facts to be really sure though.

3 years ago
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A few weeks back somebody posted their account got banned, and now a few more recently. I have temporarily stopped trading my keys because of this and I think I will continue to do that and see how things play out before attempting to start trading again.

3 years ago
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account just got disabled as well. any new update OP?

3 years ago
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Yes, but nothing positive so far.

First they sent "Thank you for reaching out to us. There appears to be some suspicious activity associated with this account that directly violates our Terms of Service. Further inquiries regarding this account will not be responded to. I apologize for the inconvenience, but hope you have a nice day."

After venting my anger at them over 3 emails they then replied with "Unauthorized secondary distribution of games purchased through Humble Bundle is a violation of our Terms of Service. Due to these violations, future purchasing on this account has been suspended. I am unable to lift the suspension or offer any other information at this time. I apologize for the inconvenience, but hope you have a nice day."

I remain livid and disappointed. That last email sure sounds like they don't appreciate gifting games to strangers!

3 years ago
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Unauthorized secondary distribution of games.

It's super likely you have given links to dodgy traders, people who receive lots of giftlinks from HB in trade (I, as well as others, have already implied this, in previous posts over a week ago), and whose email addresses have been flagged as such by HB.
If you're dealing with the same traders, maybe HB have flagged you for being in cahoots with them, helping them in their key-smuggling ring :P

3 years ago
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aw damn, im mainly pissed about losing 9 future months of choice i paid for

3 years ago
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We may permanently or temporarily terminate or suspend your access to the Service without notice and liability for any reason, including if in our sole determination you violate any provision of this Agreement, or for no reason. Upon termination for any reason or no reason, you continue to be bound by this Agreement.

If I not mistaken, your account can be terminated for "no reason". And as they said, you are bound by the Agreement.

3 years ago
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I agree, they can. I already admit culpability in this, I began gifting and trading some keys without fully appreciating how that would affect my agreement with them. My angst and fury on this is simply because they have taken to using this clause against me when the reality is that I made a simple mistake. My 8 year history as a customer means nothing to them, nor does an apology. And I've paid for 5 bundles during June where only a handful of keys have been redeemed -- they have effectively taken purchased goods off me, for what is a very minor offence! Whether trading or gifting, all I've actually done is redeemed a key that I've paid for, as either a genuine gift to a stranger, as a buy-in to win a different game or as a direct swap for a game that I have more interest in.

As I've said elsewhere, I have never RE-SOLD a game, and it's only been in the last couple of months that I have taken to using SG and other sites.

Plus I added this post here as fair warning to others. As far as I can see, the terms which they consistently refer me to apply to all secondary distribution. That surely includes gifting?

3 years ago
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Since the site allows gifting, I don't think that this alone can get you banned.

The bad thing is that they don't need to give a reason for the ban.

3 years ago
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More than 7 years on steam and a total playtime of less then 28 hours...

View attached image.
3 years ago
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Don't be an idiot. I'm a collector with a young family and a career -- I always think I'll find more time to play but actually the act of collecting the games and seeing them in a collection is every bit as fun for me as actually sitting and playing games. Not even sure how this is relevant, what else am I doing with this account with so many games? Clearly I can't be loaning it out?!

3 years ago
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Being aggressive and calling other people idiots doesn't help your position to appear more credibile.

3 years ago
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What would be the correct way for me to counter a reply that does nothing but cast doubts on the credibility of my posts? Please remember that I don't expect anyone here on SG to help me with this situation, that's between me and Humble. My post was intended to be consumed by the very people who could find themselves affected. I don't gain anything posting here, maybe a little sympathy, but largely I'm at the mercy of any person who believes the right response is to post images and comments that suggest I'm actually a liar. Besides that, the picture is all wrong, my wife is a blonde and I've worn glasses all my life.

3 years ago
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That's a point to consider. Maybe they make a background check on Steam profiles to know the games you play or how many hours you have played. Too few hours played can look like an alt account.

3 years ago
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What purpose does an alt account serve? I'm genuinely curious. If it were one (it isn't) then why would it upset the people at Humble?

3 years ago
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Some ppl put games there that they don't want in their main account. Or they have extra copies or who Gods know why.

3 years ago
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I have the feeling that what Humble may look for is actual confirmation that a trade is done (i.e. actual proof of breaking the ToS), more than something rebuttable and weak as the mere use of a giftlink, or user-targeted checks on the number of hours played. Most of the people whose accounts were banned and posted here or on reddit (I do not say all of them as I might not have checked all of them ^ ^) had active topics on Steamtrades, or flair pages on Reddit IGS, or both, where it was explicitly confirmed that a trade took place. I guess it wouldn't be that hard to track back the user who made the trade, if any of the two had ever had their steam account linked to HB (and it's mandatory for free games, so I guess most people do it, even unlinking a second after) or with an email check.
I also noticed that the paragraph on gifting in the support page states "we do not SUPPORT situations where you gift a game to receive a reward/payment of any kind (which would include things like rep or points on certain trading sites)", not that it is prohibited, as for selling and trading. Crossing that with the answer to OwieczkaDollyv21 in this other topic, it seems that they only want to underline that it's our problem if a gifted key does not work and won't provide help.
TL;DR: the issue is not in giftlinks/keys per se, but in proof of trading scattered around the web.

3 years ago
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I think the issue here was because you traded your gift links with traders.
The same person can re-sell/trade same gift link 10 times to different people, who will then come complaining to HB that they were scammed.
And who do you think HB will go after? The unknown trader who tried to re-sell used keys/links?
Or the very real and known person, who definitely purchased these keys in the first place (and then either scammed people, or traded his keys to a scammer)?

3 years ago
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99% certain you are right on this. I really don't think it is the gifting of keys on SG that is rattling Humble, but SG do allow you to post a giveaway with a gift link rather than a key, and I feel like that is worth thinking about because scammers could be winning here on SG and then that could look a lot like a trade by the time the scenario plays out to conclusion.

3 years ago
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Does anyone know if this already hit someone inside the eu? The threads I saw were us/br/uk, so places where consumer are not covered by eu law.

3 years ago
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I doubt that HB cares where are you from. The work and money you would have to put into the lawsuit just isn't worth it.
But, if you think that it is worth it and you are from EU, just try to make yourself look like a trader and get your account disabled.
Then you can try to sue them! :D

3 years ago
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I think that blatantly breaking the law is something a company would try not to do, even if virtually no customers can't sue it. And European laws are quite strict regarding this matter, lately. This might be another nice point. - though I guess it would only cover the part of disabling already bought keys, not preventing future purchases.

3 years ago
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I think that blatantly breaking the law is something a company would try not to do, even if virtually no customers can't sue it.

No, that is exactly when companies love to break the law, because they know no one has the resources to match them in a lawsuit, and even if they do go to court and lose the punishment is almost never commensurate to what they've profited. The bigger the company the more they do it, both to customers and to employees and if they're big enough to other smaller companies too.

3 years ago
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HB introduced local currency, translating terms, ect. since ign went into it. I could imagine they are trying to make sure they don't do shady stuff here; the eu is in a big phase where companies getting forced to acknowledge responsibility for stuff happining on their site/with their stuff. j2 is big enough in the eu, that they don't want fines like google.
And because personal right are in the center here, it's possible they just hunting resellers less with a shootgun than outside of the eu.

Also the few hundred bucks for a no laywer lawsuit isn't that big of a gamechanger for the most ppl. willing to go that way.

3 years ago
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Here is a person from Spain (which is part of Europe) and he got suspended too.
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/mEgdb/humble-bundle-account-disabled#zLDaWCi

Also, because you will be doing a no lawyer, you have to put some time into it too, so for many it may not be worth the combination of work and money.

3 years ago
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Happy cakeday! :)

3 years ago
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Fröhlichen Kuchentag :-D

3 years ago
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Just a quick note to say I have managed to now settle this matter with Humble. They re-instated my account and I was able to redeem keys to my Steam account.

Thanks to anyone who contributed positively in this thread. During this whole incident I've seen lots of other people with the same or similar issues so clearly I wasn't singled out, just a little unlucky and a lot naïve!

I still don't know a specific reason why I got disabled, Humble didn't give me a reason other than "secondary distribution" and that to me can be interpreted in lots of ways. I'm personally going to play a little more safely from now on -- no more gift links, redeem keys much more quickly to avoid losing them should Humble reinstate the ban. I've actually got loads of software and book bundles from Humble in my library which didn't even occur to me when I lost access to the account!

I really should find the time to play these games too!! Peace!

3 years ago
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Wow, that's amazing! How were you able to do it? Did you push them further after the "there appears to be some suspicious activity associated with this account" email, or did they clear it up on their own?

3 years ago
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Yeah, I definitely had to push them. I emailed near-daily for 2 weeks and got the same response. As a final straw i informed them that i would have to issue chargebacks on 5 bundles purchased in June since they hadn’t allowed me to redeem purchased keys... and then a manager replied to say they had turned me back on with no reason stated. I’ve asked them to explain but have heard nothing more from them!

3 years ago
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It would be great if they could explain what was the reason for the suspension and if it had anything to do with SG or not. So if they answer, make sure to tell us. Congratulations on the recovery of the account btw!

3 years ago
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Wow, what an absolute win. I guess when their money is at stake, they buckle. Congrats!

3 years ago
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Just wondering, are you a sub? Cos i read on a reddit post who got their acc back that they lost their classic plan. Havent checked back on it though. Still waiting for another reply from humble

3 years ago
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Nah, I didn't bother with Monthky/Choice.

3 years ago
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how were you able to re-instate the account?
Curious to know what made them change their mind.

3 years ago
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See other reply, but it looks like my threat to chargeback could have been the reason. Normally i redeem keys fairly quickly but in June i just bought the bundles but didn’t get around to doing anything with them - not sure if they wanted the hassle of fighting the chargebacks, or if I just happened to have a manager review my case.

3 years ago
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Congratulations on getting your account back, your thread convinced me to unlink my Steam account from HB and no longer use gift links. I believe IGN is playing with fire by locking people out of their already purchased keys and not allowing them to cancel their choice membership because they can't access their account.

3 years ago
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Thanks. This is why I put the post up :) Some replies here have been very negative so I’m pleased to see that someone found it useful.

3 years ago
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Grats on the great news.

3 years ago
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Cheers. I was so happy redeeming nearly 60 games against my account when they reactivated me :)

3 years ago
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I'm glad to hear that, good job for pushing them without giving up. Congrats!

3 years ago
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Do we have any reason to believe gift links are actually the cause of these deactivations? I know people assume it's because they're traceable to different email addresses, but is that actually the cause as opposed to, say, having multiple accounts or buying multiple bundles?

3 years ago
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I can’t say since Humble didn’t tell me. I don’t have multiple accounts though, have never bought a bundle in multiples and so have to assume that either they based the ban on my activities gifting and trading keys or links. Keys sound harder to trace though...

3 years ago
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I don’t have multiple accounts though, have never bought a bundle in multiples

That's pretty good evidence then that those ideas are ruled out.

3 years ago
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Yea, also dont have multiple accounts nor do i use vpn so i assume it's cos of gift links, since in my email they did say second authorisation of keys

3 years ago
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Congrats on getting your account back! I can't imagine how frustrating it is to deal with something like that. Humble Bundle has changed a lot since inception, and while it is unfortunate, it is what it is to this day.

3 years ago
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