Is this normal? [GA ended and matter solved, thx to all that helped]

you should probably remove the name from the steam chat too (no calling out).

of course that's a scam, a borderlands granting tool?

There was a legit granting tool last year that turned physical copies into digital copies, but you needed to have the actual physical copy. It was basically for taking a store bought copy CD and getting a Steam version with it.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=8980

It does smell fishy. I googled "Borderlands granting tool" and this thing exists: clicky. From what I understand, it requires that you yourself have non-Steam version of Borderlands installed on the same machine as Steam, so dunno where he was getting. Doesn't help that he tells you to download it from elsewhere...

EDIT: how fun - I looked further into Google results and found out there's an exploit that lets you redeem a pirated copy in your Steam account using this tool. Maybe that's what he wanted to do?

scam
report him to steam

No no. Please don't trade. It's not a good situation. :)

Also report him to steam rep, I always look the steamrep profile when I trade with someone.

Yes, the "Borderlands Granting Tools" is a legitimate Steam tool. In the Steam client, check Library -> Tools.

In theory, it's a way for people who bought the old non-Steamworks Borderlands to add the game to their Steam account. Insert your Borderlands dvd, run the tool, Borderlands gets added to your Steam account.

In practice, it's a way for pirates to get a free game. Mount a Borderlands disc image in something like Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools, run the tool, Borderlands gets added to your Steam account.

So this person is trying to sell you five minutes of google-fu. Don't be stupid. :)

Bump. :)

Shame on him...

Its legit, I know people that tried this and succeed. Trust him, this got popular on a few forums when people found it out