Old Steam Key

I think there is no way to know if the key is still valid or not... rather than try it on an account without RL

Unfortunately there is no way to tell if a key is used or not, if you try to activate it on an account that owns the game, it says you own the game before checking anything else, if the account doesn't own the game it then gets activated on the account.

If you haven't used the keys they should work fine. But if you aren't sure just make invite only or group GA with description that you aren't sure if the key works, entering this GA users agrees to delete this GA if the key is used or invalid. But still is kind of risky.

in these cases i use whitelist giveaway, explaining what may happen (key could be a dupe or something else). or even better, share the key with a good "friend" here, without making any giveaway.

100% sure i wouldn't create a public one.

i think you just have to tell ppl that it might be used and that u will delete the giveaway in that case and u should be fine

Thanks ppl. Excellent idea to set giveaway to small group, with correct description of course, on an unknown status of a Steam Key. Perfect IDEA!!!

You could also see if this is still active

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/s1tVq/ninja-retreat-a-group-for-giveaways-of-once-free-games

I concur with the others... While many people are understanding and realize that these things happen, others could careless what the circumstances were and dispute it. Save yourself the hassle, or a possible suspension, for creating a public giveaway with a knowingly possible used key. It wouldn't be fair to the winner for one, and you would likely have to shell out money for another copy if it came down to it.

I guess that's the main purpose of the Orphans key thread ^^ As i'm not sure key is good or not i drop it there.
If you don't want to give it to ninjas or bot you can use the "First reply first get it" policy and then give the key in steam pm or on an old ga of that people.

Still, no cv out of there. Just kind share ^^

Check in your licenses when did you activated the game. You might have activated it already it's just steam bugged out.
https://store.steampowered.com/account/licenses/

Thanks everybody for answers. Since I got 2 keys I will do 1 giveaway for whitelist and if it works I will do a second one for public.

I,have also had a few problems with keys in the past. My solution was to buy another key to replace the bad one.

Ill gladly test if it works LuL Sorry, I had to say it :) Hope there are no hard feelings :)

I have bought new keys to replace bad keys, on occasion.

That said, I post in nearly all giveaways these days that I believe the keys are good but they are generally a few years old, and are therefore automatically at risk. I ask that people agree to delete the giveaway if things don't work out. I know that's not binding, but I think it's a fair post because keys can be cancelled for a variety of reasons. Over the course of over 850 giveaways there have been a few unexpectedly bad keys. Sometimes I can get them replaced, sometimes not; I've asked a few people to delete the GAs, and they have all agreed.

Because I feel bad about this sort of thing, I usually check their wish lists on Steam and try to give them something they'll like to make up for the GA slip.