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Is there an official up-to-date thread/faq on gifting of bundle keys? (from new user)

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fartheststar

Hi all, Is there an official up-to-date thread/faq on gifting of bundle keys from various sites? I'm a new user, and searching through the forums it seems like rules on gifting of bundle keys changes over time. I have a lot of unused keys from bundles that I was wanting to work through giving away, but I don't want to violate any terms of service.

In particular, I've mainly purchased bundles from humble bundle, indie gala, groupees, and bundlestars. (Maybe Indie Royale and a couple others). Some of these purchases go back many years.

For example:
Some of my older Humble Bundles don't have gift links.
Some on Indie Gala I have an unused steam key, but can't use a gift link. Can I just give away the key?
Groupees seems to have their own system for giveaways, but can't tell about gifting key offsite, etc.

Is there sortof a comprehensive guide for gifting rules from various sites so I don't do something I shouldn't with unused keys?

thanks,

8 years ago

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12 Comments
TempeteJoachim
(Super Moderator)

You can give away a key from any site, as long as it's redeemable on Steam and in the giveaway creation list (games that were given away for free are removed from that list)

8 years ago
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fartheststar

thanks for the reply.

So even if I have a gift link, is it preferred to just get the key and include it with the creation of the steamgifts giveaway, or is it preferred to email the gift link after the fact? (which is what I did for my first giveaway.)

I'm trying to make things as simple as possible.

thanks,

8 years ago
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jbondguy007

You can either send it by mail or add the winner to give the game. It's really up to your preference.

8 years ago
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TempeteJoachim
(Super Moderator)

The method of delivery is up to you.
You can either send the key directly via SteamGifts (or the gift link, the key field also accept gift links from Steam & Humble Bundle), deliver the game by mail, or adding the winner on Steam.

Although for keys or Humble gift links, it would be safer not to send them by mail, in case you need to request a new winner.

8 years ago
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fartheststar

thank you. I was just setting up another giveaway and just realized that the key field also accepting gift links like you mention. That'll work great. Seems simple enough.

Thanks for tip on it being best to not use the email in case gift isn't claimed and new winner needed.

8 years ago
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Uroboros

The only real thing to keep in mind with bundled stuff, is that you only get a small fraction of what the game sells for outside the bundle. Most of the subjects you see discussing bundle issues are about this, as people often get confused at 'missing' contributor points, or want to open up the debate on the contributor system again.

So long as the keys you offer are legit and redeemable, and any regional restrictions are marked appropriately in the giveaway creation page, there won't be any problems. The support staff are usually loaded down with things to do, but if you make an innocent mistake and you're open about it, it's nearly always a straight-up case of "no harm no foul".

8 years ago
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fartheststar

thanks. I totally understand that. Many of these are keys that I purchased years ago in bundles and have been setting unused for all that time. I have more games than I'll ever play and was just wanting to get them to somebody who might like them. I understand there's some system steamgifts uses to keep track of it all for contributor status, but my main goal is just to get the keys a home. I've tried to keep pretty good records on what I've used (and I can check my steam library), but sometimes I've bought a game multiple times in bundles so hopefully I've kept all that straight.

8 years ago
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Uroboros

Well, I hope you stick around and enter some giveaways for yourself. This community thrives on the generosity of people like you, bundled keys or otherwise. Even if you're not losing anything by giving those spare keys away, it can be surprisingly time consuming to sort through everything and send them out.

Now if only there was a way to check if a key hasn't been claimed, without risking it turning up as a duplicate once a giveaway was won. Urgh. When it comes to that point, people usually drop the naked keys in forum threads for people to race to try claim. Though they'll likely get ninja'd, and sometimes those ninjas are automated bots. If you do that, you can counter the bots by mixing up the characters a little and including a guide on how to correct the key (or make some little puzzle, that seems to be popular).

Either way, welcome to SteamGifts. It costs nothing to enter giveaways, so consider sticking around!

8 years ago
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fartheststar

thanks for the welcome. I expect I'll be sticking around as long as the giveaways go ok for me and don't cause too much of a headache. I went through a period of buying lots of bundles for only a game or two, so there's a lot of games to work through on the giveaways. It actually kindof bothers me that all of those games I have in the bundles aren't getting played, if you know what I mean. I've been entering giveaways too, but I have so many games on steam (over 600 now) that I pretty much have all that I need, although I do see interesting things popping up in the giveaways. Sometimes it's the impulse stuff that often turns out to be the most interesting game to play. I just did that with "Silent Age" on a recent bundle. Pretty cool game.

8 years ago
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Keohookalani

Personally I use all those sites you mentioned. I claim the keys in the respective sites, and then add them to my own spreadsheet for data tracking purposes. Then I put the keys into SG when making a GA.

Then, when someone wins, I can choose to send the key if there are no problems with the winner.

For me, I prefer for my bundles to just get all the keys, because to me it makes it easier, and I don't have to sort through 9 different sites.
But whatever works for you, is what you should do.
This thread, also taught me I could use links in the "Keys" field. Though I doubt I'll ever do it that way.

8 years ago
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fartheststar

thanks for the info. So what do you mean when you say "if there are no problems with the winner?" What are cases that I should watch out for? I'm asking as a total noob not really understanding history of possible problems. thanks

8 years ago
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TempeteJoachim
(Super Moderator)

In some cases you can request a new winner (by creating a ticket). There are various reasons to do so.

The first one is that you get a winner that didn't activate some of the games they won.
Games won here must be activated on the Steam account used to register here, so if you get a winner that didn't activate some games you can request a new winner.
The tool found in this thread can help you check for non activated games.
Of course you have no obligation to check your winners, but we encourage users to do so.

If you are giving away a pack containing several items (a pack with several games, or a pack that includes a games and its DLCs), you can choose to request a new winner as long as the winner owns at least one item from the pack (of couse you don't have to request one, it's up to your preferences).

If it turns out the winner is suspended, you can also request a new one.

If you can't get in touch with the winner, you can request a new one after 1 week has passed since the giveaway ended.

You can request a new winner if the winner already owns the game (sometimes people get a game after entering and forget to remove their entry), or if you're giving away a DLC, because they don't own the base game for the DLC (due to some issues with the Steam API it is often possible to enter a giveaway for a DLC even without owning the base game).

There's also the situation where the winner doesn't mark your giveaway received, in that case you can create a ticket in the category "Request received feedback".

8 years ago
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