I don't think it matters since they have to activate the key/link straight away anyway. Traders rather get links since they tend to trade them again with others.
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Hello, I've got a question, I made a giveaway but I haven't used SteamGifts for 5 years. I thought I had read it is better to give a humble gift link so I tried that. When I created the giveaway I put my humble gift link on a text box. Then when the giveaway ended I clicked on "send" and then stated the giveaway as "sent" as well. Did I do everything correctly? The winner appears to be online on SteamGifts and I have already tried to add him on Steam. Well, I suppose i just have to wait and see if everything is ok, I may try to use a simple steamkey the next time...
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Thank you for answering. The guy needed some time to mark it as received, that was all. Thanks for confirming my thoughts.
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hi sorry to bother you but I'm going to make one or two HB giveaways so I would like to be sure, too: I start a giveaway and instead of the key I pick gift and insert the HB link; then all I have to do is to send the gift once ended and winner picked up; I don't need to add the winner on steam or ask for his email. Is that correct?
Thanks and sorry again to bother
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I created the giveaway and copy&pasted the HB link on the box (when creating). When the giveaway was ended I simply did 2 things: there was a place to confirm to send the key and another place to state you had already sent it.
I only added the guy on Steam because I got a bit nervous, I saw he was online on SteamGifts and Steam and my gift didn't appear as received. When he finally accepted my Steam invite, he told me he had already stated it was received, and it was true.
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If it's humble I'll tend to give the gift link since that's what humble requests. Other sites I just add key.
My thinking is I don't want my account to look like a key reseller.
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Sometimes my e-mail loses the Humble Gifts that are sent to me or it takes a few hours to go through, so I generally just ask for keys. If it's against ToS, then oh well. I regret setting the certain e-mail with my HB account because it's only been a pain in the ass.
Also, I tend to only give away HB keys to close friends because I know that they would enjoy the game. There's no transaction, it's just me giving them a key because I either already have the game or they would enjoy it more than me and it's quicker than sending a gift link.
However, if I were creating a giveaway, then I'd definitely ask the winner what format they would prefer before sending it.
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Most of the time I use keys. Been using gift links for whitelist giveaways lately. It doesn't matter, but I prefer key for public GAs.
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Gift links, hands down. It won't matter to winners, as they'll still get a key in the end.
But to gifters, it can be really useful, as they can check whether they have been used ot not
Not to mention that using gift links helps keep Humble libraries tidy:
I generate keys for games I activate myself, and turn into gift links games I use for giveaways, so that I can easily distinguish them.
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Some users have had issues with humble gift links no longer working, if you leave them unused for extended periods of time [ie, months], but that shouldn't be an issue if you generate the link when making the giveaway (and Humble will always replace them if the issue does occur). if you intend to have Humble help you resolve any key issues, using a gift link helps you make the 'I gave this to a friend and it didn't work, can you deactivate it and send me a new link' case. Likewise, using a gift link lets you know when the link has been used up (ie, the key e-mailed to the winner), which essentially adds a bit of tracking info for your key.
Either way, Humble asks you to use a gift link for it, and there's no downside to doing so, so I suppose that makes it the more favorable choice when in doubt- especially as, like fartheststar noted, it's an unnecessary portrayal of your account as not being a legitimate personal-use account. Even if Humble doesn't ever pursue your account for that, it's still an entirely needless risk.
In short, gift links seem the better option to me.
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Actually gift link itself doesn't give neither the key, nor tracking.
You activate the gift link to get yet another link by email which does the actual tracking and contains the key when you visit it and click the button.
And here comes the problem - HB has no mechanism to track activated gifts that weren't actually delivered! (like server rejected email or their own connection was down, etc). Also they don't link the gift with your own HB account (except drm-free copies) and don't link the key with your steam account (they did previously, no idea why they stopped).
I had a bad experience with this. I visited a gift link, input my email, gift was marked as used, but I didn't get the another link by email which would lead me to the actual gift!
So the unactivated key was lost - neither gift owner, nor reciever has no way to resend the key except of making support ticket.
And HB support is always trying to avoid resending of the same key even if the gift activation email is the same as ticket email. The gift owner has to input all the payment info and wait until they answer.
And you know what happens if the gift owner is not the one who actually bought the key and has no transaction info...
So, keys are better.
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For anyone reading your misleading, risk-promoting comment, I hope such readers also read veeble's comment below.
For those up for a longer read:
--
Gift links do associate with the e-mail you send them to, which is why you can access such links with that e-mail via the order resender. If the key hasn't been revealed, staff is aware of that as well. Keys are expected to be applied to your own personal accounts, while gift links are not. The automated association system was disabled by Valve a long time back, but Humble does still expect keys to be associated with your own accounts- as veebles notes below.
Order resender (along with the initial send) sometimes bugs, and will take a several attempts over several days to work. It sucks, but it can happen. Screwing up the e-mail input (or sending it to an e-mail not associated with a Humble account), would explain a gift recipient not properly receiving support rights, as would a gift recipient attempting to transfer the key to a third party.
To recap:
If you are the bundle purchaser, activating a key or gift link to your account gives you support and ownership rights over that gift link. If you are a recipient, activating a gift link to your account gives you support and ownership rights over that gift, and restricts the actions the initial purchaser can take. Activating a key on any account other than that of the purchaser violates Humble ToS and in rare instances it appears it can cause Humble support to revoke support services entirely for that account.
if the gift owner is not the one who actually bought the key
From the sounds of it, you completely butchered the gifting process. No, Humble will not give support to a gifted key, if that key is then redeemed on a third account. From the sounds of your post, you're trying to consistently work outside of Humble's framework. That's your choice- but don't encourage other people to do so, when doing such puts their own accounts at risk.
I've never had issue getting support off of gift links received from others, nor off keys and gift links activated to my own account. If you had an actual contrasting experience, that'd be of note- but as of now, it simply sounds as though the issues you had were caused by your own atypical use of the site.
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You're totally wrong and here is why:
Gift links do associate with the e-mail you send them to, which is why you can access such links with that e-mail via the order resender.
No, they don't otherwise there wouldn't be any problem for support to resend exact same key to the exact same email.
I'm the recipient! I got the gift link here on steamgifts, I input my email correctly and HB failed to deliver it: sender has no key as it's a gift link, original gift link is "already activated now" and can't be resent, the key is not activated and lost.
From what you describe, however, you screwed up the actual e-mail input initially
No, I input my email correctly, but the HB delivery just always fails to send that specific link-to-key email to me, while it's fine with order confirmation emails or their newsletter.
(or sending it to an e-mail not associated with a Humble account)
I actually do this now as this way I can get the link-to-key email fine to my another email box which is not associated with my HB account.
From the sounds of it, you completely butchered the gifting process. No, Humble will not give support to a gifted key, if that key is then redeemed on a third account. From the sounds of your post, you're trying to consistently work outside of Humble's framework.
Sigh... I guess that's a misunderstanding, an example:
I've never had issue getting support off a gift links received from others
Well, now you know what can happen and lucky you that some people adequatly responses and provides all help they can do to deliver the key while one of the guys told me: "I don't care you didn't recieve the email, it's your problems, I can't help you as the gift link is from some other friend who bought the gift by his mom's card."
\ Actually, that story had happy ending and he managed to contact his friend.
There wouldn't be such problems with a key isn't it?
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Considering you agreed with every point I made, your first comment is ludicrous, in addition to being senselessly rude.
You imply you're aware of Humble ToS, despite encouraging people to violate it.
You acknowledge you had an issue with order (re)sending, which I stated happens a bit too regularly.
You agree that your issue is due to going outside of Humble's framework by involving three parties and non-associated accounts.
In short, it sounds like you simply didn't wait for the order resender to work, couldn't get a support response due to not using a Humble-associated e-mail, and couldn't get the gift link reset because it had been transferred between parties before it reached you.
I'm totally fine with grumping to Humble about the sending issues, but as far as your situation, nothing indicates any deviation to the usual Humble process- and certainly, nothing which should encourage violating that site's Terms of Service.
Thus far you haven't been an agreeable person to converse with, so I'm cutting out here.
However, in the future, regardless of any other factors involved, do try and avoid trying to mislead people into putting their accounts at a site at risk by violating that site's terms of service- should there ever be cause for encouraging such, it should be done with a thorough explanation of the risks and considerations involved within such a process. Misleading people on such things is incredibly distasteful, to say the least.
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despite encouraging people to violate it.
to going outside of Humble's framework by involving three parties and non-associated accounts.
Where did I? Copy the line.
your first comment is ludicrous, in addition to being senselessly rude.
Which sentence made you think I'm rude?
Misleading people on such things is incredibly distasteful, to say the least.
This seems to be baseless accusation.
upd.
I see you've updated your answer a bit.
In short, it sounds like you simply didn't wait for the order resender to work
I did and I also tried that multiple times in a few days, actually I did that until the day bundle ended. And I guess it's an order resender, it doesn't resend gifts.
...couldn't get a support response due to not using a Humble-associated e-mail
I was using (and still using) the humble (and steam) associated email and got the support response where I was told to ask the gifter to make a ticket and provide the order info.
So I did everything according ToS by my side as a gift reciever and I'm not responsible for the one who's making the gift.
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For GAs, I prefer making links, but I only make them when the GA is up. For the issues Sooth mentioned above.
For trading, I usually ask the person I'm trading with what they prefer. Most want keys so they can activate them instantly.
I never make gift links in advance!
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Not bound. You can use key or link. What ever is easiest for you.
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HB support can view which revealed keys you haven't activated in your steam account with one click
no they cant???
only developers can see which keys are activated
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Maybe I miss understood you. But you 1st said they can't see if the key for the game is associated with your steam account and then that they can.. :S
As far as I am aware (from an email sent by steam 1 time to me) the exact key for the game can't be viewed by any party except the account that has that key on steam.
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Has always been against HB ToS to gift or trade keys since they implemented giftlinks
Excuse me, but where in Humble Bundle's ToS did you find this:
All I can find is:
You agree not to engage in any of the following prohibited activities:
(...) (viii) using the Service for any commercial solicitation purposes; (...)
(xiii) sell, assign, rent, lease, act as a service bureau, or grant rights in the Products, including, without limitation, through sublicense, to any other entity without the prior written consent of such Products’ (defined below) licensors;
(...)(xv) except as otherwise specifically set forth in a licensor's end user license agreement, as otherwise agreed upon by a licensor in writing or as otherwise allowed under applicable law, distributing, transmitting, copying (other than re-installing software or files previously purchased by you through the Service on computers, mobile or tablet devices owned by you, or creating backup copies of such software or files for your own personal use) or otherwise exploiting the Products (defined below) in any manner other than for your own private, non-commercial, personal use. Accessing the audiovisual content available on the Service for any purpose or in any manner other than Streaming (as defined below) is expressly prohibited. "Streaming" means a contemporaneous digital transmission of an audiovisual work via the Internet from the Service to a user's device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be copied, stored, permanently downloaded, or redistributed by the user.
So: You can not make money of the products you buy there, but are free to do with it everything that is 'your personal use'
The last point is a bit amiguous on this, as it doesn't allow you to share, yet they make gift links...
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I think it's more a matter of the ToS not having been updated since they had the policy change to enforce what was, before now, a simple non-enforced request on how they wished you to use the site.
Past that, yes- if they're not explicitly detailing the matter in the ToS, and they can't explicitly prove misuse, then they'd need to indicate a reduction in service before they implement it. As they've been indicated to be doing a "we're not longer providing you with support" response rather than a "this is the last time we can provide you with support" response, the matter seems to be in clear violation of consumer protections. It's all rather unusual.
In the meantime, the best course is to use the site as it indicates it should be used, as there's really no harm in doing such (especially as past indications are that Humble support is well above average if you play by the framework they offer).
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Actually, that section basically just says "you can't do anything with your purchases that the law doesn't allow, unless the publisher explicitly says you can". It's all very vague, and doesn't in any way preclude trading- just commercial resale.
No, Humble has repeatedly stated in their FAQs (eg, below) and support comments that they exclusively intend gift links to be used for gifting. As far as I'm aware, they've updated their official ToS on the matter about as well as SG updates its own official guidelines.
Humble Bundle products are for personal use only. We do not allow selling or redistributing keys from your purchases. You can gift individual keys to friends using our gifting system, which you can read more about here.
Referring to it as a "Terms of Service" element may be a bit misleading, but as it appears they've potentially started taking action based off the matter, it does appear to have become an unlisted condition of use. I think the main point veebles- and certainly myself- were getting at was, Humble has made it clear they do hold to that distinction of use in the past. Whether they could have communicated that better is another topic, against the current one of "what do they prefer, and what runs you risks when using the site".
GMG was the same way for a while, taking all sorts of actions against accounts based off things that weren't actually in their ToS (though I believe they did later update them to reflect their policies [of not providing support after a week or if they suspected your purchases of being involved in any way with trading or resale or gifting to a friend or family member] ).
At the moment, what we know is: Humble has a specific way they've repeatedly indicated they want things done in, and a very small handful of people have reported actions being taken against their accounts which seem to indicate that those preferences are now being enforced in an official capacity.
Better safe than sorry, especially when the system is rather self-evidently designed to be used in a way that corresponds with these considerations.
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I have used keys for the few I made with Humble games.
I've heard of giftlinks no longer working, or being cracked, so I didn't wanna do that.
And about Humble not wanting to give away keys:
Officially, they don't allow you to resell, but they sometimes mislabel Steamgifts as a key resell site, even though that has been disproven to them.
But, as a EU citizen, once I buy the game, bundle or whatever from them, it's mine, and I am allowed to do with it what I want, basically.
So, if they would block my account, or otherwise penalize me for giving away the keys here, that would violate international laws, and they wouldn't want that either.
On a side note; using gift links actually would raise more suspicin for Humble, as they can see what emaill address it is sent to, logically, and
(could) consider you to be a reseller of sorts, if you sent out gift links to say, 100 or so people
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Well if you bound it to an email address you will then only have access to the key. So it means it will no longer be a gift link.
As long as a giftlink is not claimed. Someone can brute force the url once it is claimed by and email address you can get a key for the game in said link.
I hope I explained all if not just ask :)
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Keys without a doubt. Gift links are just full of issues redeeming them. Never had a good experience with them on both ends. Always results in going to support...
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I always use gift links, because the winner would be sure that the key is not used.
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Do people generally give the key or the gift link to the winner and does it matter?
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