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What happens if I start a giveaway with a key that is already redeemed?

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randylahey

I had a bunch of keys for a game, and now I don't know which keys are left because I used a few myself and gave a few away to friends. What happens if I list all of the keys in a giveaway and some of them are already redeemed?

8 years ago

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9 Comments
FallenKal

The person trying to activate the key will get a "duplicate key" message and won't be able to activate the game and will mark it as not received, which limits the amount of GAs you can make. It's also not looked kindly upon by the community.

Edit: Removed bad advice :p

8 years ago*
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royalatog

This is bad advice, you get that message whether the key is used or not if you already own the game.

8 years ago
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FallenKal

Oh, I was told you would not get the "you already own this product" if it was a duplicate key?

8 years ago
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This comment was deleted 6 years ago.

8 years ago
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royalatog

Steam checks if you already own the game first, if you do it sends the already owned message whether the key has been used or not. So there is absolutely no way to test for an active key without activating it on an account without the game and thus it becomes a used key.

8 years ago
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FallenKal

Ah, I assumed it would check for the duplicate status first, my bad. Thanks for educating me :)

8 years ago
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eeev

You are going to get a "not received" feedback.

8 years ago
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terrificterry54

It's best to put those in the orphan key thread
You can also use keygiveaway.com and put the link to your giveaway in the above mentioned thread.

8 years ago*
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Nanabanana

Whoever wins the already redeemed key can (and probably will) badger you for a valid copy of the game for a week, and after that mark as "not received" unless you can get him a legit copy.

So if you know how many keys you've already used, one plan is to not give away more of them than you know should still work. And then work with winners to find out which ones have already been used and which ones haven't.

8 years ago
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Closed 8 years ago by randylahey.