Usually SG is good about checking most basic games in libraries. It has trouble with bundle keys or special editions, or games removed from Steam. It's possible the user activated the key and didn't mark received...? That's not uncommon for new users. The user has to actually mark the button that it was received, it's not automatic.
Comment has been collapsed.
Oooh okay my bad then. I was unaware that it wasn't automatic. I just went into panic mode seeing so many threads about scam/bot winners.
Comment has been collapsed.
That first one i did not know! Thank you for the insight. I'm not sure why I thought otherwise. Just saw a ton of threads talking about scam winners and the like.
Comment has been collapsed.
-You don't have to check whether your winners have broken rules unless you personally care. I don't think I've ever checked.
-Not necessarily giveaway-related but:
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/eikjy/unspoken-rulestips-of-steam-gifts
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/dsq6C/discussions-that-should-never-go-away-aka-sg-bookmarks
Comment has been collapsed.
How frustrating. I'll go look through the group recruitment then. Appreciate the tip!
Comment has been collapsed.
Adding to what Yamaraus said: I also recommend Playing Appreciated. Unlucky7 and events like MiaM and PoP are also nice features of the site for me :3
Comment has been collapsed.
If you limit the giveaway to higher levels, you're much less likely to get unresponsive or bot winners. Even level 2 should have a lot less problems.
In order to get to level 1, someone has to have actually given away at least one game that has some value, which isn't really THAT hard a hurdle to clear, but lazy bots don't always even bother with that. Level 2 requires a few more giveaways, or one very expensive unbundled one, so the people entering have to have participated in the site enough you're less likely to have trouble.
Invite-only giveaways require some actually effort to enter, even if only finding the link, so those are less likely to have problems.
Comment has been collapsed.
Advice:
Set a minimum level restriction.
This hold with each level a part of the bot accounts and other cheaters outside of your GAs and reduce the possible problems.
You need to decide which level fit for you but i would recmmend to pick at least lvl 2 because each level before can be reached with freebies, that aren't listed correctly as freebies, or with one or a few games that are available for a few cents in (shady) stores.
Check the winners with https://www.sgtools.info/activation and request a reroll if the winner have red marks there. Not important how old the red marks are, they can still be unpunished after many years, because not much check for and report not activated wins :o(
Comment has been collapsed.
Understood! For some reason I had it in my head that since I was a 'level 0' being new here it meant I shouldn't set a level above that.
sgtools is what I used to check if this winner used my key and it said they hadn't, hence the confusion over how it was in his library. Thank you though I'll start setting levels from now on!
Comment has been collapsed.
The sgtools said that the user did not have any claimed/activated wins when I checked, which I took as it being already in the users profile. I wasn't aware at the time that they can't even enter if it already is in their library. I think this was me being very much over precautious but I'm happy to take in any tips at all because I'd like to keep doing giveaways instead of these keys just sitting here.
Comment has been collapsed.
Sgtools's Activated Wins Checker actually shows you the UNactivated wins of a user, and it only takes into account wins that have been marked as "received". Its purpose is to make sure the user is activating their won keys on their own Steam account instead of giving them to friends, regifting them on SG, trading them or even selling them on the grey market. Anyway, it's apparent this tool isn't going to be useful in your case since the winner hasn't won anything in the past and hasn't marked the gift they won from you as "received', and even if they did, the game is already on their account, anyway, so it won't show up in the check since it is "activated".
What's most likely happening in your situation is that the winner has activated the key on their account but forgot to mark it as "received". Since they have no previous wins, I'm guessing they're fairly new to SG, so it's understandable. Heck, I once had a winner who had been on SG for 8 years forget to mark the gift as "received" after activating the key, though they did thank me for the gift, so it's obvious it was just an oversight. Anyway, If you haven't already, go check the page where you sent the key from and see if there's a green eye icon next to the key. That indicates that the winner has viewed the key. Let me know what you see and I'll advise you further if required.
Comment has been collapsed.
If you look at the winner page on one of your completed giveaways, you can see an eye next to the key if they've opened the key. If the eye isn't there, they can't have opened the key you sent, so if they have the game they must have gotten it somewhere else.
If they DID activate your win, but just didn't mark it as received, you may need to report an unresponsive winner.
Comment has been collapsed.
59 Comments - Last post 15 minutes ago by aquatorrent
5 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Foxhack
47,443 Comments - Last post 3 hours ago by BlazeHaze
45 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by Uroboros
2,862 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by djsmokey001
51 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by Tecfan
332 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by TdbSpidey
58 Comments - Last post 6 minutes ago by Zorskan
49 Comments - Last post 8 minutes ago by aquatorrent
86 Comments - Last post 27 minutes ago by PoeticKatana
35 Comments - Last post 31 minutes ago by megusuri
74 Comments - Last post 35 minutes ago by xeos23
17,801 Comments - Last post 54 minutes ago by Klamit
30,318 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by marilynhanson
So I just ran my first giveaway, found a thread too late that talked about checking accounts before sending the keys. Did so AFTER already sending the key to the winner and turns out they already have the game apparently. Lesson learned. I also checked that steamgift tools website and it listed the user as not having activated any keys (his profile says he also hasnt won any thought so there's that). So I'm fairly certain that confirmed he already owned the game before winning, right? If it's in his library but is not listed as activated?
Either way, learning from my first giveaway, are there any other tips/tricks for GA hosts that I should know? I think I was honestly just excited to finally share these games that I don't really want or have dupes of. My second one ends in 13 hours so I'd like to be a little more prepared for that one.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
(Also I did put in a ticket to request a new winner, but I also mentioned that the user likely already saw the key so I'm not sure what more to do. I deleted the key from the 'winners' page but I'm not sure that will do anything)
Comment has been collapsed.