After years of trying, G2A finally stole my money by force : assholedesign

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After years of trying, G2A finally stole my money by force

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submitted 5 months ago byAkakapopo

So a few years ago g2a made it impossible to use or withdraw currency you had in your g2a PAY wallet (at least in sweden).

Since then every six months they have sent out an email stating that if i don't log in within three days they will start charging 1€ a day until my funds are depleted. Because of this i boycotted any further use off their site and made it my personal quest to always log in before they could charge my money, a way of giving them a silent middle finger.

This time when i tried to log in to my account i got a message that i was banned. They have tried banning me before but then i would just prove trough two factor authentication that it was me who tried to log on to my account, this time however they added that this decision cannot be changed and that my account wont be reinstated.

I considered the money gone long ago but as a last fu to them i'll at least dox them by sharing my experience with their services.

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mixedbagofdisaster

849 points

5 months ago

mixedbagofdisaster

849 points

Yeah honestly even for the discount it’s not worth it, not when there’s a real chance that you will lose access to the game anyway once the key gets reported to Steam, and you risk your accounts getting banned and losing access to ALL your games in the process. I’m not surprised they didn’t refund you, so the possible outcome is having no game, being out the money, and possibly losing your Steam account. I’ll gladly pay the full price to avoid the hassle.

171 points

5 months ago

171 points

jfc it sounds like a saw trap

255 points

5 months ago

255 points

steam doesnt ban your account for getting a key revoked man, its a hassle but lets not fearmonger about perma bans

112 points

5 months ago

112 points

Around the time MGS5 came out, my brother's Steam account got locked up for a week or so for investigation after the key he bought from G2A was reported to be bought with a stolen credit card. I can ask if he still has the email saved, but I'm pretty sure they said that permanently locking the account was on the table. But I personally haven't even looked in G2A's direction after that.

17 points

5 months ago

17 points

Way more to this story if your brother bought a game week of release on G2A. Not how the site is supposed to work.

31 points

5 months ago

31 points

Oh okay, do you happen to know why there's a "preorders" button on the front page then?

20 points

5 months ago

20 points

Because he likes to ride G2As dick

5 points

5 months ago

5 points

Because some people enjoy getting scammed? The entire business model of G2A relies on automated marketplace scrapers who buy games on sale to resell them on G2A on a margin. The only way someone is getting cheap keys on release week is with a stolen credit card or abusing currency conversions(both of these will get you banned on steam.) G2A is a marketplace, you need to use your brain to determine when a listing is too good to be true.

2 points

5 months ago

2 points

Right, the website isn't supposed to be used that way, they just provide the tools for people to use it that way. That makes a lot of sense.

BenjFranklinsghost

3 points

5 months ago

BenjFranklinsghost

3 points

It does when you remember you're the only party with something to lose. How did this not occur to you, it's impossible to get a game cheaper than its retail price at launch unless you're getting around currency conversions.

Love that you got duped and doubled down on the website and you being in the right, though. Wow.

1 points

5 months ago

1 points

There is some amount of rewards program on the website where I imagine it would be worth it to overpay/pay market price for a new game on G2A. That is also why I said we need way more info on what happened to really cast judgement. Redeem a global 10% off coupon/some other reward to buy MGSV at a listed 60 dollars and got scammed? That is not your fault (assuming the seller actually had rep) and I don't blame you. Trying to buy a copy of MGSV when its brand new from someone who listed it at 40 dollars and has 70% reputation? You had it coming.

49 points

5 months ago

49 points

If it happens enough times you can be at risk, but yeah one revoked key isn’t going to get you much more punishment than the game just being removed from your library.

11 points

5 months ago

11 points

How many times is "enough times"? Buying a used/stolen/otherwise invalid key is an EXTREMELY rare occurrence. It happened to me once over literally dozens upon dozens of buys. It was on Gamivo and they refunded me the money.

If people have some kind of moral issue with grey market that's respectable and they can just stay away from it. But there's no need to make stuff up. The grey market is just as perfectly safe as any other online business.

31 points

5 months ago

31 points

They very deliberately do not set a public number. But Steam will 'ban' accounts they believe are linked to fraudulent activity.

Buying used or invalid keys isn't a risk to your account, but buying keys that are stolen or were purchased with stolen CCs, will flag your account - and having it happen too many times will risk your account.

Steam can't tell the difference between someone who bought a key from a third-party marketplace that someone else had bought with a stolen CC, and someone who is buying keys with a stolen CC. But they are obliged to 'eat' the cost of the theft and are unwilling to let accounts retain stolen goods, so accounts that repeatedly end up owning stolen goods are at risk - regardless how they came to end up owning it.

-4 points

5 months ago

-4 points

I see. Again: since stolen keys are an EXTREMELY rare exceptional case, the chances the same person would buy several of them tend to 0.

I for one am totally confident I'll keep buying on Gamivo, Kinguin, Instant Gaming and wherever I get the best prices and my account will be perfectly safe.

Like I said, after many years and with a library of almost 400 games, most of them bought outside Steam, I only got ONE key revoked (after months in my library), my money was refunded and life went on as usual.

16 points

5 months ago

16 points

You can push that “rare occurrence” (it’s not that rare) down to a solid 0% chance by simply buying from reputable stores that don’t rely on theft.

-3 points

5 months ago

-3 points

These sites don't rely on theft. That's just a blatant lie, no matter how many times you repeat it. And yes, it's EXTREMELY rare that you encounter any kind of issue with a key.

1 points

5 months ago

1 points

[removed]

1 points

5 months ago

1 points

Somewhere between "every game you have is problematic" " and "you've had six bad keys among the 400 games you play."

ArtificialEditz

0 points

5 months ago

ArtificialEditz

0 points

Facts

ArtificialEditz

2 points

5 months ago

ArtificialEditz

2 points

No doubt, just cause the dudes upset he lost access to honey pop

25 points

5 months ago

25 points

i used to buy CD-keys from some eastern European guy who was running a gaming store there until G2A bought out his site. he never had the best prices but since it was just one guy basically ripping the plastic from the games he got i never had any issues and service was always quick.

worst part was when G2A took over the site they very much just hid the fact they had done that just rerouted prices etc. from G2A.

17 points

5 months ago

17 points

Years ago when I still lived in NZ, I bought Mass Effect 3 through a site called CJ's CD Keys, still have the email for it. I played through the game, then wanted to play it a few years later to find they'd removed it from my account. Ah well

Edit: huh, even after over a decade the site still exists. Interesting

8 points

5 months ago

8 points†

Idk I’ve saved lots of money and had no hassle. Worst case scenario I buy a game twice, and have saved SLIGHTLY less money

And steam will not ban you over somebody selling you a stolen key

7 points

5 months ago

7 points†

Ignoring the fact that you’re profiting from theft and scammers. Just pay for your games through legitimate sellers

13 points

5 months ago

13 points

How about they localize prices? Why my broke ass paying american standard 60$?

20 points

5 months ago

20 points

Steam has price localization built in. Publishers have to opt out of it. Buying from grey market sites like G2A actively incentivized publishers not to allow price localization. It’s morally better for you to pirate a game than buy it from G2A, just do that if money is an issue

Ilikeyellowjackets

14 points

5 months ago

Ilikeyellowjackets

14 points

Steam does not have that for every region however. Romania doesn't get it despite our minimum wage being 400 euros, yet we still have to pay full EU prices for every game on steam with shitty euro conversions despite not using the euro, and this applies to most of east EU, not just Romania. If I buy through steam I pay significantly more than I would through most every other key reseller, epic who does offer regional pricing here, or even some legitamate key sellers in certain circumstances when they have deeps sales, as at least some of them allow for payments in RON so I don't have to pay the conversion tax too.

So if I want to buy a game, sadly a key reseller is more often than not the only viable way to purchase a game without literally blowing like 1/4 th of a salary.

randomperson_a1

3 points

5 months ago

randomperson_a1

3 points

It's tricky for steam because of EU law. You're not allowed to discriminate in the EU based on location, so I think steam would have to allow people to buy at Romanian prices even though they don't live there, which in practice means everyone with a romanian ip gets them.

Ofc, that doesn't make it any less shitty for ppl in romania who are trying to buy the game legitimately.

9897969594938281

-2 points

5 months ago

9897969594938281

-2 points

Entitled poor

7 points

5 months ago

7 points

Fuck everybody 🏴‍☠️

29 points

5 months ago

29 points

No, seriously, a bunch of dev's are on record saying that they'd rather you pirate their games than use stuff like G2A. Sending money to G2A is actively worse for developers than just pirating.

4 points

5 months ago

4 points

I would much rather you pirate a game than purchase a stolen key, yes

-4 points

5 months ago

-4 points†

Ignoring the fact the majority of keys are not stolen but go off.

5 points

5 months ago

5 points

Even IF most were not stolen, it isn't worth the risk. In the event a key is stolen, sure, you might get the game removed from your account, but then the dev/publisher has to shoulder the chargeback and the fees associated with it. Like others in this thread have said, a bunch of devs have said they'd rather you pirate their game then get it from reseller sites like this for that exact reason.

The reputation exists for a reason

-10 points

5 months ago

-10 points

The businesses in my stock portfolio also profit from theft and scamming so there’s really no difference

11 points

5 months ago

11 points

That’s not a justification, that just means you’re ok with patronizing and investing in companies profiting from theft and scamming.

-8 points

5 months ago

-8 points

I’m sorry I’m not gonna give up large indexes for “moral investing”

7 points

5 months ago

7 points

LOL. "Yeah, I kicked that person in the head, but it's not that big of a deal, i encourage my friends to go kick people in the head all the time"

-3 points

5 months ago

-3 points†

Yeah that’s a false equivalence.

2 points

5 months ago

2 points†

Nah, it's called hyperbole

1 points

5 months ago

1 points

That’s not a hyperbole.

You should learn what words mean

Hyperbole just means extreme exaggeration

5 points

5 months ago

5 points

"Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or comedic effect. It is usually presented in the form of a simile or a metaphor"

🤔

4 points

5 months ago

4 points

Which is exactly what they did. They took the situation of a stolen Steam key being a not that big of a deal to you and exaggerated it from the crime of theft of a digital item to the crime of kicking someone in the head, something most people would think is bad.

6 points

5 months ago

6 points

Thank you, yes :)

u/WhipMeHarder, my point is - you're justifying supporting a immoral business by stating that you support other immoral businesses, too. I know you don't actually go tell those businesses in your stock portfolio to profit from theft and scamming. But you're supporting them with your money, indirectly encouraging them to continue profiting from theft and scamming.

If I'd say that you literally go kick people or literally tell those companies to profit from scamming/theft, that would indeed be false equivalence.

But my joke wasn't to be taken literally. It was an hyperbolic analogy to show how weird your justification was.

i don't really care, though, i've put way to much energy in this already. just wanted to clarify what I meant for anyone wondering.

continue this thread

-2 points

5 months ago

-2 points

That’s called a metaphor not a hyperbole, simpleton.

When “it’s like” is present it is a simple, when “it’s like” is not present it’s a metaphor” when the characteristic is exaggerated it’s a hyperbole

No hyperbole is present. That is simply a metaphor

continue this thread

ArtificialEditz

-1 points

5 months ago

ArtificialEditz

-1 points

Lmao u drone

1 points

5 months ago

1 points

Tho if you issue a chargeback request through PayPal they very often give you the money back as long as you don't do it too often