Are CD Key sites like ENEBA/Kinguin a scam?

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wut_

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The prices are sometimes 1/2 of what they are on Steam!
I've heard that they're stolen and grey market perhaps?
Yet I see a lot of people who buy many titles off sites like that without ever an issue!

When you buy a key does it install and run just like buying it from the Steam store?
The process to add a game using a CD key looks easy enough.

If it is shady, does the game get removed from your Steam library later?

Experiences, anyone?
...or do we all just stay away :eek:
 
I've never heard of Eneba, but I've been using Kinguin for years now without any issues. I've bought games, Windows keys, antivirus keys, etc.. and I've never had any of the keys stop working or be labeled as invalid. I've never had any issues with my Steam games ... and yes ... it works just the same as buying it directly from the store. You just add the key to your account and the game is yours.
 
Eneba is also legit. Been around a few years and is similar to kinguin etc. Basically keys bought in markets with lower cost and then resold. If it’s a universal/global key, the seller makes a profit. Other times if the key is region locked, the buyer will hoard the cheap keys when they are on sale and then raise the price after the sale. Again making a profit.

Illegal? No. Scam? Not really. Un ethical? Up to you to decide.

Some say it’s against the ToS for many of these major companies such as Valve or Microsoft. And it may very well be. But in 20 years I’ve not seen a legit case of any big company giving a shit enough to suspend an account or invalidate a key. Ever.

Also I’ve been using these services for years for games, windows keys, Xbox games, region locked games, etc. I can report not single invalidated key going back to Windows 7 days. Hundreds of transactions or more.

Oh and now pretty much every tech tuber and even trusted websites now sell these keys. Which again, if it were so evil you wouldn’t see that going on.

At the end of the day it’s been up to the consumer from what I’ve seen. Microsoft / valve / whoever could EASILY have implemented a system to stop this from happening. And they haven’t. I guess a sale is a sale in their eyes, perhaps they would have lost the sale to piracy or simply the person not buying the game at all. Again debatable.
 
If your patient, with games on Steam at least, there is more or less zero reason to ever go grey market.
Just wait for a sale. Ive picked up 80% of my library for less than $10 - you just wait for the sales.

Or you can choose to be impatient, go gray, and most likely nothing will happen. If anything does, its usually just a message saying that a games key has been revoked by the publisher and you need to re-buy it.

I prefer not to provide my financial information to random websites that may or may not exist in 6 months, and may or may not encrypt/protect as required, and games that may or may not disappear randomly someday because I wanted to save $5.
 
Shoganai said:
I've never heard of Eneba, but I've been using Kinguin for years now without any issues. I've bought games, Windows keys, antivirus keys, etc.. and I've never had any of the keys stop working or be labeled as invalid. I've never had any issues with my Steam games ... and yes ... it works just the same as buying it directly from the store. You just add the key to your account and the game is yours.
Click to expand...

That sounds like such an incredibly simple way to, sometimes, save some pretty decent $ when what you want just doesn't go on sale (like my case).
Glad it's head-ache free, because I'll admit that I did get some sketchy vibes when I thought about clicking "Checkout".... o_O
 
Dreamerbydesign said:
Eneba is also legit. Been around a few years and is similar to kinguin etc. Basically keys bought in markets with lower cost and then resold. If it’s a universal/global key, the seller makes a profit. Other times if the key is region locked, the buyer will hoard the cheap keys when they are on sale and then raise the price after the sale. Again making a profit.

Illegal? No. Scam? Not really. Un ethical? Up to you to decide.

Some say it’s against the ToS for many of these major companies such as Valve or Microsoft. And it may very well be. But in 20 years I’ve not seen a legit case of any big company giving a shit enough to suspend an account or invalidate a key. Ever.

Also I’ve been using these services for years for games, windows keys, Xbox games, region locked games, etc. I can report not single invalidated key going back to Windows 7 days. Hundreds of transactions or more.

Oh and now pretty much every tech tuber and even trusted websites now sell these keys. Which again, if it were so evil you wouldn’t see that going on.

At the end of the day it’s been up to the consumer from what I’ve seen. Microsoft / valve / whoever could EASILY have implemented a system to stop this from happening. And they haven’t. I guess a sale is a sale in their eyes, perhaps they would have lost the sale to piracy or simply the person not buying the game at all. Again debatable.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that influencers use e'm too!
You're right, if it was underhanded they wouldn't associate their reputation.

If the major companies don't crack down on it then yea...
Stopping it if they wanted would probably be child's play for a floor of lawyers.

Great to hear you've used them hundreds of times without issue!
Certainly reassures me.
 
FighterAce124 said:
If your patient, with games on Steam at least, there is more or less zero reason to ever go grey market.
Just wait for a sale. Ive picked up 80% of my library for less than $10 - you just wait for the sales.

Or you can choose to be impatient, go gray, and most likely nothing will happen. If anything does, its usually just a message saying that a games key has been revoked by the publisher and you need to re-buy it.

I prefer not to provide my financial information to random websites that may or may not exist in 6 months, and may or may not encrypt/protect as required, and games that may or may not disappear randomly someday because I wanted to save $5.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree!
In this case I never see it discounted and I'm sick of waiting to save on the official site.

At some point it's just not worth going without.
 
wut_ said:
That sounds like such an incredibly simple way to, sometimes, save some pretty decent $ when what you want just doesn't go on sale (like my case).
Glad it's head-ache free, because I'll admit that I did get some sketchy vibes when I thought about clicking "Checkout".... o_O
Click to expand...
My initial reaction when first using it was concern, lol. But after buying a hundred different things from them over the years, it's all good.
 
Shoganai said:
It's also best to only buy from 5-star (or near 5-star) rated sellers on the site.
Click to expand...
I always buy from the ones with the highest and most feedback. I’ve never tried to save a penny by using a lower rating seller. Never been ripped off yet.
 
I can vouch for both, I just bought 2 from Kinguin today matter of fact.
Instant Gaming, Gamivo, driffle and CDKeys are other sites that I've bought bunches of games from with not one failure.

Some of these sites are over seas, and may incur over the border fees after the fact several days later, and most also have whats called a "service fee".
I use CDKeys and Fanatical most of the time which neither have the service fees, but have the over the border ones.

And unlike Steam that charges tax, none of the sites that I've named have tax fees (as long as you are in the U.S.A.)

​

 
For games I've never had any issues for years.

For Windows keys they are shady because they don't specify if it's a once time use or not retail or if it's OEM or idk what it is. After using it once it can very well throw errors that prevent you from reinstalling the same key again needing you to call Microsoft and faffle with them.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
For games I've never had any issues for years.

For Windows keys they are shady because they don't specify if it's a once time use or not retail or if it's OEM or idk what it is. After using it once it can very well throw errors that prevent you from reinstalling the same key again needing you to call Microsoft and faffle with them.
Click to expand...
when I’ve had to call it’s automated line. I’ve never had to speak to a person. Other than having to enter in a long string of numbers, it’s an easy process. Surely worth the $100+ savings in my opinion. Now once it is activated, the hardware gets a digital license. So you’ll never repeat that again on the same hardware. In the end that’s not much work for the money saved
 
Since I don't go gamz, I can't comment on that aspect, however, with Windows & Office keys, I have been using some of these sites (not the ones mentioned here) for over 20 years for both personal and client builds, and saving a buttload of $$ in the process, and neveranottaproblemo with activations, re-installs, or even moving the licenses from 1 machine to another :)
 
I can vouch for the following Steam key sellers:
https://fanatical.com (they used to be called bundlestars and also used them back then)
https://indiegala.com
https://humblebundle.com
https://cdkeys.com

Only once did I ever get a Steam key removed from my account. It was for Overfall and the situation was explained by the developer here. Fanatical made good on it and provided another key.

Buying Steam keys on third party sites is usually cheaper (sometimes significantly) just make sure you buy a key to activate in the region you are in. Don't try to do shady VPN shit to activate a game or your Steam account might get locked. With the upside of the savings, there is also the downside that once you reveal a key (not even activate it typically...) you can't get a refund. Got let down big time by Starfield this way. You also don't earn any Steam Points Shop points but that doesn't really matter to most people.

My library is pretty big and easily 3/4 of the games (if not more) were from third parties.
 
Used them without issues
But if you want 100% certainty cdkeys.com is a good place to start
 
G2A tends to be a bit cheaper compared to Kinguin. At least for me in EU.
They are all legit, including Eneba.
 
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