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As pc gamer (and new Deck owner) i've started to check any good game deal, mostly x games on Steam but not only. I've soon realize that there are great site like Humble to use to buy keys for cheap, but also "shady" sites with very low price who apparently sell non working keys or try to scam you. Did we have a list of the "Safest" site where buy games???
isthereanydeal.com lists only legitimate retailers, no second hand/grey market sites. Not exclusively Steam though, so check on the site before purchasing (though usually every website will be selling Steam keys except like Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, Ubisoft, EA Origin).
You can also link your Steam wishlist, set up alerts for when a game falls below a certain price, etc.
[ EDIT ] MY MISTAKE - I confused the link with https://gg.deals who give "a risk list" of sites after the official.
https://isthereanydeal.com/ don't do that. You were RIGHT ๐
Do you have any examples of dubious sites they list? To my knowledge they take the legitimacy of the sites seriously, so it would be great to know if that's not the case.
EDIT - Read above.
I have used GamersGate, GreenManGaming, Fanatical and Humble without any issues
Yeah the are legit.
fwiw, if you care about developers getting paid, then you probably want to stick to humble/steam.
pretty much everywhere else resells keys and the developers get screwed. not such a big deal with big developers but Chet Faliszek has talked a lot about the effect these services have had on his new studio (hint, really bad) because they did some sales and all the key resellers took a massive advantage
You're conflating grey market key re-sellers (G2A, Kinguin, CDKeys, etc.) with actual legitimate key sellers (GreenManGaming, Fanatical, GamesPlanet, etc.).
Just because the names of what they do sound alike doesn't mean they are alike. As has been pointed out in other comments, either use isthereanydeal.com or gg.deals with the "Keyshops: Disabled" option, and any shop listed will be fine.
Good to know ty ๐
gog.com
IMO not a great option for Steam Deck. It's certainly doable, and excellent for PC, but it's been too much of a pain to run on Steam Deck.
Just use it for the purchase and let steam manage the deck chairs.
I find installing via Lutris works most of the time for most games. Definitely not as clean or easy as going through Steam, but it's typically not hard enough to avoid entirely.
Cheapshark is what I generally use. I haven't bought stuff from every seller they track, but so far I havent had any issues with Humble, Greenman, GoG Fanatical, Gamebillet, or WinGameStore. Tho for the last two I've only made one purchase through them. Take it as you will.
Their email notifications are pretty handy
https://gg.deals/ has a bundle section if you scroll down a little. And their listings (if you search for a game) separate between legit and key sites.
Edit: oh and https://www.steamgifts.com/discussions/deals which has historical ones too, and their region locks.
I've never had any issues with Humble, CDKeys and Kinguin.
Kinguin for example is one of those site i would like to hear more opinion and experience about. I've read different opinins on the old Redead social before. It seems a 3 to 1 situation there. I even buyed a small indi there using PayPal and so far I had no issues. Any experience about this site???
It's one of the grey market sites afaik. I used it a few times for digital versions of games I own, some overpriced DLCs and oldies, which rarely goes on sale.
I know it's not ideal and they might have some questionable stuff there, but user experience-wise I had no issues with the site so far.
So basically a bet. Better for cheap indi and old stuff. As I though. There shouldn't be security issue paying with PayPal right?
The issue isn't the safety of your payment method or not working keys. The issue is with how they source their keys. They are often bought with stolen credit cards and sold to them. It's quite complicated but the end result is that the game developers are literally losing money on these services due to chargebacks and such.
They aren't sold to them, they are sold by users.
That's what I meant. They are sold to them by the users. And these users are often card thieves, directly or indirectly. Whether we like it or not it's a de facto money laundering system.
The transaction with kinguin is safe. They even offer a cheap protection against non-working keys, so you are guaranteed to get a working key.
The big issue is the keys themselves aren't always obtained legally. And then it can take a while for the key to get deactivated. By that point you are usually out of luck trying to get your money back or a new key.
Their money-back/replacement guarantee is 'forever'.
Iโve bought a good amount of games there and personally never had any issues.
I used "Instant Gaming" a few times without any issues. The initial registration is a bit annoying with their confirmation process, but after that everything works wonderfully well. Their prices are great, especially on older (i.e. not just released) games and DLCs. Never had any problems with or after activating the stuff using the keys I got.
i don't have one, but i do trust MMOGA.