Buying Steam/Origin/UPlay keys Thread

[JasonM]

So in a lot of threads this occassionally gets talked about. Where people (as I), buy digital download games through other sites than the original source like Steam/Origin/Uplay.

Some people might be generally confused about the legality, safety, and ease of the system. And hopefully we can make this thread a general Q&A thread to make people who are on the fence less confused and more confident in buying their game keys for lower prices than through the services themselves.

First off I want to talk about the legality of buying keys, which is generally a very confusing topic even for myself, because there are multiple definitions of it.

Official Resellers: These sites and companies are official resellers of keys, and buying through them tend to be the easiest, safest, and most legal way of doing it.
Examples: Steam, GreenManGaming, Humble Store, Amazon.com etc.

Un-Official Resellers: A weird definition. But these operate in the grey area of selling keys. And the shadiness varies wildly from some sites being very trustworthy and professional, to other sites being... well shady as hell. Caution is always in order on these sites, and you generally need to check for reviews of the site in question to be 100% certain if they're good. Prices aren't as low as the geo-lock sites, but they are (much) lower than the official resellers.

Examples: G2Play, CJS-CDKeys, Kinguin*

*Kinguin is an aggregate seller (in the style of Amazon), they associate with other sellers and are a middle-man.

Geo-Lock Sellers: These are sites where you can buy keys from cheaper nations that are geo-locked. More often than not you need to use a VPN (often East-Europe) to get access to these keys. These sources aren't official, and they are the most shady. I personally stay away from these sites, despite nice prices. Unlike the ones above, these keys can get you banned on steam/origin/u-play.

In general, the legality of buying keys varies wildly. But as long as you don't buy from shady Eastern-European sites, you're generally in the clear when it comes to activating a key.

As with all sorts of buying stuff on the internet, caution is always a good thing, and using common sense to spot and detect good and bad sites are something of a must. And if you're unsure about a site or anything else regarding buying a key on the internet, use this thread to ask about it.

Finally I will also add a list for trusted sources, for people to add to as they have good experiences with said shop.

Trusted Sources*:

Allkeyshop.com (Aggregate Site)

CJS-CDKeys (JasonMUFC)

Fast2Play (Rocky)

G2Play (JasonMUFC)

GreenManGaming

Humble Store

Steam

Edited October 13, 2014 by Jasonmufc

[Rocky]

I use Fast2Play often. Not a trusted source but I've only had one problem which was quickly rectified. Up to about a dozen purchases so far. Mostly buy the Steam Gifts as it seems less likely to fail than a steam key.

[JasonM]

I use Fast2Play often. Not a trusted source but I've only had one problem which was quickly rectified. Up to about a dozen purchases so far. Mostly buy the Steam Gifts as it seems less likely to fail than a steam key.

I'd say that's on the level of trusted when you have around 10-12 succesful purchases.