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Why do you say it's a black market? Reselling of license keys is legal within the EU. Granted the hundreds of keys mentioned in the article were originally stol

by lagadu 6y ago

Why do you say it's a black market? Reselling of license keys is legal within the EU. Granted the hundreds of keys mentioned in the article were originally stolen, therefore illegal to sell but it seems they're taking steps to combat those, including honoring the 10x agreement with the developers. Having quickly googled it, I've seen much criticism about their sale of grey market keys (keys sold cheaper to specific markets being sold to other markets) but those are legal. Many of the other criticisms are because some users are selling stolen keys, which puts g2a at the same level as Amazon or Ebay.

duxup 6y ago
The stolen key system (legit keys bought with stolen CCs) has been how G2A keeps their prices low. I don't think this has been a mystery to G2A and they've been at it for years / not been responsive to developers who have contacted them about it ...
- driverdan 6y ago
  How is that different than someone selling products on eBay or Amazon that were purchased with stolen cards?
  - duxup 6y ago
    Does it have to be different?
    - maerF0x0 6y ago
      It doesnt, but we dont see front page posts on HN saying "Stolen goods sold on ebay". IMO this should be a congratulatory post "G2A owns up to their mistakes and follows through on their word" ...
      - duxup 6y ago
        Let's see if G2A does... they've profited from not doing so for a long time. They knew, they didn't care and they sold other people's work for their own profit. They earned plenty of skepticism and this wasn't a one off mistake, it was exactly how they chose to do business for a long time...
        monocasa 6y ago
        Let's see if eBay does... they've profited from not doing so for a long time. They knew, they didn't care and they sold other people's work for their own profit. They earned plenty of skepticism and this wasn't a one off mistake, it was exactly how they chose to do business for a long time...
      - paxys 6y ago
        If the majority of goods on ebay were stolen then you would absolutely see that post.
        monocasa 6y ago
        Are the majority stolen on G2A?
        lagadu 6y ago
        If you're going to claim with a straight face that the majority of goods on g2a are stolen, which is what you're implying, you're going to have to provide sources.
  - jylam 6y ago
    It's not, but that doesn't make it legal.
    - throwaway2048 6y ago
      It also doesn't make G2A "A black market for software". G2A is fundamentally a consumer empowering type of market/organization, businesses who sell keys do not want their completely legitimately purchased keys resold, and if you don't think they are going to stoop to painting the people who enable that as horrible monsters, you have ignored the entire history of markets and PR. G2A has a standing offer to pay devs 10x what any fraudulently obtained keys cost them, and they are making good on that offer here, the fact they are still being treated like some kind of mafia-esque organization in these comments says a lot about the power of PR. Remember when the RIAA was coming out about the evils of used CDs and was asking congress to make their resale illegal? We are at that point right now with digital goods, with the majority of people cheering on this blatantly anti-consumer bullshit and painting those that enable fighting it as scumbags
      - falcolas 6y ago
        That standing offer is no longer a standing offer now that they've proven that they are re-selling stolen keys. Now they simply (and appropriately) offer to repay proven fraudulent keys and chargeback fees. G2A doesn't get much good press because many people empathize with indy games devs, and prior to this finding G2A loudly and broadly claimed that there were not stolen keys being sold through their storefront.
        throwaway2048 6y ago
        Do you think Ebay is free of stolen goods and illegal credit card transactions? G2A works exactly like Ebay does, and I don't see much hand wringing about how we need to shut down the scum at Ebay, for the children.
        hxegon 6y ago
  - rozab 6y ago
    Here's a tangentially related def con about the strange economics of that whole scam. Basically, everyone in the chain apart from the cardholder benefits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU
deleted 6y ago
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by lagadu 6y ago

duxup 6y ago

The stolen key system (legit keys bought with stolen CCs) has been how G2A keeps their prices low. I don't think this has been a mystery to G2A and they've been at it for years / not been responsive to developers who have contacted them about it ...

driverdan 6y ago
How is that different than someone selling products on eBay or Amazon that were purchased with stolen cards?
- duxup 6y ago
  Does it have to be different?
  - maerF0x0 6y ago
    It doesnt, but we dont see front page posts on HN saying "Stolen goods sold on ebay". IMO this should be a congratulatory post "G2A owns up to their mistakes and follows through on their word" ...
    - duxup 6y ago
      Let's see if G2A does... they've profited from not doing so for a long time. They knew, they didn't care and they sold other people's work for their own profit. They earned plenty of skepticism and this wasn't a one off mistake, it was exactly how they chose to do business for a long time...
      - monocasa 6y ago
        Let's see if eBay does... they've profited from not doing so for a long time. They knew, they didn't care and they sold other people's work for their own profit. They earned plenty of skepticism and this wasn't a one off mistake, it was exactly how they chose to do business for a long time...
    - paxys 6y ago
      If the majority of goods on ebay were stolen then you would absolutely see that post.
      - monocasa 6y ago
        Are the majority stolen on G2A?
      - lagadu 6y ago
        If you're going to claim with a straight face that the majority of goods on g2a are stolen, which is what you're implying, you're going to have to provide sources.
- jylam 6y ago
  It's not, but that doesn't make it legal.
  - throwaway2048 6y ago
    It also doesn't make G2A "A black market for software". G2A is fundamentally a consumer empowering type of market/organization, businesses who sell keys do not want their completely legitimately purchased keys resold, and if you don't think they are going to stoop to painting the people who enable that as horrible monsters, you have ignored the entire history of markets and PR. G2A has a standing offer to pay devs 10x what any fraudulently obtained keys cost them, and they are making good on that offer here, the fact they are still being treated like some kind of mafia-esque organization in these comments says a lot about the power of PR. Remember when the RIAA was coming out about the evils of used CDs and was asking congress to make their resale illegal? We are at that point right now with digital goods, with the majority of people cheering on this blatantly anti-consumer bullshit and painting those that enable fighting it as scumbags
    - falcolas 6y ago
      That standing offer is no longer a standing offer now that they've proven that they are re-selling stolen keys. Now they simply (and appropriately) offer to repay proven fraudulent keys and chargeback fees. G2A doesn't get much good press because many people empathize with indy games devs, and prior to this finding G2A loudly and broadly claimed that there were not stolen keys being sold through their storefront.
      - throwaway2048 6y ago
        Do you think Ebay is free of stolen goods and illegal credit card transactions? G2A works exactly like Ebay does, and I don't see much hand wringing about how we need to shut down the scum at Ebay, for the children.
        hxegon 6y ago
- rozab 6y ago
  Here's a tangentially related def con about the strange economics of that whole scam. Basically, everyone in the chain apart from the cardholder benefits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IT2oAzTcvU

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]