4 ms·

How is that different than someone selling products on eBay or Amazon that were purchased with stolen cards?

by driverdan 6y ago

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

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