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What? No, just store every key that you officially sell in an internal database. Now if someone enters a key you check if it's in your DB, therefore if the key

by zyb09 18y ago

What? No, just store every key that you officially sell in an internal database. Now if someone enters a key you check if it's in your DB, therefore if the key has been legitimately issued. Everything else gets rejected and your now 100% counterfeit safe, unless someone hacks your database, which is unlikely. Don't wanna pick on apple, but that's pretty much how things like that are done.

whughes 18y ago
What's your definition of 'sell'? Should Best Buy report back to Apple whenever a card is sold? Or are we just talking about shipping to retail? There's also probably a chance of collision, considering the volume of iTunes certificates Apple probably sells.
- wmf 18y ago
  Should Best Buy report back to Apple whenever a card is sold? Many gift cards sold at retail have to be "activated" at the register (presumably to cut down on shoplifting); I don't know what this involves but there may already be some communication.
- zyb09 18y ago
  Well, in case of retail cards the keys are registered before shipping. You give the manufacture a set of registered keys, which are then printed on the cards. If done right you won't have any issues - that's exactly what people are doing with CD-Keys or Prepaid-Cards. However, if you mess up (can't always avoid mistakes) and have shipped invalid keys or may be the key-printer didn't work right, you have the customer send you the certificate card and you can refund him. It's by far the better system than using just a algorithm-based genuine check, especially for things that directly translate into money, like gift certificates.
anamax 18y ago
> No, just store every key that you officially sell in an internal database. My point is that such keys can now be generated independently of the sale. In other words, key_A is generated by a sale and key_A is generate by the algorithm. When key_A is presented, what do you do?
- jibiki 18y ago
  > My point is that such keys can now be generated independently of the sale. I'm pretty sure his suggestion is to have the keys generated randomly, so that they cannot be generated independently of the sale. If we are to believe him, this is standard operating procedure for businesses that are not apple.

by zyb09 18y ago

whughes 18y ago

What's your definition of 'sell'? Should Best Buy report back to Apple whenever a card is sold? Or are we just talking about shipping to retail? There's also probably a chance of collision, considering the volume of iTunes certificates Apple probably sells.

wmf 18y ago
Should Best Buy report back to Apple whenever a card is sold? Many gift cards sold at retail have to be "activated" at the register (presumably to cut down on shoplifting); I don't know what this involves but there may already be some communication.
zyb09 18y ago
Well, in case of retail cards the keys are registered before shipping. You give the manufacture a set of registered keys, which are then printed on the cards. If done right you won't have any issues - that's exactly what people are doing with CD-Keys or Prepaid-Cards. However, if you mess up (can't always avoid mistakes) and have shipped invalid keys or may be the key-printer didn't work right, you have the customer send you the certificate card and you can refund him. It's by far the better system than using just a algorithm-based genuine check, especially for things that directly translate into money, like gift certificates.

anamax 18y ago

> No, just store every key that you officially sell in an internal database. My point is that such keys can now be generated independently of the sale. In other words, key_A is generated by a sale and key_A is generate by the algorithm. When key_A is presented, what do you do?

jibiki 18y ago
> My point is that such keys can now be generated independently of the sale. I'm pretty sure his suggestion is to have the keys generated randomly, so that they cannot be generated independently of the sale. If we are to believe him, this is standard operating procedure for businesses that are not apple.