Good day everyone, just wish to share my plight and seek some advice.

I had a giveaway ended roughly a week ago. Sent the Steam Key through email, even though the domain name was weird and ended with a '.net'. I didn't get any replies or bouncebacks so i thought it's done.

After a few days of sending i notice that the person did not feedback proper, even though he was online for a couple of hours ago. I decided to be more proactive and add him on Steam. He did not accept it.

Now i got hit with a 'Not received', i am feeling pretty peeved about it. The problem is that because the mail went through and it was just a Steam Key, i am afraid that the key might have been used already even if i request for a new winner.

Can anyone give me some advice as to how i can resolve this issue? In my opinion, i tried my best in contact but it can't be helped if he does not want to :/

Thank you for your attention.

11 years ago*

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Contact support. tell them what happened. see what they can do.

11 years ago
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This is why steamgifts needs an on-site messagebox. You could send the key using this and the user gets notified the next time he logs on.

11 years ago
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Good idea, yellow sponge.

11 years ago
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Probably already used now. Try contacting support.

11 years ago
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contact support and tell them the story. they may mark it as received.

11 years ago
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Ouch.

11 years ago
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's why I started adding people on Steam to give keys. I used to send them by mail, but then this happens. I realize that only a very small percentage of people pull this crap, but better to be safe. Support should sort it out for you though.

11 years ago
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better take screenshots, doing it through steam chat seems like it'd leave even less of a record.

seems like the best way to have a clear paper trail to cover yourself is:
try emailing with a clear title like "RE: STEAM GIFT GIVEAWAY WINNER" or something, with the message "just testing the email works, message back and I'll reply with the key"
thats what I'm gonna do anyway.


i have been informed that steam chat now records things, but that post is gone now for some reason? so editing that info into here/

11 years ago
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Same thing happened for me to get my not received. It was my very first giveaway, too, and it was back when support was disbanded :P At least it was only a cheap bundle key that you may or may not have lost.

Edit: Just realized that if you had a friend that already owns Dynamite Jack, you could get him to try the key. Wouldn't it say "Product already owned" if it's working and "duplicate product key" if it's not? Or would this not work?

11 years ago
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doesn't work unfortunately. it checks owned before trying to use the key. so you never get the duplicate key message(i've tried that/tested with a code I knew was used for a game I already had)

(its like for some reason steam decided you shouldn't have any way of verifying a key is valid without actually using the key. they couldn't have been more thorough if they had intentionally thought of how we'd try to check them and patched things so we couldn't lol)

11 years ago
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I think they might have made it this way to prevent people from brute-forcing steam for available codes that they could then sell to others.

It's a hassle for us gamers now , but it would be a catastrophe for Steam if people could just rip them off and resell games they never bought.

11 years ago
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your a fool to think that works, i pity anyone who wins a key from you v__v

11 years ago
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well he is on right now, and his library doesnt have the game he won :p

11 years ago
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Can you post on his profile? Perhaps you can ask him to confirm his SteamGifts email is correct as you have sent it to the listed email.

11 years ago
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Contact support, supply proof such as screenshots of the email that you sent and they'll handle it. Don't giveaway the key to someone else, I made that mistake and if you do that then support won't help you. Just write the key off as being gone. The person may contact you after support gives him a suspension at which point it's your choice whether or not to give the key again.

11 years ago
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i will add him and talk to him

11 years ago
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Problem is that if he refuse to accept your invite, i don't see how you can pm him on Steam. It happened to me when i tried and he just did not accept it. Right-clicking on his name does not show any viable means of pm or messaging.

Thank you for your time and effort. I greatly appreciate it.

11 years ago
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yeah...we'll see what happens. i'm usualy pretty good with these things, but if he doesn't accept my request...there's nothing i can do. i'll tell you what happens though

11 years ago
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I think for now i will try to contact the person on my own and if it still does not proceed well, i will head to support.

You're right, i don't see the game in his library...so i really have to wonder if the email went through and if not, why i did not receive any notifications about it.

Thanks once again.

11 years ago
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I saw in the comment section of your giveaway and he says that his email is wrong and now corrected. Maybe you sent it to the wrong email he had before he corrected it?

11 years ago
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...

Well OK!

Dang! I don't have the habit of checking through the comments. I will now try to contact his new email.

Thank you very much for your time and effort!

11 years ago
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You shouldn't have to look there, most people would not look there.

Good of you to keep on trying.

11 years ago
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This is a good example of why saying anything in the giveaway comments seems somewhat futile. (The OP didn't do anything wrong, just pointing out that using the giveaway comments to say thanks isn't very effective.)

11 years ago
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What exactly is wrong with a .net domain name??

11 years ago
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Nothing, but I think what OP was saying was it's something like whatever@fhqwhgads.net, as compared to something known like comcast.net.

11 years ago
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+1 for meaning, but mostly for the Homestar Runner reference

11 years ago
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Come on fhqwhgads. I said, come on fhqwhgads.

11 years ago
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I was actually not a huge fan of the stuff they did, but this one bit is my favorite. I did, over time, give it a chance and watch everything, but most of it was meh.

11 years ago
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That domain actually exists .. that's pretty cool :)
Unfortunately it's not being used for anything.

11 years ago
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Yeah, I recently had someone steal a Garry's Mod key from me. I accidentally sent one of the winners two copies through Steam and he refused to send the extra back. Some people are scum. shrug I ended up having to buy another copy of Garry's Mod to give to the remaining winner, but it could have been something more expensive. I suggest you take screenshots and give games directly to try and prevent theft.

For now, however, you can try talking to the admin.

11 years ago
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You shouldnt have to chase after him to give him a free game. Besides his email wasnt correct, he should have contacted you.

11 years ago
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Maybe he re-gifted the key or activated on another account, or gave it to a friend. He marked as received just to save his ass. OR maybe he didn't receive the email. I'd say re-send the email, telling him to add you on steam.

11 years ago
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What happens to your primary account (the one you purchased the key on through Steam) if you reverse charges on a key that got activated on a different Steam account (the account of the scammer)?

11 years ago
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You don't purchase keys on Steam. Steam activation keys are purchased from third-party websites.

If it is a gift copy purchased on Steam, it will be removed from the second account(the scammer) and the first account will get purchase restriction.

However, if it is a key(which also means that it is bought from third-party website), there is some chance chance(low IMO) that the key will be revoked from the second account. It depends on the website where you purchased it and their relationship with Steam. Overall, Steam are a little bit reluctant to take any action in cases where keys are involved.

11 years ago
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Some people are just scum... I sent keys to 2 people 1 month ago, and until now they still have no clicked on Received Gift... Tried adding them on steam, but they did not accept to this day. Some people are just nasty, and then we get to suffer for it and get suspended or banned from SteamGifts because of them...

11 years ago
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i've added him and we talked...he's waiting for you to go online. he thinks something went wrong with the email. when you're on...talk with him and everything should be fine.

11 years ago
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He has found the game and activated it on his steam account. He has also clicked received on steamgifts for you. Everything should be all set right now! :)

11 years ago
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Yay! Problem solved!

11 years ago
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Nice work!

11 years ago
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Once again, thank you very much for your time and effort in helping out a stranger in need!

11 years ago
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no problem!

11 years ago
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I did not get the first email. When I saw I had won the first thing I did was to make sure it was correct.
It was not - it was still set to a virtual domain I used for it's catch-all * emailadress.

Since you were wondering , I used to use that domain for many years (since the late 90's I think) to give a unique email address to every site I registered for. If I should ever start to get spam, I would know who leaked my address to spammers and the service allowed me to block incoming mail on that address or forward it back them if I wanted to annoy them.
It was a very effective strategy against spam especially in the early years when spam filters were not that great or non-existent, but sadly the provider stopped providing the service some months back. I simply forgot to update my Steamgifts account when that happened.

I ALSO did not get the second mail .. what a stroke of bad luck, but now that I've seen this thread (Razuto22 contacted me) I looked, and found it. It had gone straight to the gmail spamfolder. This might be the problem with many giftings gone wrong - the mails are classified as spam by the emailprovider and the reciever never thinks to check their spam folder.

Anyways - I found the second mail there and have activated the game with steam and marked the gift as received.

I apologize if you felt wronged by the not received status earlier - I was simply trying to get your attention so maybe you'd try emailing me or adding me on Steam. My next step would have been to contact support but you beat me to it.

Thanks you for the game, and your patience, and thank you to Support for helping out.

11 years ago
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Nice to see it all worked out, no surprise the spam folder strikes again! I won't e-mail keys for that exact reason.

11 years ago
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Very kind of you to provide such a lengthy explanation, and I'm happy to see the problem resolved. I can't really understand why you wouldn't accept the Steam invite (you could have easily verified it was your benefactor inviting you), or thoroughly check the spam folders for the emails. When winning a giveaway, that's probably the least we can do. As a sidenote, it's pretty clearly stated in the giveaway description "Keys will be sent over email so please ensure it is correct".

I'm not looking for an answer, just thinking out loud, on what any of us can do to make it easier for those more generous than ourselves. Good luck from now on.

11 years ago
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I didn't see it until I got home from work today.

To tell you the truth I think I might have sleeping at my desk. I was coding late into the night (I make the SweetFX mod that makes your DirectX games look better) and fell asleep.

Slept for a few hours, and then rushed to work this morning.
I probably got the invite during the night.

11 years ago
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Great that it is now resolved!

11 years ago
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that's how they say "thank you"..

11 years ago
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HAPPY ENDING

11 years ago
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$5 extra.

11 years ago
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lol

11 years ago
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If you are sending a key, dont send them via email. Always add the winner in Steam and send it on the chat after he answers you, so you can avoid that.
If the winner received the gift, activated it but didnt mark it as received after a week, you can contact the support and im sure they will put the right feedback for you.

11 years ago
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I never send anything through E-mail. I add the person and gift it to them in person to ensure no mix ups.

11 years ago
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Might have to buy the game from steam & give it that way for evidence..but I know everybody below has probably already stated this or such ... If the person is a low baller...then shame shame shame

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by Nomiya.