I have some keys from old bundles that I bought a year or so ago that I'd like to use in some giveaways. Is there a chance that keys that old might not work anymore? And if so, what are the repercussions of giving away an invalid key?

10 years ago*

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I suggest you try using one to see if it works, idk about repercussions but the keys should still work

10 years ago
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This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

10 years ago
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not in any case. some keys in fact can expire.

10 years ago
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if you are not sure if they are working, i wouldn't do a giveaway. but maybe you can check them, by checking if you can make a gift link with them. i think if you can make a giftlink, the key should work too.

10 years ago
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Thanks for the responses. I did some research and it doesn't look like there's a way to verify a key short of activating it. I know the keys are unused, it's just some of them are a bit old, but if that shouldn't make a difference then I imagine it'll be ok.

10 years ago
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Keys don't expire, so if you didn't show them to anyone they're good. And no, there's no way to check without activating :)

10 years ago
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Key can expire. I don't think there's an expiry date system per se, but the keys can be rendered invalid at any time. IndieGala in particular has been known to have cases where keys go bad after so long.

10 years ago
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This is what I'm worried about. Close to half the games I'm looking to give away are from IG bundles. Guess I'll just try one of the older ones and see what happens.

10 years ago
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As late as yesterday I activated an Indie Gala key from the Indie Gala October bundle that I bought October 25th 2013.

I have never experienced that a key would expire; and this at least tells you the expiration date isn't set at a year :)

10 years ago
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Of course keys can be rendered invalid / revoked at any time. But this can happen to games in your account as well, so it doesn't say much.

I have not had any problems with old Indie Gala keys.

10 years ago
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Keys being deactivated and products being removed from your account are two different things. In general, the latter doesn't happen (with the recent Warlock 2 thing from GamersGate being a notable exception), but the former does happen from time to time. Usually once you've activated a key, it's yours to keep, but unused keys are fair game. Indie Gala in particular has a line warning that they don't guarantee any keys after 60 days. If you want proof, here's an example of someone running into problems with Indie Gala keys.

10 years ago
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I don't think one guy claiming he has issues with IG proofs that there is a problem. If there was a general problem lots of people would've said so.

10 years ago
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If you already own the game you can try activating the key and see what message pops up - Duplicate code, Invalid code or Product already owned

10 years ago
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^ this

10 years ago
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Careful about that:

"Product Already Owned" doesn't tell you the key is good. If you already own the game, both used keys and unused keys will give the same message.

"Duplicate Product Code" means you don't own the game, and the key is used.

10 years ago
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^ this exactly :)

10 years ago
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I thought Product already owned appears when key is valid otherwise Duplicate Product code will be shown.

10 years ago
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Thanks, guys. Most of these are games I don't own, they're just ones I don't particularly want - heck, a few of them might be games nobody wants :) So I figured I'd try giveaways instead of just letting them rot.

10 years ago
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I have heard the people at Steam support can tell you the status of keys, i.e. used or not, what game they are for, but I have never tried it myself. At worst they will say no, leaving you no worse off than you are now. Good luck! :)

10 years ago
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no

10 years ago
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Another caution about this: Sometimes there are multiple IDs for the same game and you can end up having two copies of the game activated on your account. This could be because one is a different region, or a different edition of the game. As an example, I think it's possible to get both East India Company and East India Company Gold on the same account.

10 years ago
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that is possible as when they gave away East India Company Gold i thought it would go over the copy i already have but nope now i have 2

but the weird part is both are complete just one says GOLD and the other one does not lol it is silly

10 years ago
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If it does happen that the key was previously used, just get a replacement and give that to the winner, instead.

10 years ago
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If you're not sure they're valid, I'd suggest creating the giveaway ONLY if you can afford another copy(ies) in case your key(s) won't work.

10 years ago
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^ What he said.

Why not have a look at your friends' wishlists, and see if any of the games are on there?

Random acts of kindness FTW :)

10 years ago
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If you are unsure you can drop the keys in steam chat,give them to friends,drop them in the forum

short of that the only thing that will happen it is is not valid and you do not resolve the issue is you get infractions or possible ban from steam gifts but i am not sure it would be worth the risk

as far as being expired i never heard of such a thing does not mean it is not possible i just know after some time has passed that most bundle sites will not offer any help getting a key to work after so many days have passed say like 30 or 90 days

the keys should never expire after all i bought my copy of Half-Life GOY way back like in 2001 and i was able to redeem the key on steam this year

as long as steam has a record of the key it should never expire but like i said i could be wrong but i never heard of such a thing but i guess there is always that rare chance you got a bad key to start off with because of an error and that is why they ask you to activate as soon as possible

10 years ago
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He'll still probably not know for sure if they worked or not. Most ninjas are ungratefull.

10 years ago
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gala keys appear to go bad over time from my experience

10 years ago
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Since you have more than one key, I'd be happy to test one of the older ones for you and let you know if it works :P

10 years ago
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what time is it? is it banhammer time yet?

10 years ago
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Really? A ban for a joke?

10 years ago
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i'm not one to judge. read faq and judge yourself.

10 years ago
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I've read the FAQ, but I thought it would be clear I was kidding since I've put the :P at the end. Surely, I would've contacted the OP and at least asked him about the games he had if I was serious...
Anyway, a pointless argument, I'm sorry if I left an impression that I was serious, I most certainly wasn't.

10 years ago
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it's not about being serious or not. begging is forbidden even if you're joking.

10 years ago
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so let the mods decide it why are people so inclined to say hey is it ban hammer time

does it make them feel good to point out the obvious you talk about being banned for begging

when what you have posted at any decent forum would be considered spam

so there now i am special for pointing out you spammed

10 years ago
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it's hard to understand you. at least for me. i hope i didn't misunderstand. i'm not a mod but i think i can point out when i see someone breaking a rule. this is not spam. this is conversation. use a dictionary. this is what forums are for. .-.

10 years ago
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I'm not sure why you're clinging on to this, and basically, EViLiSLuRKiNG is correct, we are spamming now. I should delete my post since this leads to nowhere, but what I'm going to do is - stop replying and leave the post here. Since I'm obviously being serious and begging for a key of a game of which I'm totally uncertain if I would even want or need it... it's only fitting to leave the evidence here for official members of the forum to see it and evaluate my seriousness and punish me accordingly.
Anyway, have a nice day and good luck in future giveaways.

10 years ago
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before you go please promise that you'll keep doing beggar jokes. more jokes, more likely support staff will see them. cheers. o/

10 years ago
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Naturally. But only if you'll continue to point me to the FAQ while completely ignoring it yourself.
"Please do not call out users in the forum or chat. Submit a ticket in the Support Forum."

10 years ago
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i don't think this is calling out. calling out would be something like making a thread with a screenshot or linking to this thread and an url to your profile. but if you want it that much, i'll report you next time instead of replying, lel. no need to take support's time with a ticket.

10 years ago
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