DailyIndieGame - Introducing the DIG MarketPlace - Sell and buy your own STEAM keys

I did just purchase a key from a seller with no feedback, and wound up with a game I'd wanted. I'm more likely to try for cheaper keys with no feedback, so the seller just needs to keep that in mind. No one HAS to buy your keys if you put it up.

I don't understand what that has to do with this?

Actually, if you try a duplicate key for a game you own you still get the "you already own this game" message. The only way to test a key is to activate it on an account that doesn't have the game already.

An invalid key will only ever give the invalid message, it can't be a dupe as no-one could have redeemed it in the first place. ready owned message however does have higher priority than the dupe message. So if you own a game you'll get the already owned message regardless of whether or not the key is a dupe. You'll only get the dupe message if you don't already own the gameowever just going through the normal redemption method on steam won't tell you what it was if it is a dupe so it could still be for the wong product.

Why don't you do something like g2a, take the first 10 trades or so to calculate the initial seller rating as a percentage.

It's good innovation on DIG. But how you check the truth of feedback who purchased the key? I asking because I sell only 100% working keys from confident sites (like indiegala or HB), but still got two negative values from unknown idiots. Now my seller rating is drop to 95% from 100%. How can you check their [unfair] actions?

No. Only after 5 trades. We changes the rules a bit.

That's good to know, thank you.

My point is that every site like this pretty much have the same games. You will almost never see anything more expensive like say Skyrim.

You are correct. And here are some things we do, which keeps us far from a gray market.

1. No cash. You get points which can be used to get other games.
2. NO feature (and we don't even intend to add it) to add more than 1 key at a time. So uploading key lists is a no go.
3. Limited number of open Trades per account. Currently you can have 20 games listed for Trading. Currently the number is small until we make sure the MarketPlace works perfectly.

Let's sum things up.

Being able to manually add up to a maximum of 100 keys at once for trading, for which you get points ... is FAR from a "full blown gray market area"

Honest question, can you more clearly define what you mean by grey market

Grey market is when keys come from a source other than directly from a publisher/developer or a party appointed to officially represent them. That's not to say that the keys are necessarily illegitimate, but as indicated by the name it enters a 'grey area' where the publisher/developer may or may not be okay with the unauthorized re-sale of keys for their game(s).

Are you saying that only key-for-key trading is legitimate, but when you accept money for keys, that becomes problematic?

Yes, it's the difference between bartering and the buying and selling of something purely for monetary profit and putting money in your pocket.

Or is it about the potential volume of trading, in other words, if it's individuals selling a random extra key they have laying around, that's not a problem, but this makes it possible for it to happen on a wide scale?

It matters not whether you are an individual on a small scale selling a few keys or a company on a larger scale. What matters is that it is being done for profit.

Just trying to understand why trading is an accepted part of gaming, and when that veers into gray market territory.

It's a question of where the keys are being sourced from and whether the publisher/developer would consider it acceptable use. When it's not it is damaging to the industry, especially for Indie studios. This is the key point.

Agreed - I will not be placing hundreds of items on there, just a few of the spare keys I have lying around, in order to be able to purchase more games from DIG with the points I earn - with these, we can then buy more games to be made into giveaways here :)
Otherwise, some of those keys might languish in my lists unused for many months, which seems a waste for all people

remember the more of a partucular type of game gets listed, the lower thr price is likely to go (supply and demand as it is)

Supply / Demand doesn't apply to a single marketplace though, since others are available at a click of a button. The common theme here is that many people who have posted there (not saying all, but a clear majority) are counting on the ignorance of others. If someone else is uninformed about how much supply is out there on other sites, or how cheaply the game can be bought for, then they get suckered.

An honest trader sets a price that takes into account his cost, competing prices, supply, and demand. He doesn't set a price hoping that he'll get lucky and some ignorant sucker will wander by.

Also, just because it was bundled before, bears no ralation to its current price in an trading/selling area (to suggest otherwise is simply wrong), as some games that have been bundled many years ago are hard to find and produce a premium - I don't trade and even I have noticed this with my giveaways of old bundled games that get loads of entries - so they are clearly wanted.

Incorrect. While being bundled is far from the only factor to consider, it definitely affects a games value. Once bundled, a game is (at least slightly) more likely to be bundled again in the future, meaning lower value. Some bundle games, even older bundles, are still quite numerous, so higher supply. Once bundled, games often (but not always) lose demand because many people who wanted said game have it now.

Also, yes, the older the bundle, the more value the games have relative to how much they were purchased for. However, as I noted, many of the listings are for recent bundles (ended within the last week or two) or even current on-going bundles that have not even ended yet. And still people are asking double the cost and up (even up to Steam sale price). This clearly does not reflect the large current supply of these games and their relatively low demand.

As for the suckers in nets, perhaps that is possible, but it is diingenuous to think that all of us are doing it for those reasons

I never said all. However, one can recognize the motives of a person when that person disregards people selling a certain game for less elsewhere (either bundle site or trading site) and posts a high price. The only explanation is they think someone ignorant will come along; a sucker. If someone is counting on the ignorance of others to turn a profit, that person is not an honest trader.

Either way, what you describe as being a bad resource, is actually only bad in your opinion and for your use, which is easrily dealt with by not using it - others, however, do not feel the same

Actually, it is objectively bad, as currently 70-80% of the games are severely overpriced (double or higher what they are worth).

I will later look on the other methods ,thanks .

It would be nice if we could see who the buyer is so we can tell if its the same person doing it. all 3 games sold nearly as quick as I listed them. If its the same person that bought them seems like they would stop after the first bad key.

So can you check my trade history and find who is the buyer who leaves negative feedback on good keys? Don't you understand it will ended very bad if you will be keep indifference. Just imagine: I sell 20-25$ game key for 20-30 points and get negative feedback. If I want deceive I'll write total crap number, call it any popular AAA title, set price 150-200 points, and will get 5-6 times more with same result for my seller rating.

Please send us an email with your DIG account email and I will look into this.