Affiliated devs would get 10% royalties on transactions on their games. Naturally, it's a bit weird to get 10% on some digital goods acquired via fraudulent means......

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-28-g2a-to-give-developers-royalties-on-third-party-auctions

10 whole percent... and the likelihood of actually that being enough to cancel out the chargebacks, I wonder...

I'd hope it's more like 30% or more, and G2A pays the fees for all chargebacks. But I don't see this happening.

Just curious, do you mean that most codes on G2A are actually acquired via real fraudlent means (stolen credit cards, hacked accounts... etc)? I thought most of the keys sold there are bulk bought during sales or unwanted codes from bundles. Or do you consider the latter to be "fraudulent" too?

I'm asking because the site (and other similar ones) has been around for quite some time, so I don't see how they could keep all those customers if the majority of the codes they sold were fake. It doesn't seem to be a scam site like those "earn $$$ while working from home" or Nigerian prince emails.

Also, most DRM-free proponents seem to be strongly against EULA terms restricting sales of used physical video games, or other forms of controlling the second hand game marked. So how is that different that restricting the resale of unused, legally obtained digital codes?

I'm not defending G2A here, just honestly curious about what users think about this here.

Disclaimer:
I haven't done any research about this, and the only little knowledge I have of G2A is from the "my G2A code is not working" threads that pop up from time to time here. So sorry, if I'm missing something obvious.

I don't use these sites either, but from what I can tell most people consider it fraudulent to sell keys even if they were legally obtained in a bundle. I don't necessarily consider that a problem, but it's certainly a 'hot' (sorry) topic. There is also an argument that sites like G2A encourage the stealing of codes through credit card fraud, but I would argue that this is something that credit card companies and the police should be dealing with rather than attempting to close down the market.

I call it leverage.

The actual extent of the problem is very hard to gauge accurately. What is certain is that some private sellers use G2A as a money laundering scam, buying game codes using stolen credit card information, and then selling them on G2A for less than they "paid" for them. The fact that G2A gives you the option to buy "insurance" along with each purchase is a dead giveaway that they are well aware that fraud is happening. It is the only "shop" I have ever seen, digital or otherwise, that openly charges customers extra for what is supposed to be a basic customer right, namely that you get what you pay for.

Ah. I didn't read too carefully. Missed that word.

Well put. If they were a legit store, the purchase itself should be the insurance. It is possible that some of the keys there are clean, but the chances of money laundering are also high. Anyway G2A isn't *that* cheap anyway, their prices are usually a bit higher than summer/winter sale prices so I see no reason to buy anything from them.

Those keys are issued on condition that they not be resold. Spot on.

from g2a i bought tera veteran key with 10 euro because i needed all warehouse slots. it was impossible to do crafting without those slots and the regular price for buying the same thing from item mall was way higher. i am so sorry bleaz don't punish me? bleaaaaaz?... i know g2a must be illegal but i HAD to do it :(

That's... interesting. And people actually fall for that? Especially seeing how easily it is to get a chargeback.
I know that's the case, which is why I asked my other question. Would such condition on a physical game be acceptable? G2A does pay the fees for all chargebacks for the transactions from its store.

I'm seriously sick of even hearing about G2A. "Affiliated" developers? No one should be affiliated with that wretched hive of scum and villainy. I'd seriously rather have people just pirate the games than buy on G2A. Seems more fair somehow. At least no one is making money off of that, no thieves and no grey market. And at least some people who pirated it might later buy the game if they liked, unlike if they used G2A and consider themselves proud owners of a legal copy. Unless of course their key gets revoked, in which case "waaah, GOG is teh worst ever, I hope GOG peopels gets hit a truck full of cancer!"

This is one of the worst problems regarding G2A and revoking keys for Publishers in general. They have nothing to do with the original transaction but end up having the backlash. Puts them into a difficult position on if revoking keys or not as they will create angry customers which maybe wont buy anything from this given company again in the future as well - as many people lack the knowledge/will/decency to connect the rights dots to see that only the G2A Seller is to blame and thus themselves by buying there - they rather blame Ubisoft/EA/GOG/Insert Indie Developer here who actually then revoked the key than admitting their own fault. Maybe from a Publisher side a good approach would be to offer these people reduced keys - the problem is though these "scheme" would be become abused by the key sellers as well so it aint viable sadly.

I'm fairly certain they were referring to chargebacks for transactions made when the keys were originally obtained, as opposed to when they were resold on G2A itself.