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Gifting and Trading on Groupees

Unused keys are really lost opportunities for everyone. For developers, one of the main reasons to participate in a bundle is to create exposure, to put the game in the hands of gamers who might not otherwise find the game or buy it at retail. The hope is that some, perchance many, will actually play the game, like it, post reviews, tell friends, generally spread the word, which ultimately provides a promotional boost for the game and the developer, something particularly important for indies.

And, no doubt, not every game appeals to every gamer, though conversely, most every game will have an appeal to some gamers. Keys that were included in a bundle that are left idle represent the opportunity for joy unrealized by some gamer.

It is with this belief that we have created convenient ways for our community to share their unused keys with fellow gamers. Within your My Purchases, you will see aside your keys two icons, one that looks like a Gift box and the other an Exchange icon.

Trades1

If you click on the Gift Box, the Unused key will be moved to the Giveaway Tab.

Gifts

Keys can be added to the Gift box, drag and drop. Name your bundle, add your friend’s email address along with a personalized message, and then click Create bundle, and a secure link for retrieving the keys will be sent.

Alternatively, you can now Trade keys as well. If you click the Exchange icon, keys will be posted/listed on the Trades tab.

Trades4

Here you will see all Trades offered by fellow members of the Groupees community. You can sort by Key type, Name or view just Your Trades. At any time, you can Revoke a Key from Trades, and it will be automatically added back to your library. Click on Make an Offer if you wish to offer what of your available keys.

Trades3

Note, you can make multiple offers of the same key. If/when an Offer is accepted, all other Offers will be simply Revoked.

To manage Offers made, click on View Offers.

Trades5

Here you can view all Offers made, and either Accept or Reject them.

Please note, over the course of the next few weeks, we will be refining and improving this system. Apart from any bug fixes, we will be next focusing on adding a Ratings and Comment section so traders can view what other Groupees users have to say about trading with a Member in question.

While the system will be Trust-based and Groupees cannot make any guarantees about the validity of keys traded, we will keep a close watch on things and if we find any Member abusing the system, we reserve the right to impose permanent bans and complete key account revocation.

Assuming things function well, we plan on expanding our Profile system to allow users to add keys obtained from other sources to their accounts for storage, Gifting and Trading. It is likely this particular feature, if enabled, will be reserved for Members of a certain status and/or rating to ensure maximum Trust.

We hope that you like these features. We are working hard to make Groupees a fun place to hang out, interact with other Members and, of course, buy games, music, comics and other digital goods. Let us know how we’re doing! Your feedback, as always, is not just welcomed but wanted!

Next up, Trading Coins!

Your friend,

Jonny

 

 

Jonny Cappuccino

Jonny Cappuccino

I'm a man. Sometimes I imagine myself as a superhero. I like beer, women, games, music, books, film, sports, painting and cats.

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  • Rob

    This seems like a great idea, and could be very useful in future for trading those unused keys for something desirable. As it stands right now, however, I can see a few issues with the system. Right off the bat, unless I’ve missed it, there doesn’t seem to be a wishlist feature, so any proposed trades will have to be made on a guess as to what the other party may want and not own already, which is very limiting; I’ve had a trade offer already, but already own the game offered to me. A way to discuss a trade with the other trader would be rather useful too, I feel, both during and after completing it. I’m also unsure as to whether offering to trade multiple games in a single trade will trade them all away (which I’d suspect would be the case, from the screenshots above) or just allow the recipient to select one from amongst them. Perhaps the addition of a more flexible option, wherein one party initiates trade for an item they desire and the trader of that item selects from amongst the items listed by the other, would work? I realise that this feature has only just been released, but thought I’d provide what feedback I can on its current state, given my experiences with it so far. I’ll definitely be looking forward to future updates on this front…!

    • alx

      Agreed, I only glanced at it, but I really think it needs some way of reducing the number of offers you would dismiss instantly.
      I can just imagine opening up the ‘view offers’ screen and seeing a hundred things you already have, half of which are from the currently running bundle you just bought.

      Still, it’s great that you guys are implementing this. Now if only there was an easy way of finding all my unused steam keys to trade….. =)

  • NeedlerFanPudge

    There is nothing currently stopping people from unchecking the “Used” box on old bundles and then offering those keys up for trade. Until you fix that, you’re basically running a foolproof scamming system to get free games from your used keys.

    • Jonny Cappuccino

      This risk is inherent for any key trades. We have leverage. If users abuse the site, we will close their Groupees accounts and revoke their keys. Ratings and Comments will be added shortly so Members can research Member trust.

      • AxeMonster

        I do love your trust in the “good” of humanity… as well as having a backup plan. This is a neat idea. Keep up the solid work as always.

  • Mandigal

    Awesome. Love the way this is going.

  • Jay

    I got 3 trade massage and done for it, 2 keys work but 1 key failed. I hope the ratings and comments’ system got online ASAP.

  • Danaroth

    I love this idea, but they are some issues:

    1) I am unable to revoke games from trades at the moment.
    2) A couple of people could accept two different offers of mine for the same game; would I end up with a duplicate in that case? Still hasn’t happened to me yet luckily.
    3) It would be also nice to have a reminder on the site on all offers I made, so I can revoke them manually or I can see which ones are not available anymore because of lack of availability of keys on either side.
    4) I would also like the system to tell me which game I gave away in trade, since I did forget what I offered many times before. =P
    5) When I accept a proposed trade I see my own key before I refresh the page; that could be an issue since the person that accepts could think that it is the other party’s key and redeem it himself.

    Groupees folks seem nice guys overall; still no issue with 4 successful trades, so the feedback system is not my priority at the moment, but still nice to hear it will be there. Great job!

  • ronn

    i traded a game and the key was already been used by the user so in a sense I have been rob. need a option to report people. the guy name was scorpionbruno maybe even a error from his side. I think that if a option to if you open your key you can’t trade it that would solve some issues

    • Mounrou

      Same here.
      Trade with scorpionbruno for his key of “A Stroke of Fate: Operation Valkyrie” on Feb 2nd, 2015
      His key was used already.
      Once is an accident, twice is probably intentional.

      Will not be using this function at all until there is a way to resolve this, and will also encourage others not do as well because it’s not just giving somebody else a key for free (which I can live with). It’s being SCAMMED into giving somebody a key that’s a whole different thing.

    • Aslan

      “I think that if a option to if you open your key you can’t trade it that would solve some issues” I completely disagree not in principle, but in fact. With some games offered there can be a dozen “Editions” of a game, Retail, Walmart, Germany, Gold, Black, Deluxe, Steam, Anniversary, Game of the Year, and until one has the key in their hands, and plugs it into Steam or Desura, one doesn’t quite know if the key is for the edition already on their Steam or Desura account. Say I bought the standard edition on steam, then 18 months later I get a key for the black edition on Groupees. In the past 18 months has the developer upgraded my standard edition to the black edition? I could check the game news on Steam, maybe it would tell me, but sometimes devs are just nice and upgrade everyone out of the goodness of their hearts / to simplify things. In that case I have the black edition but I have no way to know other than an obscure forum post. Given all that the simplest way is to plug the key into Steam and see what happens. If it tells me that the product is already owned, then I do in fact have the black edition, and the key is still good. If it redeems the key then I didn’t have the black edition and now I do, with all the extra content.

      Thus just because one has seen a key doesn’t make it invalid. The other issue is bundle / dev disputes. If you’ve watched the whole controversy over Groupon, some store offers a coupon, then freaks out and says they got a raw deal, and says fuck you all your coupons are invalid and people who use Groupon are pieces of shit. It’s happened repeatedly. Any time I get a bundle I reveal all my keys immediately and redeem all the keys I intend to redeem immediately to make them mine, whereas those who didn’t revel keys may be in a pool of 1200 where the dev delivered 1000 keys then said fuck off it happens, browse forums enough and you’ll see it. Maybe no more than 900 of those keys will ever be redeemed, but what if 1100 people attempt to redeem? It would fall to the bundle provided to make it right which they probably would with a different game, but that game wouldn’t be the one promised.

      While I prefer to use gift links to keep things TOS legal, I’ve been essentially drop trading bare keys among my associates for years and I’ve never been wronged in such a trade.

  • Kris

    Can I stiil give away games in chat? I really dont care that much about trading and would rather just give my unwanted games away.

    • Absolutely. Also, try the Gifting function as you can send to folks outside the Groupees community. We’ll eventually add the ability to auto-gift to “Friends” on Groupees.

  • Ygorbla

    Suggestions:

    The search needs a button to exclude games you already own (or at least games that were in bundles you already bought from Groupees.)

    Perhaps when making offers, it should also tell you which games you have that the other person hasn’t bought from Groupees, and only let you offer those games.

    • Great ideas. Adding to the list.

      • Ygorbla

        Another suggestion: When you get an email saying someone has made you an offer, it should say what the offer is in the email! And maybe even include accept / reject links in the email itself.

  • ronn

    the keys should be unseen when we buy a bundle and if you click on it it should tell them that if they do the game will not be tradable. that way no more people robbing others and less ban and more money for you and charity

  • Bruno Van Damme

    People who had a bad trade with me due to the flaw in the use/unnused key on Groupees can contact me via profile page on Desura and we sort things out. Profile scorpionbruno

    • Menzo

      Everything solved, got compensation keys.
      Thanks scorpionbruno!

      Groupees, can you introduce a wishlist for trading games, that you can choose what to trade to another person.

  • Dylan

    To user keen shopper: I just made a successful trade, added the key to steam and it was the key for the game I traded away! I can’t contact the user and I don’t want the game that I’ve added to steam. So if you see this user keen shopper, i’m really sorry about whatever bug happened, it wasn’t intentional

    • Dylan

      Sorry wrong username, it was user Daniel, I haven’t activated Ring Runner, but because I’ve activated World War so I can’t trade it to you. To try and make it right, I’ll accept any trade you want

  • Jacek Miśkiewicz

    It would be great to add optional messages to a trade, and to have a list of active offers. As for the problems with the keys I’ve put my email as a ilnk on the wall.

  • Vir

    “Unused keys are really lost opportunities for everyone”

    Actually I am going to disagree with that. Unused keys do in fact serve a purpose. They send the message that STEEM is NOT the only end of PC gaming and they remind developers with all those unused steem keys that that specific platform is not, nor should be viewed as the only game in town.

    Personally I like my library of unused steem keys. To me that is one less vote of confidence that Steem gets and honestly too many developers are just as misinformed about that steeming pile of ubiquity as most gamers are, so it is an incredibly pertinent message to be sent, or otherwise many developers would simply never know.

    • Vir

      I am quite proud of my Steam graveyard. This represents the groupees wing alone which amounts to only about 1/3rd of my total graveyard.

      https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydgn8vt99k1ke7m/Steam%20graveyard.txt?dl=0

      Does my heart good to know those keys will never see the light of day and will not be bringing anyone joy It is a monument of not participating in the screwing over the entire industry by reinforcing a distorted anti consumer monopoly.

  • User MOKIN PARK gave me used key for A.R.E.S: Extinction Agenda, that’s sad because I offered several keys for this one. Is it ok to report it here? Does it make any sense, I mean is there any chance to get my keys back or unused key for which I traded? I also would like to thank and greet honest users: nullzero, loobdabeast, and Jamie Osman.

    • antoine

      put a comment on his wall

  • Andrea

    I just made my first trade. I think this is a great idea although I’m worried about the fact you can’t communicate whether everything went okay. I’m fairly sure all my unused keys are actually unused but if somehow there was a problem I’d like to know so I could make amends. Some sort of messaging is needed here. Something to let you know everything went ok and a way to contact if it didn’t. Perhaps you can tick something after a trade to indicate it was successful on your end (or cross if it didn’t), then if both sides don’t tick, a messaging box opens up to allow a dialog between the traders. I’d assume most problems would be unintentional.

  • Chris

    There needs to be a way for people to make a wishlist of the games they want – otherwise people will be attempting trades blindly.
    A wants a game from B, and B wants a game from A, but because they don’t know what the other person wants, they could and probably will offer different games.
    Or at least make it so that you can add a message to the trade offer so that people can append their list of tradables in case of rejection of the original offer.
    Then B can send another Trade offer with the game he wants and the game A wants.

  • Chris

    In fact, I just sent two trade offers (one to Jonny!), but I have no idea if there’s anything he wants from my list. 🙁

  • John Daily

    This is such a great idea, and I agree that it’s about gaining exposure for the artists…now, can you find a way to do that with the dozens of albums (I’ve received in Groupees bundles) that I’ll never listen to? 🙂

  • Chris

    So far, I’ve made two trades – one person contacted me and another I approached for a trade.
    The first one, I think had an oversight with one of the keys as it was already used, but the second one had definitely used the key on their own account.
    There’s no way to get in contact with them, and how do I report this?

  • liquidlight

    Alright, I got a problem here.

    I made my first trade and everything was fine.

    Now that I traded for the second time, I wanted to report someone (even though it’s trust-based). His name is Jeremy Fowler (https://groupees.com/user_walls/51154), I wanted his key for Beat Hazard (Y0RNQ-84NZW-F99AQ) and gave him my Tex Murphy: Under The Killing Moon key (6P33F-G8Q76-BZTML). Happy someone accepted my trade, I have been taken by complete surprise that his key has already been redeemed. What to do now?! I’m really disappointed, I’d rather gave this game away on steamgifts then to some mean guy 🙁

    – Carina (https://groupees.com/user_walls/442369)

  • Chris

    Just a quick thanks to Jacek Miśkiewicz for three flawless trades. O/

    So far, I’ve made 5 trades, and offered a few trades, and Jacek has been the only one (out of three people) with no problems.
    One possible outright fail as I traded two games to hem, who gave me a used key. I’m trying to get in touch with him via his Desura profile, but we’ll see…

    The Trades definitely need an alert for when your offered trades are declined, so that you know you can then trade those keys in good conscience, not wait for someone who may or may not be online.

    Also, something everyone who’s trying to trade right now should have on their profile page!

    Click on your Account button, and “Edit” your Wall.
    At the top left middle, you’ll see a button to “Add widget”, click on “Tradable items” and arrange your new addition to your wall. That way, if anyone doesn’t like the look of what games you’re offering in a trade, they can decline your offer and re-offer for what they do want.

    • Nice trading with you too, thanks! 🙂 I agree about notifications when deal is declined. I also think that items in active offers should be
      unavailable for trade or marked as offered until the offer is declined.

  • Speakertag Van

    Games set to to trade, but not traded out, don’t show up when I search for them via my game list. I think this is pretty inconvenient.

  • suitablecustard

    Interesting idea, not going to make use of it until the penalty side of things is ironed out better though.

    I get that the intent for Groupees is largely to be a laid back atmosphere (constant pot smoking references of your own being a highlight) but you can’t keep snakes out of a garden forever and a more well-defined set of rules, punishments and enforcers of said things could go a long way in helping curtail their prevalence (at least).

    For example, people dropping referral links everywhere (chat, user walls, etc.) shouldn’t be allowed to continue on with that sort of thing. While it may not be malicious outright, it’s a fine line drawn between such actions that are commonplace with a spambot vs. a person who has no friends who want to help them climb the pyramid scheme ladder.

  • LVS84

    I made 9 trades and my last one was bad. I’ve got used key. It would be nice if i could contact the person to tell him and maybe to give me compensation key for some other game if he want to.

  • Andrea

    I just ran into another potential problem. I traded for a GOG key for Earth 2160 but when I redeemed it, the code was “expired”. Now maybe that’s just what it says with a used code and I just got burned but then GOG codes do also expire–was this game bundled long enough ago that all the GOG codes are expired? Because then everyone trying to trade it will appear to be bad traders when it isn’t really their fault, and what other keys for games have expired?

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