Bought fraudulant PC game keycode on ebay - ebay wont help

[Darfyddi]

Hello all,

 

I purchased a keycode for a PC game through ebay/paypal a few weeks ago and it seemed to work fine so left positive feedback. I had already checked the sellers feedback too before purchase and it seemed ok. A couple of weeks ago though, Origin/Dice/E.A.Games cancelled the my account (the part associated with that keycode). When speaking in chat help with Origin they tell me the account is cancelled as the keycode is fraudulant.

 

I open a case with ebay and after some time the turn around and refuse to refund. ebay claim it is an online transaction of good so not covered. Ebay.co.uk's conditions state that they cover buyers and transactions in UK and Germany and they also state that a buyer does not have to return good if the seller sells from one address then gives a different address for returns if a complaint is made. (seller sold from Würzburg, Germany but gave a return address of michael chang 彌敦道733號(振宜大廈), 5F/前座Hong Kong) ebay state that differing addresses are in breach of their t&c's.

 

I have written (via chatmessage help) information from Origin that this keycode is fraudulant and that as such they have taken the goods from me. I have been as helplful and as informative to ebay as I can but I am currently out of pocket.

 

Can anyone advise me on this please? I know the DSR doesn't cover auction sales but is there anything else that might help with this (I am in UK, used ebay.co.uk, seller claims to be in Germany) I really need help as I can not afford to lose our money.

 

Cheers,

Darf.

[rebel11]

Hi Darf

 

Can you buy legal 'keycodes' on E-bay? I thought 'keycodes' came with the product, I could be wrong.

 

The DSR does cover certain 'Auction Sites' :-

 

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/online-shopping/online-auctions-your-rights-explained/your-online-auction-site-rights/

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Distance-Selling-Regulations-And-eBay?ugid=10000000000140381

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf/

[Darfyddi]

That is a fair question and a few years ago the answer would have been 'no' however more and more games are made available for direct download from the manufacture and they issure kycodes to resellers - the company I purchased from though doesn't appear to be an authorised reseller. This particular purchase was for an 'add on' pack for a game that as far as I am aware is not available in physical format.

[MaxxPower]

It is legal to sell only keycodes for games which are digital downloads, many legitimate online stores operate completely via this method selling only codes for games, Xbox Live Points, iTunes vouchers, etc.

However there is a growing issue recently that game publishers are trying to crack down on, and I think you've likely fallen foul of it.

 

Many cheap codes, likely yours included, are infact perfectly legitimate but were originally sold in regions such as Russia, India or China, where the cost of the product is much lower. Sellers will buy these codes (often included in a boxed copy of a game that comes with a code that allows digital download) and then sell just the code at a profit. The publishers (such as EA) are as you can imagine none too happy at this practice as it means they're getting a lower amount for a sale that probably would have had twice the profit margin if it had been purchased in the UK. So they basically rely on regional restrictions in the terms and conditions that state codes are only for sale/use in the region of sale for which the product was intended.

 

More than likely your code was from Russia, India, China or some other region where the product sells for about a third of the UK price, but because you've registered it from a UK based account they've picked up on this and cancelled it. If the code was indeed 'fraudulent' then the system would have rejected it right from the outset. It's incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to spoof systems like Steam or Origin with a completely bogus code.

 

 

How did you pay for the code? I'm guessing Paypal? Is Paypal linked to your bank account? Or a Visa card?

[Darfyddi]

I paid via paypal, linked to basic bank account - I do not / will not use credit cards. As an update to this, the seller has issued me with a new keycode after I got ebay to start looking into it again through appeal. I have spoken to EA/Origin and they say the keycode was not in use so should be ok but were unable to garauntee it was not from Russia (seems wierd that their system can't confirm this immediately) I have emailed my concerns to EA but to be honest, if this keycode is naff too then I might just have to accept my losses.