Authorized Game Stores vs. Key Resellers: What's the Difference?
Two very different kinds of websites sell "cheap game keys". Knowing which one you're on is the single most useful thing you can learn about buying PC games.
Where authorized stores get their keys
An authorized store β Steam itself, Humble, Fanatical, GameBillet, GamesPlanet and others β has a direct commercial agreement with the game's publisher or an official distributor. The publisher generates the keys, sets the rules, and gets paid on every sale. When such a store runs a 90% discount, it's a discount the publisher agreed to.
This is why an authorized store can afford to give you a working key, a receipt, a refund policy and customer support: the supply chain is two steps long and every step is accountable.
Where grey-market keys come from
Grey-market marketplaces work like eBay for keys: the site itself doesn't source the keys β anonymous third-party sellers do, and the marketplace takes a cut. The keys can come from anywhere: cheap regional versions bought in bulk, keys extracted from charity bundles, review copies, giveaway codes β and in the worst publicly documented cases, keys bought with stolen credit cards.
None of this means every grey-market key fails. Most probably work. The problem is that neither you nor the marketplace can say where a given key came from β and that uncertainty is exactly what you're being paid a few euros to accept.
What can actually go wrong
For buyers: publishers can and do revoke keys that turn out to be fraudulent or region-abused β sometimes months after activation, with the game vanishing from your library. Refunds on grey marketplaces typically depend on paid "protection" add-ons rather than consumer-rights policies, and support means mediating with an anonymous seller.
For developers: when keys are bought with stolen cards, the card owner charges back β and the developer pays the chargeback fee on a sale they never profited from. Several independent developers have publicly said they would rather you pirate their game than buy it from a grey marketplace, because piracy at least costs them nothing.
How GamerPoint picks the stores it compares
Our price engine compares 15 storefronts, and the list is closed by design: only stores whose keys are sourced directly from publishers or official distributors. No grey-market marketplaces β not at any price. That's also why our "cheapest" badge means something: it's the lowest price among stores where the key's origin is accountable.
Stores are always ranked by price, never by commission. When we have an affiliate agreement with a store, it changes what we earn β never what you see.
How to tell if a store is authorized β a 60-second check
- βThe store sells keys it sources itself β there are no third-party "sellers" with usernames and ratings on the product page.
- βThe company behind it is easy to identify: legal name, country, support channel.
- βPublishers list it or partner with it β official publisher store pages, bundle partnerships, or press releases mentioning the store are all good signs.
- βRefunds are a policy, not a paid add-on.
Frequently asked questions
Are grey-market key sites illegal?
Generally no β reselling a key is not a crime in most places, which is why the market is called grey, not black. The risk isn't legal trouble for you as a buyer; it's the uncertain origin of the key and the lack of real recourse if it's revoked.
Why are grey-market keys sometimes cheaper than any authorized store?
Usually regional arbitrage: a key generated for a low-price region resold to a high-price one. The gap is the seller's margin. Authorized stores can't do this because their agreements with publishers forbid it.
Is a 90% discount at an authorized store suspicious?
No. Deep discounts on older titles are normal, publisher-approved pricing β our own data shows the median discount across 1,400+ discounted games is around 80%. A price being very low says nothing by itself; where the key comes from is what matters.
Does GamerPoint earn money from the stores it lists?
From some of them, through affiliate links β disclosed in our footer on every page. It never affects ranking: stores are ordered by price, and stores we earn nothing from regularly appear first.