If you love playing and collecting games, you can admit that gaming isn’t the most inexpensive hobby you can have. Often, the only way to get your hands on new and exciting games without resorting to piracy is by buying them.
But when you tally the retail cost of each new game you’re interested in, it can amount to a pretty sum, which you may not be able to afford.
This typically means that you’re stuck with two choices: giving up on ever playing many interesting games or keep breaking the bank to buy the games you want.
It is precisely this dilemma that websites like CDKeys aim to solve. CDKeys provides users with the option to buy the product and activation keys for a wide range of video games at incredibly affordable prices.
However, the great deals and cheap nature of the games and gaming content available give many people pause and cause them to question the legitimacy of the website.
When you’re thinking about buying games from a game key marketplace such as CDKeys, it’s normal to want certainty that what you see is what you get.
You want to make sure that you’re not somehow inviting trouble or giving your money to a fraudulent business.
This article is going to dive deep into CDKeys operations, credibility, customer reviews, and past or present controversies to uncover whether there’s more to the platform than meets the eye.
By the end, you’ll have a fuller understanding of how CDkeys work and what it has to offer, and also get a definitive answer to the question “Is CDKeys legit?”.
Understanding CDKeys
CDKeys is an online platform that sells video game keys, membership codes, and top-ups at very low prices. The website caters to gamers who want to save money while also buying legit games for their Nintendo, PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and other consoles.
What a lot of people don’t know is that CDKeys has been on the block since the early 2000s. However, it didn’t start gaining popularity till about 2013 when the video game platform, Steam took off and disrupted the gaming industry as we knew it.
With Steam, game lovers no longer needed to go searching for physical copies of their most beloved games. They could simply go online and buy the games they were interested in whenever they wanted, regardless of where they lived.
This innovation allowed CDKeys and other competitors to tap into the new and rising demand for digital games by selling game keys at an affordable price.
Since then, CDKeys’ popularity has continued to soar. The marketplace currently has over 20 million customers from all across the world, so it’s safe to say it’s one of the biggest game key resellers in the market.
Unlike other similar marketplaces that also offer software keys for sales, CDKeys is only focused on game keys. This means that you won’t be able to buy items like Windows keys, in-game currencies, and skins on CDKeys.
There are over 10,000 games to choose from on CDKeys, so you are guaranteed to find something that suits your preference.
How does CDKeys work?
The process of purchasing game keys on CDKeys is the same as shopping anywhere else. CDkeys lets you choose between using the website as a guest or creating a customer account before proceeding with your purchase.
Either way, all you have to do is browse the store for the games you want, add them to your cart, and make payment for them. Once the purchase is complete, CDKeys will send you an email with the unique CD key codes for the games you bought.
Alternatively, if you have a CDKeys account you can sign in to it to view your order history and codes.
CDKeys promises to send game keys immediately after purchase and it encourages users to reach out to customer service if they don’t receive their keys in their inbox or spam folder within 10 minutes of purchase.
Once you have your game key, you can go to the official store or platform for the game and enter your game key to confirm your purchase and download the game. After this, you just have to install the game and start playing.
Addressing Legitimacy Concerns
CDKeys has a mixed reputation within the gaming community and the general public. On one hand, some people believe that it’s an amazing platform for buying games at low-cost prices.
On the contrary, some others are suspicious about CDKeys’ cheap game keys and how it goes about sourcing it so they’re reluctant to give the platform a chance to avoid getting scammed.
A lot of the concern about CDKeys’ legitimacy isn’t born out of thin air. Many people have had experiences with game key marketplaces like G2A and Kinguin which are notorious for using sketchy means to acquire the keys they sell.
This usually leaves customers unsure about the origins and authenticity of the game keys they purchase from these sites. Oftentimes, they would buy game keys, only to realize later on that the keys are invalid.
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There’s also the underlying worry that the reason these sites can afford to be so cheap is that they’re trying to get you in the door so they can steal your credit card information.
While these concerns are legitimate, when it comes to CDKeys, they seem to be unfounded. For starters, CDKeys uses perfectly legal means to source for the game keys it sells which allows it to offer low prices and still turn a profit without resorting to stealing from customers.
CDKeys has well-defined security policies that outline the measures the company takes to ensure that any personal information you provide is protected and can’t be accessed by unauthorized third parties.
The website’s policies detail exactly what kind of data the platform collects from users with their consent and what this information is used for.
It also describes the rights you have to access, change, erase, or object to the collection of your data as well as the remedies available to you if you believe that CDKeys has breached your privacy rights.
In addition to its privacy and security policies, CDKeys is compliant with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which offers extra protections to users that reside in Europe.
It’s also worth noting that CDKeys is a trusted partner of several reputable financial and payment processing institutions including Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard. So you can securely checkout and pay for purchases with all major debit/credit cards, PayPal, or even cryptocurrencies.
When you combine this fact with the website’s compliance with applicable privacy laws and its use of the latest security technologies for data protection, it paints a picture of CDKeys as a credible and trustworthy business.
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Authenticity and Source of Game Keys
You might be wondering, if CDKeys operations are legal, then how come it’s not an officially recognized reseller for game publishers? How can you trust that the game keys purchased off the platform are authentic?
Well, the answer is that CDKeys is a “gray market” website. This means that all of the game keys it offers are sold legally although the website may not have each game publisher’s permission to sell them.
So what you’re getting when you buy game keys off CDKeys is not a pirated or hacked code, but a legal and correct code for the particular video game as provided by the company that makes it.
According to the FAQ section of CDKeys’ site, its prices are so cheap because it leverages the experience of its management team within the gaming industry as well as a vast network of contacts and suppliers to source for products.
Going by this explanation, it seems that instead of buying game keys directly from the company, CDKeys buys them at discounted prices from official resellers across the globe.
The trick is to buy from regions where the keys are sold cheaper because of the low cost of living. Then add a markup and resell them to gamers in Western markets at rates that are up to 90% cheaper than the original retail price for the games.
The resellers are happy to earn some money from the sale rather than sitting on unsold copies of games forever and making nothing at all from them.
Considering that what CDKeys is selling are indeed the original copies of game keys, the game developers also end up making money off the games.
The only difference is they may not make as much as they would have if CDKeys had purchased the game keys directly at the official price.
It’s possible that CDkeys also buys games in bulk whenever they are on sale and resells them for profit after the prices return to normal. While some may see CDKeys’ practices as unethical, its business model is completely legal and above board.
Being an online business with no physical stores also helps CDKeys to keep costs down by eliminating the need for postage and other associated running expenses.
Additionally, unlike other game stores like Origin and Steam that host the download files on their platforms, CDKeys does not store game files.
What this means is CDKeys doesn’t have to spend a ton of money on server upkeep because it only sells game keys, which don’t take up a lot of storage space.
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Trustworthiness of Transactions
The fact that CDKeys has been around for over 20 years is a point in its favor. It has kept the same name and fulfilled its promise of selling game keys for decades without getting shut down or embroiled in nasty legal battles.
This shows that CDKeys is legit and not some kind of front for shady activities. If the company isn’t reliable or doesn’t do what it claims, it would have been inundated with bad press and reviews by now.
You wouldn’t have to wonder whether the platform is a scam or not, you’ll be able to tell that it is by conducting a simple Google search and finding a bunch of results red-flagging it.
However, this is not the case with CDKeys. Most of the results associated with the website’s name are positive-leaning and they reinforce CDKey’s reputation as a reliable and trustworthy game key marketplace.
This is not to say that CDKeys is completely faultless. Since it’s not an official reseller there are still some risks associated with buying games via the platform.
For instance, on some occasions, your keys might take hours or even a few days to appear in your email instead of arriving instantly. You may also receive keys that are not working either because they were not intended for your region or some other reason.
Thankfully these issues are rare and CDKeys promises to take quick action to resolve them when they happen. And if it finds the issue to be from its end, CDKeys will likely make up for this by issuing a refund or sending you a new key.
Another distinguishing characteristic that makes CDKeys more credible than other game key marketplaces is the fact that it only sells keys that it sources.
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CDKeys doesn’t allow other individuals or resellers to advertise their keys for sale on CDKeys, which eradicates the chances of funny business like scams and fake or stolen game keys.
What’s more, CDKeys’ Trustpilot rating is boldly displayed on its website. That tells you that the company is proud of what it does and how well it serves its customers.
If its customer ratings were bad or it was a fraudulent business, CDKeys wouldn’t want to call attention to that or encourage you to go read what users have to say about its products and services.
User Experience and Customer Support
CDKeys has a professionally designed website that’s stylish and functional. The user interface doesn’t leave you guessing what to do. It’s intuitive and easy to use so you’ll have no problem navigating the website regardless of your technical experience.
The website has a search bar to enable you quickly find the exact games you’re looking for. It also has menu bars that you can use to browse different types of games for PC, PSN, Xbox, and Nintendo.
The CDKeys website gives you tabs to easily find new games, daily deals, games on sale, and games that are coming soon as well as top-ups for different platforms.
There’s a currency conversion tool that you can use to get a more accurate assessment of what each game would cost you by viewing prices in your preferred currency.
In addition, CDKeys allows bi-lingual and non-English-speaking users to switch stores to different languages such as French, Italian, Deutch, Portuguese, and Spanish.
All in all, the user experience on CDKeys is smooth and promotes hassle-free shopping.
Ease of returns, refunds, and customer assistance on CDKeys
If you buy a game key on CDKeys and discover it is invalid or not working for some reason, you can return it by filling out a support request form and a customer representative will attend to your request.
All you have to do is enter the order number, describe the issue you’re having with the game key, and attach a screenshot of the error message you’re getting, then send in your complaint.
Requesting a refund after purchasing a product from CDKeys is also pretty straightforward as long as your request meets the criteria laid out in the website’s refund policy and terms and conditions.
For starters, CDKeys will only process refunds if you haven’t redeemed the product keys and if you submit the request within 7 days of the purchase date.
If your request gets approved, you can choose to collect your refund as a gift card for future purchases on CDKeys or as a deposit to your original payment method. The former option is accessible instantly while the latter may take up to 10 days to reflect.
CDKeys customer support team is available round the clock so you can reach out to them at any time of the day via phone, email, or request form. The website claims that it typically responds to all queries within two hours or quicker, which is encouraging.
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Reviews and Feedback
So what do the people who have purchased game keys off CDKeys have to say about the platform?
Well, based on reviews left by customers on Sitejabber, CDKeys has a paltry rating of 1.38/5 from 160 reviews.
Although such a poor rating doesn’t paint the website in a good light, it’s worth noting that the small sample size doesn’t provide an accurate assessment of the overall tone of CDkey’s customer feedback.
CDKeys has a much better rating and tons of glowing reviews on the more popular review platform, Trustindex, with a user rating of 4.6/5 based on 11,596 reviews.
Similarly, customers can’t seem to say enough good things about CDKeys on Trustpilot which explains why the game key marketplace has a whopping 4.7/5 user rating based on 120,830 reviews.
That’s pretty much an excellent score considering that it’s almost impossible for any business to satisfy all of its customers all of the time, which is what it would take to earn a perfect score.
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What’s even more impressive is that 88% of CDKeys reviews on Trustpilot are 5-star ratings and ratings below 3 stars only account for 7% of the total reviews.
This is incontrovertible proof that the vast majority of customer reviews for CDKeys are positive. The only reason this is possible is because customers found CDkeys to be a legit business and were happy with the purchases they made on the website.
Although most customers only have great things to say about the platform, there have been some negative reviews that are worth highlighting because even though unpleasant customer experiences are rare on CDKeys, they still happen.
One common complaint that unhappy users have leveled against CDKeys is that the game keys they bought had already been used. Despite this, CDKeys refused to issue refunds because their policy only grants refunds for unused keys, even though the keys were not used by the buyer in question.
Understandably, CDKeys is trying to avoid situations where crafty buyers redeem keys and then return them claiming they have been used. However, it can be frustrating for users with genuine complaints when they are denied restitution because of this rule.
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Users have also complained that CDKeys customer support isn’t as effective as it’s touted to be. In some cases, customers were met with stony silence from the support team even after sending multiple messages.
Some customers had to wait several weeks before their issues were finally resolved. Others were sent boilerplate emails that repeated the same thing over and over without providing any helpful information.
A few customers are also unhappy with CDKeys because they didn’t get the game keys they paid for only to be told after contacting customer support that the game is out of stock.
As you can see, CDKeys falls short of customer expectations sometimes, so like with any online transaction, you should anticipate the possibility that your purchase might not pan out as smoothly as you anticipate.
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Recap – is CDKeys legit?
Our investigation into the legitimacy of CDKeys reveals that it is a reputable business that has stood the test of time and built a stellar reputation as a game key reseller.
CDKeys has managed to survive for over two decades in the market because it meets the needs of its customers by giving them tons of aggressively cheap games to choose from.
If you’re looking for a safe and trustworthy website to go shopping for video game keys in the gray market, you probably won’t find another option that’s as affordable or as dependable as CDKeys.
There’s little harm in browsing CDKeys’ catalog and buying the games you like. Chances are you’ll end up being happy with your decision and returning to purchase more games like most of the platform’s customers.
However, you should also keep in mind that you might experience some issues like invalid keys, slow customer response times, and disapproved refund requests.
Be sure to read through CDKeys’ terms and conditions and brand policies to ensure you have a thorough understanding of what to expect when you patronize the company.
Even if you decide to take your business to alternative game key marketplaces, do your due diligence. Don’t get carried away because a deal seems too good to be true.
Read user reviews and find out all you can about the platform before sharing your personal details or initiating any transactions.
