Gem Cards availability / Gem Card codes?

[Ashnod.4365]

Let me state this first: So far I have always gotten gems by buying in the gem store in game and exchanging gold and am not planning too use (possibly) illegal sites to buy codes that might have been gotten by for instance stolen credit cards.

First let us start with I my country where I live which is the Netherlands. In previous years it was always possible to buy the so called "Gem Cards" at stores like "Primera", "Gamemania", "MediaMarkt" and some others I cannot remember now. Lately however these Gem Cards seem to have disappeared all together (even the recommended shops by GW2 don't seem to sell them anymore). So the only way to get "Gem Cards" for now Amazon seems the way to go.

I have however always had a certain site where I buy for instance eShop (Nintendo) cards that also sells Gem Cards (2000) for €24,95 which is €0,05 cheaper than it would be in Gem Store so I would say it's legal but than again it is not on the retailer list: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#Netherlands-physical / https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#Netherlands-digital

There are also sites on the beautiful world wide web that for instance sell the Gem Cards (2000) for €17,09 which is €7,91 cheaper than it would be in the Gem Store which makes me doubt legality but than again there are people that have bought over 20.000 gems from there and have not gotten banned than again 20.000 gems is just buying the cards 10 times. This shop again it is not on the retailer list: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#Netherlands-physical / https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers/#Netherlands-digital

I have 3 questions:

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.
• Are gem cards still being distributed to retail stores in the Netherlands? Cause as far as I can find out now it does not seem that way.
• Are all sites that sell Gem Card Codes (so you just get the code as screenshot/text in mail) illegal (ban-able / account deletable offense)?

As said in the first line (though mentioned after the first question) I am not planning to buy from this these stores (but can imagine people would buy from for instance that first store) because the price difference is minimal. And I am also quite sure people would buy from the second store because the price difference is way to attractive (in the long run).

Edit: Removed separators for sections since it messes up formatting

[Danikat.8537]

I don't know anything about places that sell gem cards in the Netherlands but here's some general thoughts:

1) The official retailers list is not an absolute list of reputable retailers. It was originally set up when they were doing the pre-purchase for Heart of Thorns to show places where you could buy the game and get the pre-purchase bonuses because they had an arrangement with Arenanet to provide it. Some other places were offering a pre-order for the game but that wouldn't get you the pre-purchase bonuses. But there's lots of reputable retailers who don't appear on the list.

For example HMV isn't listed for the UK. They are a very well known, long-established high street store (and yes they're still around, just not in as many places as they used to be). There is absolutely no way they would risk their reputation or a lawsuit by selling stolen goods and since everything is ordered centrally and then sent to the individual stores I'm not sure they could even if they wanted to. So I'd be completely confident that any games/game cards etc. I bought from them are genuine even if they're not listed as an approved retailer.

2) What you do need to look out for is 'online market places' where you're not buying from the site but from an individual who is selling their stock through the site (like Amazon sellers). Because then it depends on the seller and you can't always tell who they are or how reliable they are. You might see 1000 positive reviews from people saying they bought gem cards with no problems and they worked fine, but they might have been buying from different sellers and you might get the one who is using stolen codes.

(Or it might be like when I bought an album on ebay a few years back - it never turned up and the guy stopped answering me, looking through his feedback more closely I think whenever he got to 100% and thought he could afford the reputation hit he'd sell something he didn't have using an old photo and hope it was cheap enough the buyer wouldn't bother getting a refund. Unfortunately for him I did get ebay to refund me and asked them to investigate the pattern in his feedback.)

[chrisjfinlay.5614]

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.I've used retailers on eBay and the codes came through fine and were legit. I highly doubt it's bannable, these are just official cards they're selling with maybe less markup than other retailers.

Edit: BUYER BEWARE with eBay etc. While using certain retailers isn't a bannable offence, you don't know for sure if they're going to run with your money.

• Are gem cards still being distributed to retail stores in the Netherlands? Cause as far as I can find out now it does not seem that way.Can't answer that with 100% certainty, but it seems like physical cards are on the way out in general.

• Are all sites that sell Gem Card Codes (so you just get the code as screenshot/text in mail) illegal (ban-able / account deletable offense)?Not to my knowledge, see #1 above

[Ashnod.4365]

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.I've used retailers on eBay and the codes came through fine and were legit. I highly doubt it's bannable, these are just official cards they're selling with maybe less markup than other retailers.I am really wondering about this since I have read some stories about people buying the game from a less reputable store on the web (where the license was apparently) bought with a stolen credit card. Of course this was later charged back and the person that bought the game this way was banned (and gems he bought using the Gem Store in game that way were lost).

Now gem cards / gem cards codes are (as far as I know) not bought from ArenaNet themselves but I do find myself worrying what would happen if the same chargeback will happen, codes will get reported and the account that used them (for instance) gets banned. (As I am sure the codes used are linked to the account in some way and being traceable by Devs/DB managers of ArenaNet some way).

[chrisjfinlay.5614]

@Ashnod.4365 said:

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.I've used retailers on eBay and the codes came through fine and were legit. I highly doubt it's bannable, these are just official cards they're selling with maybe less markup than other retailers.bought with a stolen credit card.

That's the operative part here. It's not the retailer used - it's the fact that the guy used a stolen card.

[Ashnod.4365]

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

@Ashnod.4365 said:

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.I've used retailers on eBay and the codes came through fine and were legit. I highly doubt it's bannable, these are just official cards they're selling with maybe less markup than other retailers.bought with a stolen credit card.

That's the operative part here. It's not the retailer used - it's the fact that the guy used a stolen card.

The guy did not buy with a stolen credit card, the store that sold the retail keys bought these with a stolen credit card (that is why I said less reputable store since it seemed to come up some times on the beautiful world wide web those mentions of the store doing that but the person did not check that before buying from that store). The guy bought from that store using PayPal so was able to charge back afterwards but lost his game account and gems he bought on this game account (ingame).

So the operative is: "The game license was bought with a stolen credit card by the retail store and than resold to launder the money"

This is why I am also wondering if this could happen with Gem Cards as they are probably linked to your account some way (the codes) on them. For example that €7,91 price drop (although the shop seems reputable according to for instance reddit users) is still a price drop of 31,64% compared too the Gem Store in-game (where I am wondering how this is attainable although it could be $ to € exchange rate differences for instance).

[chrisjfinlay.5614]

@Ashnod.4365 said:

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

@Ashnod.4365 said:

@chrisjfinlay.5614 said:

• Would buying from these shops be an ban-able/account deletable offense? The 2nd shop mentioned I am quite sure off, the first shop however I would buy off in good faith since the price difference is minimal.I've used retailers on eBay and the codes came through fine and were legit. I highly doubt it's bannable, these are just official cards they're selling with maybe less markup than other retailers.bought with a stolen credit card.

That's the operative part here. It's not the retailer used - it's the fact that the guy used a stolen card.

The guy did not buy with a stolen credit card, the store that sold the retail keys bought these with a stolen credit card (that is why I said less reputable store since it seemed to come up some times on the beautiful world wide web those mentions of the store doing that but the person did not check that before buying from that store). The guy bought from that store using PayPal so was able to charge back afterwards but lost his game account and gems he bought on this game account (ingame).

So the operative is: "The game license was bought with a stolen credit card by the retail store and than resold to launder the money"

Ah I get you now, apologies.

I would assume to ANet that one stolen card is the same as the other. The end result is the same: they lose the money from the sale and it looks to their system as if he stole it.

Anyway to answer the question: If the store is reputable and is purchasing their stock in a legitimate way, then it's not a bannable offense to use them even if they're not on ANet's approved list. The list is pretty out of date anyway, a lot of the shop links I've tried don't even stock ANY GW2 stuff any more but are still listed. It would be impossible for ANet to keep it updated with every retailer.

The only way it would be a bannable offence is if the retailer is scummy themselves, and only then because sadly it's impossible to determine whether it's an innocent customer getting ripped off, or a customer using a fake retailer as a middle-man to try and obfuscate stolen cards.

At the end of the day, it's caveat emptor: buyer beware. There's legit reasons why retailers will sell gem cards for less than ANet's RRP - ANet will be selling them at trade value to retailers and then retailers mark them up to make money. But it's up to the buyer to research who they're buying from and finding out why.

Of course, I'm like 99.99999999999999% sure Nintendo aren't using stolen cards to purchase their stock.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

The bottom line is: Does player x want to risk their account to save a few dollars? If not, always acquire anything that is used on the account from authorized sources. (Then, if a problem arises, the CS Team/payment provider won't action the account.)

Good luck.

[Endless Soul.5178]

As for physical Gem Cards, they do seem to be drying up. In my area of Southern California, I can no longer find them at Target and Gamestop, but there are a few left at Wal-Mart.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

@Endless Soul.5178 said:As for physical Gem Cards, they do seem to be drying up. In my area of Southern California, I can no longer find them at Target and Gamestop, but there are a few left at Wal-Mart.

I get them from Best Buy (in SoCal). So, that's another avenue.

[Lost Ninja.1809]

It's not so much saving a few dollars (in my case pounds) but the fact that in the UK 2000 gems costs around £17 (£16.99 RRP) and I've seen them sold for less. But buying them in game I only get 1600 gems for that price. That disparity from what Anet charge for a card as to what they charge in game is the annoying fact. If they want to phase out cards then making the in game price lower (or retail price higher) would be a better way to go about it.

[chrisjfinlay.5614]

@Lost Ninja.1809 said:It's not so much saving a few dollars (in my case pounds) but the fact that in the UK 2000 gems costs around £17 (£16.99 RRP) and I've seen them sold for less. But buying them in game I only get 1600 gems for that price. That disparity from what Anet charge for a card as to what they charge in game is the annoying fact. If they want to phase out cards then making the in game price lower (or retail price higher) would be a better way to go about it.

Fellow UKer here. Agreed on the prices. I've seen them on ebay for like £15.99/2000 but around the same price gets you 1600 on the store. It's not surprising that people want to go third party to get them.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

A lot of retailers in the Netherlands do not have this item in stock right now. Are these cards still being delivered to the retailers or are there production/supply chain problems causing the retailers to be unable to sell them??

https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/318195/guild-wars-2-gem-card-2000-pc.htmlOnly these online stores are left, and these only offer digital download gem keys. (Of which I cannot verify the validity) These digital download stores are not on the GW2 approved retailers list at least.

[Endless Soul.5178]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@"Endless Soul.5178" said:As for physical Gem Cards, they do seem to be drying up. In my area of Southern California, I can no longer find them at Target and Gamestop, but there are a few left at Wal-Mart.

I get them from Best Buy (in SoCal). So, that's another avenue.

Ah, I forgot to mention Best Buy in my "not available anymore" list. Maybe they restocked? I'll check soon.

Anyways, someone once asked me why don't I buy from the Gem Store, and it's because I like to pay for things in cash (I'm old fashioned that way), it helps cut down on the impulse buys.

[Cathaldus.1276]

@Endless Soul.5178 said:Anyways, someone once asked me why don't I buy from the Gem Store, and it's because I like to pay for things in cash (I'm old fashioned that way), it helps cut down on the impulse buys.

Same goes for me :#