G2A Money Back Guarantee is basically a cover in case something goes wrong and the seller doesn’t want to help you, a seller is unresponsive or you and the seller can’t agree on the solution.
If a digital item you purchased on G2A is not as described, doesn’t work, or has been removed from your account, you are entitled to a refund.
Money back guarantee (MBG) does not apply if you bought a key by mistake or didn’t see that key has region restrictions. The MBG is there to protect you in case the product you bought isn’t as described, doesn’t work, or stops working.
POPULAR GAME KEY MARKETPLACES
MBG is nothing new and many other marketplaces like Kinguin, Eneba, and Gamivo offer some type of refund but neither of them does it in a way like G2A does.
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Why Buyers Say That G2A Money Back Guarantee Is Scam?
Many buyers who had to use MGB are not happy how it works and consider that G2A money-back guarantee is a scam or not fair.
This is mainly because in order to get a refund through MBG you need to go to your local police station or other appropriate authority and file a police report against merchant (transaction).
A police report needs to include your first and last name, price of the product, name of the product, seller’s data (such as first and last name, address, user ID, nickname – any of that will suffice), and official stamps.
Of course, going to the police station to report seller and transaction that happened on some foreign site is by all means ridiculous. Especially if only a few Euros are in question.
Most likely at the police station they would look at you thinking what is wrong with him and maybe even laugh at you (ok, they would probably not do that but you get the point).
Police will obviously not do anything regarding that nor they can help even if they wanted to. But the police don’t need to do anything here. G2A just wants proof that you are serious.
Their logic behind this is that any dishonest sellers will be deterred by police involvement, and dishonest buyers will be deterred as attempting their scam would mean filing a false police report.
Please note that we’re a marketplace where all keys are sold by independent sellers. We need to treat equally both parties and can’t just assume that buyer is always right no matter what without some strong evidence.
In order to back your case up, our specialists need hard proof that something went wrong. We try to do what is best for both our buyers and sellers.
Paperwork from the police (or other appropriate authority) that proves you officially reported the case is a surefire way to ensure that neither buyers nor sellers are scamming each other.
This is the only and the best way to ensure we’re fair as much as it is possible. Rest assured that our specialists check and verify sellers regularly. Should any fraudulent activity be established on the seller’s end, appropriate actions will be taken against the seller.
G2A SUPPORT ON REDDIT
The above statement you can often see copy/pasted from G2A support members when dissatisfied buyers start complaining on Reddit that they need to file a police report in order to get a refund.
So can G2A money back guarantee be considered as a scam or are their reasons to ask for police reports justified? I can see G2A point, but also asking for a police report is too much to go through for buyer. There should be a better way.
Most buyers just decide to make payment reversal, which will most definitely result in your G2A account to be banned.
How G2A Money Back Guarantee Works?
Time needed: 7 days
If the activation key which you purchased on the G2A website from a particular seller is invalid, duplicate, or removed from your account, you can file an MBG claim. The first step is reporting the problem to the seller.
- Report the problem about a specific order to the seller
After you have opened a support ticket, sellers have 7 days to solve the issue regarding purchase. It that time in correspondence with the seller, the buyer tries to solve the issue.
It is in seller interest to solve the issue with the buyer because customers rate them. Good ratings = more buyers & money. Bad ratings = fewer buyers & money.
You can report a problem to the seller right after buying a product and displaying the key by clicking the “Contact seller” button at the bottom of the “Show Key” page.
You can also click the “Contact seller” button next to a specific transaction in the “Bought items” section on your G2A.COM dashboard.
If the seller refuses to help or doesn’t respond within 7 days you can start a money-back guarantee claim. - Starting money back guarantee process
The link to the claim will appear in your conversation with the seller once 7 days have passed. If the seller hasn’t solved your problem by then, you can file a claim.
If they have solved your issue, you can just click the “Case solved” button. You can file the claim within 365 days of your purchase.
- File a claim
In order to get a refund using MBG, you need to provide the necessary proof that something went wrong.
Paperwork from the police (or other appropriate authority) that proves you officially reported the case is requested by G2A as proof to ensure that neither buyers nor sellers are scamming each other.
G2A claims that any dishonest sellers will be deterred by police involvement, and dishonest buyers will be deterred as attempting their scam would mean filing a false police report.
According to G2A, both of these actions have consequences far beyond just being banned from G2A.COM, and so this is the best way to ensure safety.
- Get your refund
Once you have submitted the claim with all the necessary information, it will be reviewed and proceeded. You’ll be updated on the case via e-mail.
All refunds will either go to the source of the payment method or to your G2A balance.
G2A Money Back Guarantee FAQ
Three MBG refunds within a 365-day period will go through without a problem, however, G2A reserves the right not to give you the fourth one.
They claim over 99% of transactions on G2A go without an issue. If something goes wrong, sellers or support provides help in most cases.
The chances of you being in a group where more than 3 times in one year you need to use MBG is very small.
This most likely means that something else is wrong.
You can check it in the “Tickets” tab of your G2A support dashboard. You will also be updated via e-mail if any new messages appear regarding your case.
The Money Back Guarantee process does not apply to digital products that come directly from the developer or from an official reseller.
These include, for example, G2A gift cards, G2A Loot Points, G2A Plus, e-learning courses, and G2A Coins.
Developers and official resellers offer their own refund guarantees outside of MBG. If you encounter a problem with an item sold by the developer or official reseller on G2A, it will be required that you report it and resolve it with the seller of the product.
Basically, physical items don’t need a program like this. Physical and digital products are governed by different laws.
Physical products can only be sold on G2A Marketplace by verified businesses, and not individual sellers. There is a 14-day return policy that is enforced in the EU and is guaranteed by all sellers. See the Physical Products Policy for more detailed info.
Yes. It is free for everyone.
If a digital item you purchased on G2A.COM is not as described, doesn’t work, or has been removed from your account, you will receive a refund.
Bad customer service has a direct impact on a seller’s rating. Also, all cases reported via Money Back Guarantee are monitored and followed up.
Sellers who persistently provide bad customer experience will permanently lose their rights to sell on the G2A site.
Conclusion About G2A Money Back
Providing proof in form of police report in order to get refund is definitely a new approach. I have not seen this anywhere else.
Let’s say you buy Steam game key on G2A, but when you try to activate on Steam you get message which says that key is already in use on another Steam account.
You then open support ticket on G2A. But seller doesn’t respond or for some reason doesn’t want to help or claims you activated key and want to scam him.
As you and seller can’t reach agreement you wait 7 days to file money back guarantee claim. Then, to your surprise you get message from G2A saying that you need to file police report in order to get refund.
Most buyers will not go to police station and file report even if they were “scamed” by seller. Because, let’s be honest, how would you come to police station and explain to person there what you want?
Explaining them about G2A and how you purchased game key from site in Poland with headquarters in Hong Kong but you didn’t get your precious game key and now you want to file police report on seller with purchase that was 5 or more EUR.
I am very interested to see police officer face and how would that go. Has anybody really do that? If yes, please let me know how it went.
Most of buyers will then turn to payment reversal. But this will just result in your account being banned, and G2A has experienced team which manages such cases so you might even end losing payment reversal case.
I understand G2A need to be fair towards buyers and sellers, but I don’t think this is a way to go. G2A is great marketplace for game keys with its pros and cons, and MBG is definitely one of the cons.
If after reading all this you would rather not deal with G2A, there are many websites like G2A where you can also purchase game keys and various other items.