HELP needed to activate & play Half Life 2 which i bought 2nd hand on ebay.

[oreo71]

I have purchased HL2 on ebay and have the DVD ROM & CD Key but cannot play the game because Steam will not allow it as the CD Key has been allocated to a previous account. I think this is very unfair as I have legitimately bought the game from a previous owner. Is it possible to activate and play the game by bypassing the Steam registration process? Please can someone help me with this or guide me in the right direction (i.e. a link to website)

Thanks

 

[kineaesth]

It isn't; essentially you got conned. I'd recommend contacting ebay or otherwise trying to get your money back in some way.

The keys that are linked to copies of Half Life 2 can only ever be linked to a single steam account, basically you just got sold some rather worthless plastic discs

 

[MorganFreeman911]

Hey, they make pretty good coasters..

 

[Escaep]

Nothing you can do. Contact ebay or Paypal to get your money back, and then buy a legitimate copy from Steam.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Indeed, if you had researched this beforehand, you could have found that it is a common fraudulent item on ebay and you should never get involved. The CD Key once tied to a Steam account cannot be removed unless the owner pays a $10 fee. I've never seen an item on ebay where the seller has said they have done this.

You'll need to contact the seller or open a paypal dispute.

If you want to purchase Half-life 2, I would recommend any method which isn't 2nd hand! The Steam store is probably the easiest - http://store.steampowered.com/

 

[JUL3]

Indeed, if you had researched this beforehand, you could have found that it is a common fraudulent item on ebay and you should never get involved. The CD Key once tied to a Steam account cannot be removed unless the owner pays a $10 fee. I've never seen an item on ebay where the seller has said they have done this.

You'll need to contact the seller or open a paypal dispute.

If you want to purchase Half-life 2, I would recommend any method which isn't 2nd hand! The Steam store is probably the easiest - http://store.steampowered.com/

Absolutely this.

Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for it off eBay? Because it's only $10 on Steam...

 

[oreo71]

Thanks for all your responses. I paid £2.50 + £1.00 postage. I had no idea that the game would not play as I am unfamiliar with Steam & on-line activation etc. I just bought the game from e-bay, which is the original DVD ROM, expecting load it and play it. Nevermind, I will contact the seller and see what can be done. I suppose I've only wasted £3.50.

 

[Escaep]

Thanks for all your responses. I paid £2.50 + £1.00 postage. I had no idea that the game would not play as I am unfamiliar with Steam & on-line activation etc. I just bought the game from e-bay, which is the original DVD ROM, expecting load it and play it. Nevermind, I will contact the seller and see what can be done. I suppose I've only wasted £3.50.

Even if its only that much, I'd still report the seller to ebay. Its highly unlikely he was unfamiliar with Steam as well and thought he was selling a perfectly good item. If anything, it might save the next guy from making the same mistake.