Hoarding Game Keys and how Gifting works at IndieGameStand

[mgnade]

Nearly all of our support tickets lately revolve around finding bonus content, gifting games, or getting game keys. I thought it would be helpful to layout how our current system works in detail, so here it goes:

1. Every game purchase at IndieGameStand is tied to an email address / user account. When you're logged in and purchase a game, it goes right to your wallet. If you purchase for the first time, our system automatically creates an account for you with the email address that you use. This is also true when you gift a game to others - whatever email you input to send the gift to, we will create an account with that game sitting in their wallet.

2. I purchased a game and now I want to unlock the bonus content. This is possible, but we do not have a "pay the difference" model for this - mainly because it is a complicated process and we don't want people trying to game the average price. The best way to explain this is with an example. Let's say that I purchase a game for $1 to get that Game and a key on Steam/Desura. When I purchased the average price was $1.50. I start playing this game and absolutely love it and want to give the developer more money and unlock the DLC bonus content. When I revisit the site, the average price is $1.90. At this time you cannot pay $0.90 to unlock the bonus content, but you could unlock the bonus content in your account by purchasing the game at the current BTA price of $1.90 (or more - you could even shell out $10 to get the bundle and all the bonus content for those 3 games). There's a lot of internal debate within our team about this particular method and it's definitely not the most straight forward, but with our sales as short as they are - there is not a lot of opportunity to come back and beat your previous average and there would be a lot of work in storing your price, calculating the difference between it and the current BTA and making sure that it is at least $0.25-$0.30 (because otherwise everything goes to the credit card processors).

I hope you paid attention to the explanation above because it greatly affects gifting and key hoarding....

3. Can you gift a game at a later date or hoard game keys to give out later? The answer is YES. If you purchase a game for $1 and then buy it again for $1, the first purchase will unlock your game in your account and the second one will cause you to receive an IndieGameStand key in your email that you can email to a friend. Rule #1 still applies - there's no way to hoard a bunch of steam keys in 1 account, but you can generate a bunch of IGS keys (where users would get keys to all platforms available) that you can send out at later dates or use as giveaways etc. If you want to do this, just keep in mind Rule #2 so that you don't waste a purchase upgrading your purchase to include bonus content.

A few Scenarios to further explain:

Example 1:

I buy the game for the minimum of $0.25 - this unlocks the game in my account
I but it again for $0.25 - this sends an email with an IGS key to send to a friend
I buy it again and BTA for $1.60 - this unlocks the game, Steam/Desura/GOG keys, and the bonus content in my account
I buy again for $1 - this would send another email to me with an IGS game key - the friend I sent this code to would get Steam/Desura/GOG keys in their wallet

IGS keys hoarded = 2
Money Spent = $3.10

Example 2:
I buy the bundle for $10 - this unlocks all 3 games with bonus content and game keys in my account
I buy the current game again for $2 (beating the average) - this would send me an IGS key to send to a friend - that friend would get game keys and bonus content in their wallet
I buy the game again for $1 as a gift and input an email address - that purchase is tied to that email account - I get NO IGS key emailed to me.
I buy the game again for $1 - I would get another email with an IGS key that I could send to a friend

IGS keys hoarded = 2
Money Spent = $14

Example 3:
I buy the game 5x for $1 - First purchase unlocks the game with keys in my account - I would get 4 emails with IGS game keys emailed to me that I could send to my friends at a later date. They would all get Steam/Desura/GOG keys.

IGS keys hoarded = 4
Money spent: $5

Example 4:
I buy the game for myself and BTA at $1.50 near the beginning of the sale - unlocks game, keys, and bonus content in my account
I buy the game 2x at $1 - I get 2 IGS keys to send to friends, they would get the game and keys unlocked in their account
I buy the game 2x BTA at $1.75 near the end of the sale - I get 2 IGS keys to send to friends, they would get the game, bonus content, and keys
I buy the bundle for $10 - this would unlock the previous and next games, keys, and bonus content in my account.

IGS keys hoarded = 4
Money spent: $17


I hope this is helpful. We know it's not perfect - especially when it comes to saving gifts and sending them out later. We have some ideas that will improve this system in 2013, but in the meantime this is how it works. The bottomline is the easiest way to hoard/purchase games for your friends is to pay the most for your copy of the game and then pick a price to purchase all of you extra copies at and keep the price consistent. If you ever make a mistake or need help after a purchase, please open a ticket.

"you could unlock the bonus content in your account by purchasing the game at the current BTA price of $1.90"
that means that to unlock BTA content you have to repurchase game with BTA price?
I see...but i dont think this will work, really. Just see how it works from customer side - i purchasing game for 1$ and if i pay 1.50 i can get OST, so, technically, its +0.50$ for OST. I decided to hold my horses, and spent only 1$ and after what i found that i love OST, so now, to get that OST i have to pay again, whole 1.90..OMG, 1.90 for OST vs. 0.50$!!!
I understand, that with repurchase i will get new copy of game (and keys) too, but what if game dont provide any keys?
Even after reading all that examples i see that its all overcomplicated and really unclear.
Peoples will not go that. How, in example, this way - i get game for 1$, then i deciding to unlock BTA, repurchasing for 1.90 and having bonus unlocked + 1$ gift key for friends?

Main problem that reaction from system to additional payment is very different and dependent on current contribution, BTA and payment. Too much variables in one equation for average customer.

I've just had this happen to me with the pid sale currently going on. Have msg admins. Bought 1 @ .25 liked it, got the steam for 1.00, other options open, bought the one with dlc after for the asked price and now I have ONLY 1 steam code, the on-site downloads, and the soundtrack available, when all i really want is two steam codes.... I see no way to "gift" this second purchase, not do I have a key or keys in my inbox... any help or feedback is appreciated, thanks!

EDIT: When you buy upgrades like that sequentially, it DOES only upgrade your purchase. BTW, not more then 5 (literally, five) minutes after submitting a help ticket I've been contacted and had the problem resolved. Awesome service =) Google for your answers, and when that fails, contact the tech support here, these folks were more than expedient and helpful, thanks!

[mgnade]

You were just upgrading your purchase in your wallet by paying $0.25, $1 and then $1.34. You can only get 1 steam code in your account, but you could get an IGS key sent to you if you had just purchased twice at $1 each.