Third-party game marketplaces like Eneba often list titles at heavy discounts, sometimes offering over 90% off retail prices. But what’s the catch? Is Eneba legit or a scam site? In preparation for this article, we purchased items from their store, read through numerous experiences shared online, and interviewed one of their employees. Here’s what we found.

What is Eneba?

Founded in 2018, Eneba is a relatively new online game key store based in Lithuania. It’s easiest to think of them as an Amazon for video games. They don’t directly sell any games or gift cards, they provide a platform for merchants to sell them. It’s Eneba’s job to manage the sellers they work with, fulfill orders successfully, and provide support for their customers.

Third-party marketplaces like Eneba are sometimes referred to as gray market sites. While they are completely legal and legitimate businesses, they primarily feature products from unofficial sellers. Most gamers purchase from these stores assuming that in exchange for a killer deal, they’re accepting a small chance of getting scammed. To continue our analogy, these sites are sometimes closer to Craigslist than they are to Amazon.

On a scale from Craigslist to Amazon, Eneba is somewhere around there…

As the new kid on the block, Eneba is hoping to change that perception. The Eneba employee we interviewed acknowledged the scandals that have plagued their competitors and emphasized their priority to provide a safe and reliable marketplace for their customers.

One of the main ways they control the quality of their marketplace is by “accepting only trusted and reliable sellers into their platform”. He elaborated on their strict vetting process and standards for sellers that resulted in a low single-digit acceptance rate into their program. He claimed they only accepted third-party sellers who acquired their inventory through legitimate means such as wholesale, seasonal discounts, and regional sales.

The vendors that show up on each product page are only a fraction of those who apply.

And in the off chance that a problem seller makes it through their application process, they’re kicked out after the first sign of dishonesty. Any customer affected would get their order refunded or replaced immediately.

“So customers will get a refund if they purchase a dodgy digital key. But what about their Steam accounts? Is there any risk there?” we asked. Eneba’s representative responded that he had never heard of anyone’s account getting banned for redeeming an invalid key, even from their “less honest” competitors. Steam’s suspension policy seems to support this.

So far, so good. But of course a company rep would say Eneba is legit. Let’s dig deeper.

Our Experiencing Buying from Eneba

Still skeptical, we picked one of their cheapest PC games to start: Human: Fall Flat. Risking $2.47 to get a $15 game seemed like a decent wager.

Clicking the “Buy Now” button took us straight to a checkout page. We were delighted no account registration was required and that there were plenty of payment methods including credit card, Google Pay, PayPal*, Paysafecard, and the company’s own currency system named Eneba Wallet.

*We recommend choosing PayPal as your payment method to take advantage of their Purchase Protection.

Another pleasant surprise was the option to donate to a couple of charitable organizations providing COVID-19 relief. Granted this gives Eneba additional tax writeoffs at the end of the year, we thought it was a positive gesture to encourage gamers to pass on their cost savings to a greater cause.

A few clicks after checkout, we got to our Steam key for Human Fall Flat and a big yellow button that made it easy for us to activate it.

We ended up having no problem adding the game to our Steam library and playing it. And we’ve gone on to purchase two additional PC games from Eneba in a similar fashion. But…

Your Experience Could Be Different

While our experience and most of the accounts we’ve read on Reddit and Trustpilot were positive, Eneba’s record is far from spotless. A common complaint we saw was about purchasing invalid digital keys without any response from support.

Nearly all negative comments on Trustpilot had a response from Eneba as shown above. While better than nothing, there were enough complaints about their support response times that lead us to believe they’re quicker to respond to bad reviews than they are to support emails.

When asked to comment on the customer service complaints, the Eneba representative gave a passable explanation. The COVID-19 stay-at-home orders around the world exploded their company’s sales by 60% nearly overnight and they’ve continued to grow from there. While great for their revenue, their support staff wasn’t equipped to handle it. They are still expanding their customer service team to handle the increased volume of orders.

From Eneba’s careers page.

After reading through enough negative comments and seeing how they played out, it seems Eneba does eventually make things right with their customers. And if they take too long, we’re sure a PayPal dispute would get you your money back.

But the bottom line is, if you are unlucky enough to purchase a bad game key from them, you risk wasting your time waiting for their support team or PayPal to resolve your problem. You’re essentially trading the small chance of a bad experience for Eneba’s affordable prices.

Is Buying from Eneba Ethical?

At this point, we’ve thoroughly answered “Is Eneba legit?” But it’s also worth addressing the ethicality of purchasing digital keys and gift cards from unofficial sellers like Eneba. Game developers have long urged their fans to only purchase their games from authorized sellers so that they could be properly compensated.

Are we ripping off game developers when we purchase from Eneba? We’d argue we most likely aren’t since Eneba doesn’t allow the selling of hacked or stolen keys on its platform. But since there’s no way to be sure, you should only purchase digital keys directly from game publishers or authorized retailers like Green Man Gaming if developer compensation is important to you. Keep in mind official retailers won’t offer as affordable prices.

Before we delve too far into the ethical debate, it’s important to note that Eneba actually does work directly with a number of game publishers.

Game publishers like Konami, CI Games, and Daedalic Entertainment partner directly with Eneba to expand their global reach. When their traditional distribution channels are restricted in certain regions, Eneba gives them another way to get their games into the hands of more gamers. We take it as an encouraging sign and a vote of confidence from the gaming industry to see them partnering up.

To us, Eneba’s business model resembles Spotify’s. Their platform is an affordable and easy way for consumers to get access to art. The artists, unfortunately, get the short end of the stick until the economics get figured out — and it’s not clear when that day will come. But end consumers like us ultimately benefit most from the rock-bottom, lowest prices.

So Is Eneba Legit? Final Answer

While they’re far from perfect, Eneba is a legitimate third-party game marketplace and not a scam site. We believe Eneba is running an honest business in a market plagued with unfavorable implications. If they improved their customer service response times and stated their money-back guarantee more confidently on their site, we’d feel more at ease.

But their do-good brand, direct partnerships with game publishers, and strict seller standards are all promising signs. Additionally, our purchases with them have always gone smoothly. If you’re cool with buying PC games for cheap from third-party sellers, we think Eneba might be your best option.

Eneba

Visit Eneba

If you’d rather avoid any chance at a bad experience and make sure game developers get paid, either purchase directly from the publisher or from one of the authorized sellers on our list here. It’s a choice between the lowest prices and the most morally sound transaction.