Few days ago I purchased and received a game expansion which was described as new and sealed. It was indeed sealed - y-fold, although I don't remember how professionally it looked. I didn't even know until recently that it's possible to reseal stuff like that so the moment I saw it was sealed I took for granted that it was brand new and opened it.
I entered the redemption code on Origin and it recognised the correct game instantly but when I hit confirm, it showed that the code has already been redeemed. I took a closer look at the case and it didn't exactly look new - it was dirty in several spots. I contacted the seller saying that I might have to return it because the key doesn't work. He was ok with that but also offered partial refund instead with me getting to keep the item. As the game works without the key (it's playable but can't be added to Origin library and extra features can't be accessed) and I couldn't be bothered with returning, I simply accepted the partial refund.
I was content for a moment but today I looked at the game closely again, compared it to my other expansions from the same franchise and realised that the case is definitely not original. It should be black Amaray with EA logo, but it's plain white DuBois instead (and I already broke the edge despite opening and closing it gently about 10 times - meaning that it was either used or sh** quality). Naive as I am, I thought on the first day that maybe someone guessed the code and that's why it was used despite the game being sealed. I didn't want to accuse the seller of bad intentions. But after seeing the case I'm now sure that it was deliberately resealed and very professionally too - someone had to stick front and back images around the case.
I originally wanted to leave positive feedback and just mention that it was used, now I'm angry and considering leaving neutral review. The refund was fair - the final price was similar to other games advertised on ebay so it's not like he ripped me off (but only because I contacted him). Although the transaction ended up ok for me, I feel like he should not get away with doing that. He mostly sells "new sealed" music cds so without redemption key like in my case the buyers might never realise that they're not new. IF they're not, that's the main thing that makes me hesitant. Seller admitted when asked that he wasn't the original purchaser so:
(A) he bought it already resealed
(B) he bought it used and resealed it
in the first case I would be accusing him of something he didn't do
One way or another he'll definitely deny it and he might give me neutral feedback back so not sure what to do...
Sorry for a long rant, had to vent 🙂
