Don't buy mogstation items from 3rd parties.

[Dustytome]

As per the recent announcement, be aware the only legitimate place to purchase the mogstation items and obtain gift codes is the mogstation itself. SE does not have any special wholesale deals with 3rd parties that allows them to not only sell items at low prices, but also profit off selling items for 50%+ off. They're going to start taking action now.

If you enter giveaways, pray the gift code was bought from the mogstation.

[Vahlnir]

I would think that this would be a matter of common sense but...obviously they need to warn certain people.

[Dustytome]

I would think that this would be a matter of common sense but...obviously they need to warn certain people.

Judging from past sale records available on at least one site, it's not. I will fully admit to being tempted myself months ago when the topic regarding using them popped up on reddit. Those are prices I would actually buy mogstation items (*cough* MARKETING!!!!) at, but I wasn't about to knowingly support fraud.

[KageTokage]

It's unfortunate there isn't really any way for them to stop credit card chargeback fraud since it's also essential to the RMTers for creating their bot armies.

[Transient_Shadow]

It's unfortunate there isn't really any way for them to stop credit card chargeback fraud since it's also essential to the RMTers for creating their bot armies.

I always wondered how that stuff worked. It makes me sadder knowing now. Though if they take action I hope they don't go after people who honestly didn't know that they were gifted stuff bought in bad faith. I think one time I've been gifted an item a long time ago and now I worry weather or not it was bought legitimately.

[Dustytome]

Though if they take action I hope they don't go after people who honestly didn't know that they were gifted stuff bought in bad faith. I think one time I've been gifted an item a long time ago and now I worry weather or not it was bought legitimately.

Unfortunately they have no way to tell the difference and I'm sure most people would simply use that as an excuse if they themselves purchased an illegitimate item and got caught. They can either take no action, go pompei on offenders and hope it creates enough waves to halt the purchase of items or program around it to stop/minimize the issue.

One of the random ideas I had was to issue a unique random alphanumeric account id (ex: T3X42GP93) and use a direct gifting box you paste the id into when purchasing an item. That item will then go directly to the account. This means there's not a gift code that can float between a bunch of people so there's less to track. This also helps users that want to do giveaways avoid people creating multiple social accounts to enter by requiring the ID up front and voiding multiple entries for the same account id, benefiting both the company and the community. It would require a bit extra programming on the mogstation side for anything not account wide though as they'd need a queue for which character the person wants the item delivered to.

[thantaimetmoi]

Thanks for your info

[Iscah]

I'd also be highly concerned that anyone selling items for less than their fixed purchase price, thus with no chance of profit, is not trying to profit from it directly but instead by phishing for your credit card details. (Which, presumably, will then be used to buy more Mog Station items... just not for you.)

[MariaArvana]

Honestly speaking, while I don't endorse third party websites for these kinds of things, if the description of the sheer volume of these sales is true, Square should really be using it as a clue to evaluate the prices of their own store. Many people will easily pay slightly more for convenience; but when the shady alternative is that much better than your own methods, it can easily start drawing interest.

When mount prices start rising to 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a brand new game, or a good % the price of an expansion, some re-evaluation DESPARATELY needs to happen.

[KageTokage]

These guys have literally nothing to lose from doing this unless SE decides to take legal action against them...which is unlikely.

Even if they made the mounts cheaper they'd likely do it regardless.