How do Instant Gaming, G2A, MMOGA etc. get such low prices?

[Azurooo]

Hey everyone,


I’m trying to understand the real mechanics behind the pricing strategy of digital key sellers like Instant Gaming, G2A, MMOGA, Kinguin, etc. Some of them offer huge discounts on brand-new games, even lower than official regional prices, and I’m curious how their backend supply chain actually works.


I’ve come across several explanations, but I’d like to hear from people who really know how this industry operates:

• Do they buy bulk/wholesale keys directly from distributors before release?
• Is regional price arbitrage (Turkey, Argentina, etc.) still a major source today, or did publishers block most of it?
• Are promotional keys, bundle leftovers, or influencer/review keys being resold on these platforms?
• How big is the role of grey-market sourcing (refund exploits, stolen CC purchases, etc.)?
• On marketplaces like G2A or Eneba, how do individual sellers manage to undercut each other that hard?
• Is there any legit way to replicate these prices on a smaller scale?

Basically, I want to understand what combination of methods allows them to consistently list new releases at such aggressively low prices. If anyone has insights, experiences, or even partial info about the supply chain, I’d appreciate it.

 

[kidd_]

I’m curious how their backend supply chain actually works

i would say stolen credit cards (or other money that originated) from the dark web

G2A

shopped here a few time over the years and i’ve had a single bad experience here when buying a subscription key not too long ago, and i found out that the method used to purchase that key was fraudulent so the membership was revoked but i got a free grace period for telling them the situation and showing proof of purchase

Eneba

now this is the main spot where i snag most of my games and i haven’t ever had any issues here throughout the years, and i found a lot of the hidden gems that are in my steam library from this site

lower than official regional prices

even during steams major winter/summer sale, the prices for a lot of games during this event (and year-round in general) are actually cheaper on grey site markets and that’s why i love shopping there

 

[Arn Proxy]

I once created a price comparison website by pulling pricing information from these companies. These large companies purchase digital keys directly from the manufacturer, making them very affordable. There are so many different agreements between companies that it's impossible to find them.