We had a chance to talk with one of the leading MMORPG currencies and services provider,
OffGamers.
Can you give us some background on OffGamers and how the company got started?
OffGamers was originally known as offd2.com in its early years. Back in 2001, we were only
selling Diablo 2 items. We had a very simple business model as the whole idea of RMT (real-
money trade) was still something very new to us. As time passes, RMT gradually garnered more
attention from the masses and we started to realize that the demands from the virtual worlds
were never going to die off. Taking the opportunity to capitalize on the emerging markets,
we incorporated OffGamers in late 2004. What follows was the launch of World of Warcraft and
the rest was history as we ride on the wave of the most successful MMORPG ever created. We
now provide services for over 20 MMORPG titles.
OffGamers were built by gamers to serve the needs of other gamers and so, we are a
passionate bunch who knows exactly what we are doing.
Please give us some overview of your operation. Do you employ your own farmers or do you
only act as a distributor or broker?
OffGamers is essentially the broker bridging the gap between sellers and buyers. We
recognize the needs of our customers and goes all out to fulfill that need. We try to get
the best possible value for our customers' money while not compromising the quality of
service.
Our Service department is in Malaysia while our office is Hong Kong based.
According to Alexa, your website receives a lot of traffic from Malaysia, any significant
work there?
We receive quite a lot of traffic came from Malaysia because of its local games. Things like
Perfect World, Last Chaos, and etc. are popular Asian games which we are selling their game
points.
What makes your company unique to many other gold sellers out there?
We realized awhile ago that in order to stand out from the ocean of gold sellers out there,
we need to focus on something, and that something is our customers. At OffGamers, our
customers are our priority and their needs are our utmost concern. So we are currently
working on offering a wider range of services and products while perfecting our delivery
system to cut down wait time.
What are your thoughts on news reports about "Chinese gold farmer sweatshops"?
I personally think that the term is derogatory and sweatshop is a stereotype. Just because
somebody posted a video of the worst possible setup of a gold production house doesn't mean
that every other is alike. I think some of the reports were over sensationalized and does
not represent the real situation.
Many customers often complain about no delivery of gold which is perhaps "intercepted" by
Blizzard before the customers take it out of the email. What has changed for you over the
last two years given the increased efforts and counter-measures employed by companies like
Blizzard?
Blizzard's actions has definitely kept us on our toes and gave us many sleepless nights, but
I'm proud to say that we have managed to keep things in control. Our customers are receiving
their orders and complaints are at minimal. I would love to share our experiences and the
steps that we had taken, but that would compromise our efficiency and I can't do that.
How would you describe your relationship with game operators? Can you share your worst
experience with a game company? Do you have any experience like getting a very valuable
account banned and lost tons of gold in one night? Could it be possible for gold sellers to
cooperate with game operators? Like this Guildwar rumor.
You can call our relationship with game operators a love-hate relationship. Love because we
are after all making money from their games and technically without them, we won't exist.
Hate because of the banning issues you have mentioned. We have lost much due to bannings but
that is an unavoidable risk we take.
As for the rumors in that blog, we never had the pleasure of enjoying such a deal....
However, if the rumor is true, the deal is very shady to say the least, considering certain
parties will be suffering with such a 'deal' and at the end of the day, players get the
short end of the stick. If any game operators are actually keen to control bottings, etc and
are willing to talk, we are looking more into guidelines. Something easy to start with is,
monitor our activities, make sure our gold are not connected to botters' gold, give us clear
and concise guidelines to follow and we in turn will use these guidelines to control our
suppliers and weed out those suppliers who use dupes, bots, etc. This will benefit everyone
including the players but this whole exercise can only be done with communication and
assistance from the game operators themselves. On our own, there is only so much we can do.
With a few games coming out at the end of this year, which one do you think has potential
for RMT market?
We are really looking forward to the launching of Warhammer Online and a few others. There
is really just too many out there but Warhammer is one that we think has the biggest
potential.
Many gamers have been annoyed about in-game spams from gold farmers.
And that has given the industry a bad name. How do you promote your company and services? Do
you think gold selling companies can stay in business without spamming the customers?
We know and we will never use such annoying methods to advertise our services. Our
affiliates are warned about spamming in-game as well.
We spend on PPC campaigns, banner advertisements to promote our site. That aside, we do rely
on our customers promoting our store by word of mouth as well. There are definitely other
advertising methods other than spamming.
What is your outlook for the future of RMT? What will we get to see in the next few
years?
We are very positive about the future of RMT. It was estimated that US$2 billion worth of
RMT transactions took place in 2006 and there are very promising projections made for 2007.
The RMT market is growing at a pace faster than anybody has predicted and will continue so
in the next few years. More and more game publishers are realizing that the RMT model is
here to stay and starting to embrace the idea of it. We will also see more players accepting
the idea as well.
With that, we have set our sight on growing with the market and we are very confident that
we will.
About Offgamers:
OffGamers, one of the leading currency sellers and was founded by Ken
and Stanley Chee in late 2004 to serve US and European gamers. They
have expanded their operations rapidly to Malaysia, Hong Kong and recently to
China. As of June 11, 2007, OffGamers ranks in Alexa at 10,784
- higher than IGE’s
28,005.
The company is especially strong in Malaysia
market where 73% of its traffic comes from.
In an interview
with 4U community in China, Stanley and Ken shared an interesting
view on newcomers and competition which they credit with driving
innovation in the RMT industry. However, from their point of view only the best will survive
the current market trend
of moving to China. They further comment that the real-money trading (RMT)
market is going to flourish regardless of problems with
banning and government regulations which have yet to be resolved.
OffGamers’s customer service track record has been excellent so far. They have been
trading on eBay since 2001 and received over 8,086
unique positive feedbacks, which nets them an overall rating of 98.9% on the auction
platform. Another review from The
Edge of Nowhere forums confirms the company’s positive reputation there. Criticism comes
from
TopTenREVIEW, where a customer accuses
Offgamers of not keeping enough gold stock, resulting in delivery delays.
errrrrrrrrr.........
gold of here is a bit expensive!errrrrrr........
maybe it can be lower hehe!
Comment by Jussi on 15-06-2009 6:05 PM
Really good.
Bought AL gold from them, took about 1hr 50mins to get it after I placed the order
[Edited on 6/15/2009 by Jussi]
Comment by trajik78 on 12-05-2009 3:47 PM
i have used these guys a couple times and both times the order was completed satisfactorily.
Comment by LeDave on 23-04-2009 5:46 AM
Very impressive! I ordered 30 dollars worth of credits for AO. I went on live chat and told them that i have made the order and that i will be on
starting right now. They asked me how long I would be on for and I said 5 hours and maybe more. They said they would call me if I won't be on
anyways. I thought it would take several hours for them to transfer the credits to me, it was late at night and I was very tired and wished I would
have ordered tomorrow morning instead.
Apparently it was only 20 minutes later that they would! Very fast service, now I can finally sleep, and I was quite impressed.
This was my first time buying anything for a game and so I was quite nervous about my first time. Apparently after doing some research on gold farming
websites, I found Offgamers to be the best choice based on the rating on this website. Sure there are websites that have higher ratings, but they
don't supply the credits for Anarchy Online, so I decided to use this one as it has the highest for that game.
It went very well. I will certainly buy again if I need more credits in the future.
Comment by ruffboi on 18-04-2009 5:16 AM
I used this company to order two cd keys, one worked, the other did not. When I talked with their customer support (via the online chat), they
basically told me it would be three days before they could review it and do something about it! They said no manager was on duty, and the department
was "closed". They wouldn't give me a refund or give me a new cd key, this place is a total rip off, I do not suggest using them at all.
Comment by delmontebanana on 10-03-2009 10:00 PM
My latest wow gold purchase. 100% recommended
They told me that they had no gold in stock but would contact suppliers immediately after I placed my order.
The order process was very long, but very sure (as in they verified my email, my paypal and my billing address).
Then I specified a time for them to contact me and deliver the gold in that window.
I recieve a call 15mins before my delivery, and 30mins after the time I specified I recieved the gold in full.
5 stars.
Comment by YeaLikeThat on 24-02-2009 10:21 AM
Not Bad Overall
In past I have always used Mogs because of their reliability but I have been getting tired of paying a $10 premium and wanted to try something new.
By default Offgamers uses In-Game Wallet transfer for purchasing EVE ISK which is a notoriously bad method as GMs have been known to
reverse transactions. Have not been reversed so hopefully will stay that way.
Wish they made it easier to customize your delivery solution. They list private contracts as a method but make it hard to actually order and use
them.
[Edited on 2/24/09 by YeaLikeThat]
Comment by PLRTim on 13-02-2009 8:44 AM
I just purchased 47-58 PL service from them. They have a 12 hour "Ip cooldown" so your IP doesn't get flagged. (If this really helps or is just an
excuse for time so that they can get everything together who knows) And they completed it 6 hours ahead of time. They also insist you wait 12 hours to
login as another IP cooldown which I am now doing. If I get banned I will update. If I dont I will not update. But it was awesome. They also have a
Character Profiler feature on their website that they update ever so often and you can see whats in your bank, inventory, and equipment. Also beward
doing anythign regarding your character (Logging in on forums,armory, any blizzard owned wow related site, and in game, or changing password are all
the same exact as logging in game, do not do any of these. Just add your character and if you want to see how he is doing make a trial acocunt and get
on and see. They aren't always good with updating the profiler thing, they just got 58 and it was last updated 51.)
But yes everything was spectacular, and this site has the best customer service I have ever seen. I just had a HORRIBLE run in with IGS Star and holy
hell igsstar is so horrible. Their customer service was done right hostile and refused me a refund literally within a minute of transaction taking
place. I had to throw the biggest bitch fit, threaten all kinds of internet fraud reports, and disputed on paypal. Also just so you know, NEVER
DISPUTE UNDER VIRTUAL GOODS. Its almost an auto-decline. I disputed mine from igsstar as "service" and that could be why igsstar refunded my money.
Because the "mary" girl in their Live Chat seriously told me word for word when i demanded refund or id dispute "too bad, you already paid us and
to get your money back from paypal we have to ok it which we arent going to do"
Offgamers=No problems
Igsstar=How they are still in business I will never know
Hmm my review went from OG to igs. Ok well thats my experience have a good night,
Comment by Bryanfury on 19-11-2008 11:52 AM
I found OffGamers after WoWmine got me a 24hr ban and was pleased to find that they insist on a 12hr cooldown before and after levelling so that the
IP change won't be flagged. I paid for a WoW order of 90 Badges of Justice and a week later they were done. I'd lost no money but in addition to the
badges gained The Sun-Eater (for a tank that's a Godsend) and a ton of Kara tanking gear as well as epic gems and drops from heroic dailies. I could
easily afford the badge gear plus I had a ton of useful stuff to go with it and in addition had 2 factions raised to exalted.
Gold-wise they're fast, usually same night and they have a live person call you (not WoWmine's 3am automated voice message) asking you to log in.
You sometimes will need to drop out of your guild to access their guild bank for your gold and while they're not cheap they're reliable and honest
which means a lot. Their support people are pretty clued up and helpful and so far I've order about 10000g in batches of 1 or 2k, all delivered
face-to-face by someone who doesn't have kjhkhkkjhkhk as their name and in a faction bank not in Goldshire like every other goldseller does. It's
subtle and sly and I love it and recommend them with my wallet!
Comment by silvara on 28-10-2008 8:58 AM
I haven't used them before, but based on the scoring here I thought to give it a try. I ordered a fairly small amount of gold, and although it said
up to 24 hours, I received in within 20min!! A very pleasant surprise there, as before with IGE I have often waited 1 week +
Checks to verify your account were quick and efficient (an automated phone call with a verification number for example)
Will happily use again.
Comment by motemote on 30-09-2008 11:36 PM
it's probably because of that.
When you use paypal, you have to have everything match up or it'll have problems most of times..
I just made another purchase with them yesterday. (more higher value) and everything went smoothly.
They only had about half of what I had ordered, but said they'd have the rest/10 hrs today, told them i'm usually available same time as I
listed.
I fell asleep during the game.. and got a message from them saying Hi so I'm sure if I had been awake
at that time, I'd been available same day.
Got home, around 5:30 Almost 6 PM, Submitted a ticket that I'm available for pickup, 6:50PM delivery. I was expecting maybe around 10PM delivery but
I guess they got reserved some time for me since I noted it to them the day before :3
Very fast and smooth...
Unless theres like a huge price difference between offgamers and some other noteworthy site, i'll pick offgamers because as of so far, very reliable.
If prices are more lower lol i'd probably buy alot more frequently. :3
Comment by tripdream on 21-09-2008 9:11 AM
After reading motemote's comment, I am thinking that maybe they voided my transaction because I am unverified. I do not have a bank account and I do
not qualify for the PayPal credit card, which are the only two ways to get verified. That may be what prompted their system to kick the order back out
and refund my money.
Comment by motemote on 20-09-2008 5:56 AM
I'm an informed buyer. I've made purchases with many of the major gold/account sellers in the past so I make sure they're reputable before dealing
and everything before spending my hard earned paycheck lol.
Checking multiple gaming forums and such for references to offgamers, they've had some complains on some complaint boards but in about all instances,
they worked with the customer to resolve it. The fact that it's not a fly-by-night site makes it less of a chance for you to get taken.
I can say that offgamers really shined through for me. First time buyer from them and impressed with their speed and simplicity in ordering and
verifying.
Was reluctant to place the order at first, but went into the Live chat, waited about 1-2 hours to get someone (common to me since it's a friday
evening). but when I got them, was informed no stock. asked alot of questions regarding how they do things.. afraid of constant verification (like
other companies).. asked about stock.. said none and it would be a 24-48 hour wait.
Placed the order after considering all options. expecting a 24-48 or longer wait... but in less than 5 hours, they delivered. I'm usually paranoid on
games so also glad that at the same time, they phoned me to let me know it was ready for pickup.
everything worked out ALOT easier than I had thought. (Back when I used to buy FFXI gold/accounts from IGE and others, I had to verify with them like
every other order.. alot more red tape -_-)
I used Paypal(Verified), no issues. everything went smooth as silk.
If you're new to them and not sure on if you should order or not, I'll let you know hands down, that out of all the companies i've dealt with..
they've made my life 11x easier.
Comment by tripdream on 20-09-2008 2:10 AM
I got the exact same message and problem that Grinder did. Everything went through just fine with PayPal, shows that the company (OffGamers) has my
money but for some odd reason they can't process the order all the way. All they can tell me is that its due to security reasons and they will refund
the money in a couple of hours. I am also very hesitant to register with any other payment service because at least with PayPal I have some recourse
in case the company I purchase anything from decides to blow me off. I've heard a lot of good things about OffGamers from this site and others so I
am wondering what went wrong.
EDIT: Just an FYI they did in fact refund my money in less than two hours. Too bad they had to do that as I would have liked to see how fast they
could deliver the gold
[Edited on 9/20/2008 by tripdream]
Comment by jazzper on 04-08-2008 10:20 PM
Excellent in every way. Good prizes and fast delivery. My no1 choice.
Comment by sp3sh on 03-07-2008 1:58 AM
Well so far i have spent around $1k usd with offgamers.
In the past they were fantastic, recently they have had 2 of my accounts banned for power leveling and there gold delivery is sitting on 7 days still
waiting.
Not sure what changed but im out of pocket $500 from 2 bans for exploitation during there leveling process.
Not sure whats going on but at lvl 62 both accounts where banned for exploitation.
Ill never use them again, they offer partial store credit but what am i going to use it on if they cant deliver and get my accounts banned?
Comment by BiggieBo$$ on 19-06-2008 5:44 PM
My experience has been pretty good overall with this site. I've bought from a couple of others, and in the end they give you a big run around.
I'd say about 75% of the time, they deliver on time (first three hours). But when they don't, they're honest about it and they let you know
they'll do their best to get it to you. My longest wait has been 8 hours.
My suggestion...order ahead of time so you'll have your gold when ya need it. The days of 5 min deliveries are over . If your order isn't ready on time, just get on their livechat and talk with a rep.
Comment by rjn on 01-06-2008 4:12 PM
This shop is in my opinion just oustanding
Today i did a order for 5000 gold
as soon i made the order i got a phone call to verify
then my status was upgraded
1.5 hours later i got a email that my order was ready
i told livechat then logged in game and got a whisp that i could come and trade
in less then 2 hours 5000 gold was delivered the live chat
answerd al my questions before ordering
offgamers you got a new custumer i will never buy any where alse any more
thumbs up for this shop
Comment by Grinder on 30-05-2008 10:02 PM
Placed an order and received a notice the order was canceled. When i used Live Chat to inquire why, I was told that they are having problems with
PayPal. OK, no problem, I asked for a refund (they had already taken my payment). The live chat "agent" told me it would be two days. I asked why
it would take so long and I was told the person with the authority to issue a refund wouldn't was "out of office".
He asked me to use another payment service ... no. PayPal is the only service I use online because I know I can get my $ back if someone tries to
screw me and at no time do I share any financial info with the party I am paying.
Final thought: They shouldn't have PayPal on the site as a payment option if they have problems with it (at least temporarily remove the option until
you get your problems worked out).
I guess I should have used Live Chat FIRST before placing an order to ask if PayPal was OK (but how could I know).
EDIT: Complaint has been filed with PayPal.
[Edited on 5/31/2008 by Grinder]
Comment by Tomsan on 23-05-2008 11:39 AM
Excellence customer service, not like sites that i've previously dealt with, will definitely stick with offgamers from now on.
Comment by Cass on 06-05-2008 6:51 PM
After trying to purchase WoW gold from 4 supposedly different sites (all owned/operated by THS International Inc, read the fine print), AND GETTING
TOTALLY BURNED BY THS International, I decided to give it one more try. I looked at the list of top sellers here on mmobux, looked around each
seller's website, and chose Offgamers.
And went balls out and ordered 10K. LOL
Ordered and paid for gold (good price), went into Live Chat with rep, he asked if he could call me to verify, sure, in 5 mins? 4 minutes later, phone
rings, he asks for address and DOB. Done. Back in chat he says 1 to 4 hours. Okay, I'm heading to bed and the server will be down in the morning
anyway.
By this time, less than 30 minutes from ordering and paying for the gold, I have received 5 emails from them detailing the progression of my order,
been in Live Chat with a person who spoke real English and talked on the phone with same.
I head to bed, and wake late because the server is down for Tuesday update, find one phone message from last night saying gold is ready to be
delivered face-to-face, please log in. Whoa, all that gold was ready last night? Less than 4 hours from the time I made the order. Dang.
9 A.M. this morning, phone rings, please log in, gold ready. Hey, guys, it's Tuesday, server will be down until 11 A.M. I'll be there, promise.
10 A.M this morning, phone rings, please log in, gold ready. By now I have a total of 8 emails from them detailing our progress. LOL
I tell the very worried gentleman that it is Daylight Savings Time here, and 11 A.M. is still about 58 minutes away. And I will be there. Cross my
heart, promise.
At 10:45 A.M., I turn on the computer, log into WoW, discover that we're up and running, quick log into character, get online to Offgamers website
and get into Live Chat. I give them the order number, tell them where my character is, and BAM, I've got an invite and a trade window opens with all
of my purchased amount. All 10K. LOL
And that was completed and done, clean and quick, about 30 minutes ago. The total process took about 12 hours, but I would have had all of my purchase
last night had I not sacked out early.
So, start to finish, two Live Chats, 4 phone calls, 9 emails, 10K WoW gold, for $199.
I'm good.
Comment by Lancelot on 06-03-2008 7:43 AM
I've always used their service. To me, OffGamers is the best site around. 2 thumbs up.
Comment by Raptorz on 06-03-2008 6:59 AM
Well for me i still have had no problems ever since i tested them out ( found them on mmobux ). I have tried numerous gold sellers before and for me
offgamers has always delivered. What i actually like about them is their customer support which in my opinion is far more superior then the rest. Only
find their 1 time verbal verification a bit weird but after that everything else has been smooth for me.
Comment by Grumley on 06-03-2008 4:47 AM
Destroyer, if you dont suggest them, who do you suggest?
Comment by Destroyer on 05-03-2008 1:30 AM
Like all other gold selling websites, they're annoying. They take it a step further, however. They randomly pm you in-game about deals, offers, and
updates on contests, and they also spam your in-game mailbox with the same messages, too.
Don't waste your time on them. It will just encourage their stupidity.
My vote? 0/10
Comment by Dewa_Perang on 12-01-2008 6:52 AM
I've made several deals with Offgamers and all is done in smooth and fast way.
I have to say Offgamers is the best on this gold things but now Offgamers started selling Silkroad Online gold with high price.
If they can make discount or something to drop their gold price, I'll be loyal Offgamers gold buyer, again.
Comment by Raptorz on 10-01-2008 8:22 AM
Well for me i had no problems at all. In fact they seem much more professional compared to the other stores I've been to. I had 3000 gold delivered
to me within 1 hour even though it was stated pre order. Perhaps i ordered a less then you ? Thumbs up for me
Comment by weedblaze on 28-12-2007 12:04 AM
Offgamers.com are a ok company. After placing a order on the 18 of December and still waiting December 27th I would say that their service is slow
but guranteed. Maybe youll have better luck than me
WebMoney,
Wire Transfers,
so I'm sure if I had been awake
at that time, I'd been available same day.
. If your order isn't ready on time, just get on their livechat and talk with a rep.
