Crown Crate Gifting Temporary Solution Process

Vulkunne

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

My status is this and I hope posting this doesn't come off as me breaking forum rules or coming about this sideways because I am genuinely looking to get this resolved, nothing more.

Basically I asked for a total of Crowns to be sent to someone who actually happens to be a friend of mine. He also agreed to give me some in-game gold for them because he's a righteous dude. But what's weird is none of this was mentioned in the original ticket I just said we had an arrangement where I wanted to give him x amount of Crowns. This trigged the TOS message.

And here we are. Now, normally I might close the ticket but there is an issue here. Why do they auto-assume I intend to break TOS because I had some arrangement to give my friend x amount of Crates?

Are you trying to gift crowns themselves or crates? You say two different things here.

Gifting crowns is not within ToS. Gifting crown items - like crown crates - is within ToS, and this system is designed for facilitating gifts of crates specifically.

ETA: If you said “crowns” to Support, they would need to deny you. Can you try clarifying that the request is for crates?

Incorrect. You have to select a product and I wanted to send like a certain amount of Crowns worth of crates. However, there is no quantity modifier for each product. I even opened separate tickets, then someone closed all of these as duplicates.

Its impossible to send the form without specifying a product so this excuse will not suffice. Glad to see this case is getting some attention and that after waiting and sitting in silence for almost a week now, a ZOS rep is working hard to try to help. Its also nice to see that I am once again, -not- getting blamed for this happening by anyone else. Especially after all the detailed notes I left in the ticket, which apparently were also not ignored. Coming here has helped this matter greatly.

virtus753

Vulkunne wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

My status is this and I hope posting this doesn't come off as me breaking forum rules or coming about this sideways because I am genuinely looking to get this resolved, nothing more.

Basically I asked for a total of Crowns to be sent to someone who actually happens to be a friend of mine. He also agreed to give me some in-game gold for them because he's a righteous dude. But what's weird is none of this was mentioned in the original ticket I just said we had an arrangement where I wanted to give him x amount of Crowns. This trigged the TOS message.

And here we are. Now, normally I might close the ticket but there is an issue here. Why do they auto-assume I intend to break TOS because I had some arrangement to give my friend x amount of Crates?

Are you trying to gift crowns themselves or crates? You say two different things here.

Gifting crowns is not within ToS. Gifting crown items - like crown crates - is within ToS, and this system is designed for facilitating gifts of crates specifically.

ETA: If you said “crowns” to Support, they would need to deny you. Can you try clarifying that the request is for crates?

You cannot complete their form without selecting a product. I left very specific instructions on notes. But the form itself cannot be sent in without choosing something so this excuse will not suffice.

I wanted to send them x amount of crates, total however many Crowns. Which I did say this and have clarified this request more times than one person should ever have to do. I'm glad to see a response indicating that my case is getting some attention. What wonderful customer service we have here for these expensive things. In fact at this moment I'm really almost to the point of walking away from the game completely. Instead of getting help, I'm again being accused as being part of the problem. So very tired of this.

I will never understand too, why we have to pay so much just to make minor changes to our characters. Why everything for this game has to be so expensive is so far beyond me. It would also help if ZOS had some kind of actual customer service phone# where we could call and talk to someone like other places do.

Support can definitely ignore drop-downs in favor of reading instructions. That’s how anyone gets missing items addressed, since trying to file a ticket for a missing item requires us to choose that item in our inventory, which is obviously nonsensical and impossible. We are forced to choose an incorrect drop-down option and describe the problem instead.

It may well be the case that you were perfectly clear in your written instructions to Support that you wanted crates, not crowns, and that there was a misunderstanding on their end. That certainly happens. But since you said here in your earlier post that you asked for crowns per se to be sent, it was worth noting that one word makes a difference between being within or outside of ToS, and Support will likely be (perhaps overly) keen to avoid anything that they might even suspect to be a violation of ToS here, given the situation.

At any rate, I hope your ticket gets resolved sooner rather than later. I don’t have as much hope for the pricing scheme

ETA: not sure what to do with the fact the post to which I responded is entirely different now. I suppose my reply will not make much sense. I am glad to hear someone’s helping you, tho.

Vulkunne

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

My status is this and I hope posting this doesn't come off as me breaking forum rules or coming about this sideways because I am genuinely looking to get this resolved, nothing more.

Basically I asked for a total of Crowns to be sent to someone who actually happens to be a friend of mine. He also agreed to give me some in-game gold for them because he's a righteous dude. But what's weird is none of this was mentioned in the original ticket I just said we had an arrangement where I wanted to give him x amount of Crowns. This trigged the TOS message.

And here we are. Now, normally I might close the ticket but there is an issue here. Why do they auto-assume I intend to break TOS because I had some arrangement to give my friend x amount of Crates?

Are you trying to gift crowns themselves or crates? You say two different things here.

Gifting crowns is not within ToS. Gifting crown items - like crown crates - is within ToS, and this system is designed for facilitating gifts of crates specifically.

ETA: If you said “crowns” to Support, they would need to deny you. Can you try clarifying that the request is for crates?

You cannot complete their form without selecting a product. I left very specific instructions on notes. But the form itself cannot be sent in without choosing something so this excuse will not suffice.

I wanted to send them x amount of crates, total however many Crowns. Which I did say this and have clarified this request more times than one person should ever have to do. I'm glad to see a response indicating that my case is getting some attention. What wonderful customer service we have here for these expensive things. In fact at this moment I'm really almost to the point of walking away from the game completely. Instead of getting help, I'm again being accused as being part of the problem. So very tired of this.

I will never understand too, why we have to pay so much just to make minor changes to our characters. Why everything for this game has to be so expensive is so far beyond me. It would also help if ZOS had some kind of actual customer service phone# where we could call and talk to someone like other places do.

Support can definitely ignore drop-downs in favor of reading instructions. That’s how anyone gets missing items addressed, since trying to file a ticket for a missing item requires us to choose that item in our inventory, which is obviously nonsensical and impossible. We are forced to choose an incorrect drop-down option and describe the problem instead.

It may well be the case that you were perfectly clear in your written instructions to Support that you wanted crates, not crowns, and that there was a misunderstanding on their end. That certainly happens. But since you said here in your earlier post that you asked for crowns per se to be sent, it was worth noting that one word makes a difference between being within or outside of ToS, and Support will likely be (perhaps overly) keen to avoid anything that they might even suspect to be a violation of ToS here, given the situation.

At any rate, I hope your ticket gets resolved sooner rather than later. I don’t have as much hope for the pricing scheme

ETA: not sure what to do with the fact the post to which I responded is entirely different now. I suppose my reply will not make much sense. I am glad to hear someone’s helping you, tho.

Well you're not wrong about that. There are things we kind of take for granted and words have meaning.

So, I'm not trying to argue with but I just think I've put too much energy into something that should have been really simple and spending so much money when there's so little concern for my 'little request'. That said, I mean c'mon, if I have a character and I want to say adjust the eye or ears position, that's 1k Crowns for Appearance Change. And if I have 5 characters that I want to change appearance or maybe I want a motif or this or that, it can quickly add up.

They just charge so much for these little things and then its like no one cares. This makes me glad I did not throw in with other MMOs for same reason. At this point I doubt it will get addressed and I'll need to rethink some things going forward. Good luck to anyone looking to gift crates but I think everything will continue to be screwed up until we're free to transfer them ourselves again.

virtus753

Vulkunne wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Vulkunne wrote: »

My status is this and I hope posting this doesn't come off as me breaking forum rules or coming about this sideways because I am genuinely looking to get this resolved, nothing more.

Basically I asked for a total of Crowns to be sent to someone who actually happens to be a friend of mine. He also agreed to give me some in-game gold for them because he's a righteous dude. But what's weird is none of this was mentioned in the original ticket I just said we had an arrangement where I wanted to give him x amount of Crowns. This trigged the TOS message.

And here we are. Now, normally I might close the ticket but there is an issue here. Why do they auto-assume I intend to break TOS because I had some arrangement to give my friend x amount of Crates?

Are you trying to gift crowns themselves or crates? You say two different things here.

Gifting crowns is not within ToS. Gifting crown items - like crown crates - is within ToS, and this system is designed for facilitating gifts of crates specifically.

ETA: If you said “crowns” to Support, they would need to deny you. Can you try clarifying that the request is for crates?

You cannot complete their form without selecting a product. I left very specific instructions on notes. But the form itself cannot be sent in without choosing something so this excuse will not suffice.

I wanted to send them x amount of crates, total however many Crowns. Which I did say this and have clarified this request more times than one person should ever have to do. I'm glad to see a response indicating that my case is getting some attention. What wonderful customer service we have here for these expensive things. In fact at this moment I'm really almost to the point of walking away from the game completely. Instead of getting help, I'm again being accused as being part of the problem. So very tired of this.

I will never understand too, why we have to pay so much just to make minor changes to our characters. Why everything for this game has to be so expensive is so far beyond me. It would also help if ZOS had some kind of actual customer service phone# where we could call and talk to someone like other places do.

Support can definitely ignore drop-downs in favor of reading instructions. That’s how anyone gets missing items addressed, since trying to file a ticket for a missing item requires us to choose that item in our inventory, which is obviously nonsensical and impossible. We are forced to choose an incorrect drop-down option and describe the problem instead.

It may well be the case that you were perfectly clear in your written instructions to Support that you wanted crates, not crowns, and that there was a misunderstanding on their end. That certainly happens. But since you said here in your earlier post that you asked for crowns per se to be sent, it was worth noting that one word makes a difference between being within or outside of ToS, and Support will likely be (perhaps overly) keen to avoid anything that they might even suspect to be a violation of ToS here, given the situation.

At any rate, I hope your ticket gets resolved sooner rather than later. I don’t have as much hope for the pricing scheme

ETA: not sure what to do with the fact the post to which I responded is entirely different now. I suppose my reply will not make much sense. I am glad to hear someone’s helping you, tho.

Well you're not wrong about that. There are things we kind of take for granted and words have meaning.

So, I'm not trying to argue with but I just think I've put too much energy into something that should have been really simple and spending so much money when there's so little concern for my 'little request'. That said, I mean c'mon, if I have a character and I want to say adjust the eye or ears position, that's 1k Crowns for Appearance Change. And if I have 5 characters that I want to change appearance or maybe I want a motif or this or that, it can quickly add up.

They just charge so much for these little things and then its like no one cares. This makes me glad I did not throw in with other MMOs for same reason. At this point I doubt it will get addressed and I'll need to rethink some things going forward. Good luck to anyone looking to gift crates but I think everything will continue to be screwed up until we're free to transfer them ourselves again.

Yeah, I can definitely sympathize with that.

Best of luck to you as well!

Ellanen

I tried actually using the process defined above and got the following response:

---

The Elder Scrolls Online Team response on 07/16/2023 08:24 AM
Greetings,

We regret to inform you that we are unable to process your Crown Crate Gifting request due to it being a Violation of the Terms of Service.

Once You have redeemed Downloadable Content, that Content is not returnable, exchangeable, or refundable for other Content or for cash, or other goods or services unless approved by ZeniMax or required by applicable law and subject to the Statutory Obligations (as defined in Section 1)

If you wish to appeal this decision, or if there is anything else that we can assist you with please let us know in this ticket.

If you would like to provide feedback regarding the Crown Crate Gifting Program you can do so here: Feedback and Suggestions about ESO

Regards,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team


Customer response on 07/13/2023 10:58 PM
ESO_Crown_Crate_Agree=Yes

---

I have NO idea what went wrong, but at this point I'm unable to send crown crates to my friend. No crowns were removed from my account, no crates were sent to me, no crates were sent to my friend. Just this notice.

Arunei

At this point the ToS violation responses are clearly from the auto reply bot. Since so many people seem to be getting this, but a few people claim to have had success with the system, what exactly is going on here? Hopefully it'll get cleared up once they've hashed out stuff with the devs, but considering how long it took them to get this system in place to begin with, I kind of feel like they shouldn't need this long to tell us what the process is. There also should be no misunderstandings on CS' side; how could this have gone live without the full CS team already all being on the same page? Surely there would have been SOME clearly defined mass communication in the form of an email or brief training, at least?

RINEgameYouTube

ZOS_Kevin my friend TAMIR_foxytail who wanted to send me boxes has been ignored for 5 days now. I ask a strong and kind admin help.
My psn RINEgameYouTube
Character Lorienana

MreeBiPolar

I didn't try to do it, but seeing as a lot of customer service seems to be clueless about this "solution" I can suggest including direct reference and the forum link to this thread, specifically stating that it is submitted per ZOS instructions. Maybe even start with that.

Supreme_Atromancer

I'm finding this confusing and ambiguous.

I see there's been an update made on the 19th:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

*This program is not to be used for "gold for Crowns" nor "Crowns for gold. As of right now, it is strictly to facilitate a player using crowns to gift crown crates to another player.

We're explicitly not allowed to "buy crates with gold" with this present solution?

There's no way I'm gonna risk my account if that's the case, but I want to make sure 100% I'm reading this right, because things seem to keep getting reworded, and I don't know where I stand.

reazea

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I'm finding this confusing and ambiguous.

I see there's been an update made on the 19th:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

*This program is not to be used for "gold for Crowns" nor "Crowns for gold. As of right now, it is strictly to facilitate a player using crowns to gift crown crates to another player.

We're explicitly not allowed to "buy crates with gold" with this present solution?

There's no way I'm gonna risk my account if that's the case, but I want to make sure 100% I'm reading this right, because things seem to keep getting reworded, and I don't know where I stand.

Interesting. I didn't see the thread where Kevin posted this though. Can you please link us to the post?

Necrotech_Master

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I'm finding this confusing and ambiguous.

I see there's been an update made on the 19th:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

*This program is not to be used for "gold for Crowns" nor "Crowns for gold. As of right now, it is strictly to facilitate a player using crowns to gift crown crates to another player.

We're explicitly not allowed to "buy crates with gold" with this present solution?

There's no way I'm gonna risk my account if that's the case, but I want to make sure 100% I'm reading this right, because things seem to keep getting reworded, and I don't know where I stand.

i think if you mention that the player is sending you gold for the gift that might trigger their ToS message lol

if you just said "i want to gift X amount of crown crates to Y player" without mentioning gold at all, it might go through

the "crown to gold trade" is still something thats "unofficially" approved by zos and they have tended to just look the other way on it, but on an official scale (like with this convoluted crate gifting process using support), its still "officially" frowned upon

this is why they really should just implement an official crown/gold trading system, someone would still have to buy crowns to be able to trade them so zos wouldnt be losing anything on the deal, and many many many other games already have similar methods to do this

ZOS_Kevin

reazea wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I'm finding this confusing and ambiguous.

I see there's been an update made on the 19th:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

*This program is not to be used for "gold for Crowns" nor "Crowns for gold. As of right now, it is strictly to facilitate a player using crowns to gift crown crates to another player.

We're explicitly not allowed to "buy crates with gold" with this present solution?

There's no way I'm gonna risk my account if that's the case, but I want to make sure 100% I'm reading this right, because things seem to keep getting reworded, and I don't know where I stand.

Interesting. I didn't see the thread where Kevin posted this though. Can you please link us to the post?

We updated the original post with this information. However, someone else asked earlier in the thread and we clarified there as well.

CMz

This is a total fail and so disappointing on so many levels. All these players, now including me, are attempting to gift crown CRATES to friends from accounts active since the game launched with no violations or bans and we are accused of attempting to exchange crowns for gold. Crowns for gold - wow - how do these service reps interpret a request to gift CRATES to a longstanding friend submitted on the forms ZOS created for this exact purpose, completed exactly as required and submitted as instructed - and we get some kind of automated response that is completely unrelated to our original request or their own programs stated purpose??? And automatically accusing us of trying to violate the terms of service???

Disappointing, insulting and further nerfing any enthusiasm i have left for this company - however much i enjoy playing the games.

Jaimeh

With all this time the crate gifting system being busted, you'd think people on their team would be brought up to date for the workaround, which doesn't seem to be the case at all. Epic fail doesn't begin to cover it.

valenwood_vegan

Yeah I wouldn't be comfortable using this new system. It seems like the rules and requirements are rather unclear and subject to change at any time, and it seems like customer service isn't all on the same page about how it all works.

I certainly won't take the risk of being accused of attempting to violate the ToS just for using the system that we've been told to use. Or the risk of crowns being deducted but the gift not being delivered properly and not knowing who or what is to blame.

I appreciate Kevin trying to keep us informed throughout this whole process, but I think it's about time someone in ZoS management addressed us with clear information about this whole crate gifting debacle and if/when we can expect a real solution. (I can dream, right?).

CMz

Agree now and sorry i tried. Shout out and thanks to Kevin and the customer service leads who are trying to help find a solution but it appears the internal systems are just not aligned. This is only going to anger and disappoint more players than it helps I'm afraid. Better maybe to just step back, stop trying to implement a clearly broken program and focus on a long term solution. Nothing is served by just making everyone angry and frustrated.

Thanks @ZOS_Kevin and team for trying.

Kiyakotari

Well, after five days, my guildmate got another response from CS. It was the TOS violation reply, and their crowns seem to have been returned to them. So at least that part was good, but this is ridiculous at this point. So much for temporary solution to the crate gifting issue.

Zalathorm

Update on my friends ticket who was trying to send me crates.

It is truly mind boggling!

1. Friend fills out the form on Thursday of last week when the site goes live, following the instructions in this thread
2. Terms of service violation was sent back, denying the request to send crates.
3. Friend appeals the decision by asking what is going on and explaining that he followed the process as directed (hoping an actual human might get involved)
4. ZOS replies with a link TO THIS VERY THREAD.

Edit: After re-reading the OP, I see now the statement that this program cant be used if the gifter will receive gold in return. The only way they could know that is if they are reading the chat history between players for every request. This is a colossal waste of human resources. ZOS has supported this system in the past. Why is it a problem that my actual in game friend will get gold from me in return? Additionally, I wonder how many people bought crowns to gift their friends crates BEFORE zos_Kevin edited the OP to include the detail that gold cant be exchanged. I certainly hope customer support will refund purchases of crowns when people may have bought them under false pretenses, before that detail was added.

Additionally, how can you call this a terms of service violation when crowns for gold is one of the biggest markets in the game and exists currently every day in the gifting of non crate related items.

Whaaaaaaat

Arunei

@Supreme_Atromance @Zalathorm
I think that thing with "this system isn't meant for gold for Crates/Crates for gold" in the OP now was in response to someone asking whether those trades would be facilitated, as in would CS also take X amount of gold from Y player's account to put in Z player's account in exchange for those Crates. Kevin has said they won't be doing that. I would ASSUME people could still mail/trade people the Gold they intend to pay, though; there should be no issue with people still selling or buying Crates, just that CS can't take the Gold from the person buying and give it to the person selling. Is this the case @ZOS_Kevin, or are people actually really not allowed to get or give Gold in exchange for the Crates sent through this system? Is it ONLY for people giving Crates 'for free' so to speak?

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the "crown to gold trade" is still something thats "unofficially" approved by zos and they have tended to just look the other way on it, but on an official scale (like with this convoluted crate gifting process using support), its still "officially" frowned upon

this is why they really should just implement an official crown/gold trading system, someone would still have to buy crowns to be able to trade them so zos wouldnt be losing anything on the deal, and many many many other games already have similar methods to do this

It's not "frowned upon" or "unofficially" approved for people to sell or buy Crown items for Gold. Just because there's no system in place for it like there is trading or selling doesn't make it unofficial. We've been told in the past that selling Crown items for Gold is 100% allowed, and since we've been told that by a Community Manager (I think it was Gina, might have been Jessica), that means it's official that we're allowed to do so. You're allowed to trade in-game currencies for in-game items as much as you want. What you CAN'T do is trade in-game items or currencies for irl money.

Zalathorm

Arunei wrote: »

@Supreme_Atromance @Zalathorm
I think that thing with "this system isn't meant for gold for Crates/Crates for gold" in the OP now was in response to someone asking whether those trades would be facilitated, as in would CS also take X amount of gold from Y player's account to put in Z player's account in exchange for those Crates. Kevin has said they won't be doing that. I would ASSUME people could still mail/trade people the Gold they intend to pay, though; there should be no issue with people still selling or buying Crates, just that CS can't take the Gold from the person buying and give it to the person selling. Is this the case @ZOS_Kevin, or are people actually really not allowed to get or give Gold in exchange for the Crates sent through this system? Is it ONLY for people giving Crates 'for free' so to speak?

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the "crown to gold trade" is still something thats "unofficially" approved by zos and they have tended to just look the other way on it, but on an official scale (like with this convoluted crate gifting process using support), its still "officially" frowned upon

this is why they really should just implement an official crown/gold trading system, someone would still have to buy crowns to be able to trade them so zos wouldnt be losing anything on the deal, and many many many other games already have similar methods to do this

It's not "frowned upon" or "unofficially" approved for people to sell or buy Crown items for Gold. Just because there's no system in place for it like there is trading or selling doesn't make it unofficial. We've been told in the past that selling Crown items for Gold is 100% allowed, and since we've been told that by a Community Manager (I think it was Gina, might have been Jessica), that means it's official that we're allowed to do so. You're allowed to trade in-game currencies for in-game items as much as you want. What you CAN'T do is trade in-game items or currencies for irl money.

No, we never asked CS to facilitate a gold exchange. The form was simply filled out as directed to send crates to a friend.

The only way ZOS knew gold was in the picture was to read in game DMs between myself and my friend.

Vulkunne

Zalathorm wrote: »

Arunei wrote: »

@Supreme_Atromance @Zalathorm
I think that thing with "this system isn't meant for gold for Crates/Crates for gold" in the OP now was in response to someone asking whether those trades would be facilitated, as in would CS also take X amount of gold from Y player's account to put in Z player's account in exchange for those Crates. Kevin has said they won't be doing that. I would ASSUME people could still mail/trade people the Gold they intend to pay, though; there should be no issue with people still selling or buying Crates, just that CS can't take the Gold from the person buying and give it to the person selling. Is this the case @ZOS_Kevin, or are people actually really not allowed to get or give Gold in exchange for the Crates sent through this system? Is it ONLY for people giving Crates 'for free' so to speak?

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the "crown to gold trade" is still something thats "unofficially" approved by zos and they have tended to just look the other way on it, but on an official scale (like with this convoluted crate gifting process using support), its still "officially" frowned upon

this is why they really should just implement an official crown/gold trading system, someone would still have to buy crowns to be able to trade them so zos wouldnt be losing anything on the deal, and many many many other games already have similar methods to do this

It's not "frowned upon" or "unofficially" approved for people to sell or buy Crown items for Gold. Just because there's no system in place for it like there is trading or selling doesn't make it unofficial. We've been told in the past that selling Crown items for Gold is 100% allowed, and since we've been told that by a Community Manager (I think it was Gina, might have been Jessica), that means it's official that we're allowed to do so. You're allowed to trade in-game currencies for in-game items as much as you want. What you CAN'T do is trade in-game items or currencies for irl money.

No, we never asked CS to facilitate a gold exchange. The form was simply filled out as directed to send crates to a friend.

The only way ZOS knew gold was in the picture was to read in game DMs between myself and my friend.

None of this makes any sense to me either. Here are the original discussions (which I actually re-read before opening my ticket):

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5205829/#Comment_5205829
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5208334/#Comment_5208334

The_one_i_seek

all simple, just do not chat about gold exchange, also trade gold only when crates will be received, this way Zenimax will not decline the ticket

CMz

Not even remotely that simple. In my case, refused for violating the TOS and there was never a discussion in any forum at any time about gold as there was not going to be any gold exchanged. It was - gasp! - a gift

RINEgameYouTube

friends tell me how long it takes for support to answer you about this. I sit for 6 days and listen to silence😊😊😊

DragonRacer

I really, really wish I could be surprised by any of this.

Darzaka

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

We have brought this issue to the attention of our teams. However, the current focus is on currently available crown crates. If this changes, we'll provide an update. We know this isn't the answer everyone who as been waiting was hoping for, but hopefully this provides some clarity for now.

I'm so hurt that you didn't ping me for this >.>

In all reality, thank you for both discussing it and sharing that you're discussing it. It answers a question I've been asking for ~3.5 months now.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

...I would estimate that 90% of the items I purchase from other palyers is crown crates. These are not separate things. There is a lot of overlap. Could you please pass on that information, as I'm very interested in that functionality as a crown buyer. This is the vast majority of my crown "gifts," and the way I have obtained many of my crate items.

Many players like me are so invested in an answer because of this quote; I am in a similar boat out of necessity. I don't think I've paid money for this game in years (aside from ESO+). But I know I'm siphoning millions of gold a day into having other people buy crowns in my stead.

Having previous crown items pop up and disappear can be nerve-wracking for crown buyers who use this purchasing model. I've had my eye on items that were launched before I started playing and still have yet to return and the idea of missing them would rob me of no small amount of joy when playing this game.

For many buyers who use this model, it's not a question of "Can I afford it?" It's a question of "Am I going to miss it? And wait years for its return?"

VaranisArano

Arunei wrote: »

Supreme_Atromance Zalathorm
I think that thing with "this system isn't meant for gold for Crates/Crates for gold" in the OP now was in response to someone asking whether those trades would be facilitated, as in would CS also take X amount of gold from Y player's account to put in Z player's account in exchange for those Crates. Kevin has said they won't be doing that. I would ASSUME people could still mail/trade people the Gold they intend to pay, though; there should be no issue with people still selling or buying Crates, just that CS can't take the Gold from the person buying and give it to the person selling. Is this the case ZOS_Kevin, or are people actually really not allowed to get or give Gold in exchange for the Crates sent through this system? Is it ONLY for people giving Crates 'for free' so to speak?

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the "crown to gold trade" is still something thats "unofficially" approved by zos and they have tended to just look the other way on it, but on an official scale (like with this convoluted crate gifting process using support), its still "officially" frowned upon

this is why they really should just implement an official crown/gold trading system, someone would still have to buy crowns to be able to trade them so zos wouldnt be losing anything on the deal, and many many many other games already have similar methods to do this

It's not "frowned upon" or "unofficially" approved for people to sell or buy Crown items for Gold. Just because there's no system in place for it like there is trading or selling doesn't make it unofficial. We've been told in the past that selling Crown items for Gold is 100% allowed, and since we've been told that by a Community Manager (I think it was Gina, might have been Jessica), that means it's official that we're allowed to do so. You're allowed to trade in-game currencies for in-game items as much as you want. What you CAN'T do is trade in-game items or currencies for irl money.

Gina Bruno, FYI. (I knew bookmarking those links would come in handy, LOL.)

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5205829/#Comment_5205829
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5208334/#Comment_5208334

To clarify, trading an in-game item for other in-game items is allowed; trading in-game items for real-world money or other out-of-game items is strictly prohibited.

A Crown Store item is considered an in-game item.

.......................

I can understand why Support doesn't want to be doing a "trade" where they gift the Crates to one person and send the gold to the other person.

Where I'm confused is why Support isn't just functionally doing what gifts did before: send the gifted Crates as requested, and let the players hash out the traded gold between them. (We know they used to be able to do this just fine with gifting Houses and briefly when people were able to gift Crown Crate items before that got shut down due to abuse.)

And on a broader scale, I remain confused why ZOS never implemented an actual trading interface for Gifts for Gold. It would seem to me a safer and less intensive system to support. Maybe it's a legal thing of which I'm ignorant? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

CMz

It is worth bearing in mind that part of the player push for resolution not really discussed on this thread is the increased significance of Gems as a currency. ZOS has made some - no, many - very attractive items Gem only (not counting endeavors which are largely for those with enough playing time to farm them) and the primary sources for those Gems are Crates - I have spoken with a number of players in my guilds who only buy the crates for gems - when they get enough gems for the item (mount, polymorph, etc) then they stop buying crates. Very few are buying crates for yet another tattoo or potion.. ZOS monetization strategy is a large factor driving the ongoing pressure on resolving these roadblocks to the crown economy.

So come on ZOS - we are screaming to give you our irl money. Work with us here. You created a crown crate gifting process - let us use it and stop with the automated TOS violation threats. Please....

Fontecc

I just had 4 requests ranging from 1xcrate to 4x crates pack and they all got denied for violation of the Terms of Service. No history of crown selling on my account, it was all meant for guildies that won several contests and raffles while the crown store system was down. I expected better after so much time waiting.

Moving forward i will definitely NOT include any crown crates in prize pools anymore. It's just not worth the hassle.
But now I've compromised with my guildmates so we'll see how long it takes to get this fixed (after having already waited MONTHS).

CMz

I have an update and it may be good news for all of us legitimately trying to gift crown crates - I had sent in an appeal for the initial TOS Violation rejection of my crate gift request and after review by live team members, it was approved. It leads me to believe the initial rejection was automated and probably surprised the customer service team as much as it surprised those of us receiving it. If you have received the initial rejection note and still want to gift crates then complete the appeal process. it looks like they are working through the appeals manually.

Thank you @ZOS_Kevin and the team!