A rejected code feels like one problem. It is actually three, and they have almost nothing in common except the moment they happen.
The error message tells you which one you have, so read it before doing anything else — including before writing to us. The wrong assumption here costs people money, because one of the three is fixable by us and one of them is not fixable by anyone.
Which error are you looking at?
| What the brand's site says | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| "not valid in your region", "cannot be redeemed in your country", or the currency is wrong | Region mismatch. The code is fine; it belongs to a different store than your account. |
| "already redeemed", "already used" | Either genuinely redeemed, or you are looking at the wrong field. Occasionally a real supply fault. |
| "invalid code", "code not recognised" | Nearly always a typing or copy error. Sometimes a genuinely faulty code. |
Work through the section that matches. Skipping to "the code is broken" is the most common wrong turn.
"Not valid in your region"
This is the most frequent rejection, and the hardest news: the code is not faulty, and it will work perfectly — on an account in the region it was issued for.
Every brand ties its cards to a market, but each does it differently:
- PlayStation and Nintendo tie it to the account's country, and neither lets you change that country freely — Nintendo effectively fixes it permanently once the account holds a balance.
- Steam matches the currency your store shows, not your country.
- Netflix matches the currency your account is billed in, which means a US card works for someone outside the US whose billing is in dollars.
- Amazon ties the claim code to one marketplace — a
.comcode will not redeem on.co.ukor.com.tr. - Razer Gold checks twice: your Razer account's region, and then whether that region can pay for the game you are trying to buy.
Before you conclude anything, confirm which region your account actually is. Each guide on this site has the exact check for its brand — the Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo and Netflix pages each walk through it in a couple of clicks.
Can we refund it? Once a code has been revealed, no — a wrong-region purchase after delivery sits in the "we can't refund" column of the refund policy, for the same reason a shop cannot take back a code you have already seen. This is why the region is printed on every product page above the buy button, and why it is worth thirty seconds before paying rather than after.
What you can do: the code keeps its value. It redeems on any account set to that region, so it can be used later, or given to someone whose account matches.
"Already redeemed"
Check these in order, because two of them are not what they look like:
- Did you redeem it and forget? Check the balance on the account you tried it on. A code redeemed successfully often produces this error on a second attempt, because it worked the first time.
- Are you in the right field? Several storefronts have a separate box for gift cards and for promotional codes, and pasting into the wrong one can produce a confusing rejection.
- Did the code go anywhere else? If it was pasted into a chat, a screenshot, or a "code checker" site, treat it as spent. Anyone who sees a gift-card code can redeem it, instantly and irreversibly — those checker sites exist for exactly that reason.
If none of those apply, this is a supply fault and we deal with it. Go to the last section.
"Invalid code"
Usually the code never made it across intact.
- Copy and paste it — never retype it. Gift-card character sets contain shapes that are easy to confuse by eye: 0 and O, 1 and I and l, 5 and S, 8 and B.
- Check for a trailing space at the end of the paste. It is invisible and it fails the check.
- Include or exclude dashes as the field expects. Some fields want the groups exactly as shown; others reject the dashes.
- Make sure you are on the brand's own redemption page, not a search result that looked like one. Fake redemption pages exist to harvest working codes, and pasting into one is how a valid code becomes an "already redeemed" one a minute later.
Still rejected after a clean paste? Then it is worth reporting.
When it really is faulty — what to send us
We refund a code that the issuing brand rejects when our check confirms it was never validly usable and it has not been redeemed. That is a real category and we do not argue about it.
To make it quick, send these three things together:
- Your order number
- The exact error text the brand's site showed — the wording matters, because it is what tells us which of the three problems this is
- Which account region you tried to redeem on
A screenshot of the error covers points 2 and 3 in one go. What we do not need is the code itself in your first message.
We check the code against the supplier, and if it was never usable, the refund policy covers it.
The one thing worth doing before you ever buy
Check your account's region on the product page, before paying.
Every rejection in the first section of this page — the largest one, the one nobody can undo — is prevented by that single check. It is the reason each product page names the region above the price rather than burying it in the terms.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change my account region so the code works?
Sometimes, at a cost. Google Play allows a country change roughly once a year and the old balance does not survive it. Apple requires spending the balance to zero and waiting out a cool-down. PlayStation does not allow it at all. Nintendo effectively fixes it once the account holds funds. Buying the card that matches your account is always cheaper than moving your account to match a card.
The code worked but the balance hasn't appeared.
Fully close and reopen the app or client. Several storefronts cache the balance and show the old figure until the session restarts.
Someone offered to "check if my code is still valid".
They are asking you to hand them a working code. Any site or person offering this takes the balance the moment you paste it. There is no legitimate third-party code checker.
I bought the wrong region by mistake. Is it wasted?
No — it is just not usable on your account. The value stays on the code and it redeems normally on any account in the region it was issued for.
How long do you take to look at a faulty code?
We check with the supplier and come back to you. Sending the exact error text with the first message is what makes that one round trip instead of three.
