by Ratboy on Jan 15, 2005
Blizzard posts their stance on the sales of Authentication CD's:
The sale of a key separate from physical packaging severs its ties to a real-world product. In light of the problems faced by those who have purchased keys online, we recommend against the purchase of keys on auction sites or from non-retail resellers. Often, such keys are being resold after they have already been used to create an account, leaving the buyer with little but a string of alphanumeric characters and no recourse but to contact the seller. For related reasons, we recommend against purchasing game packages that may have been opened or resealed, as many of those sold online have.
Though we do not sell keys directly to customers, we do sell the game in its entirety in our company store. You can check http://www.blizzard.com/market.shtml for current availability.