Tech

How to return and refund games on Steam

Just after Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, and with great Christmas offers like those on Steam just around the corner, we are undoubtedly facing a few weeks in which video game purchases will not be lacking. However, whether from others or even to ourselves, many times these gifts are not usually successful.

However, unlike other products or stores, one of the great advantages of this gaming platform is that not only can we unseal the game (mainly because of its intangible and digital format), but we can also try and enjoy these games before return them with the only requirements of do not exceed two hours of use or 14 days from purchase. In this way, we will have enough time to see if we really like them or not before deciding whether to return them or not.

That is why we want to recover this little practical in which we will explain, step by step, the entire process that you must follow if you finally opt for the return and want to get your money back.

How to request a return and refund of a game on Steam

Although we can access both from the Support website and through the Steam client, the process is somewhat simpler and more intuitive through the desktop application. From here, we will only have to search for the game in question and select the option to “Medium” at the top to access the list of options to indicate the type of problem or reason for the return.

However, in order to achieve the reimbursement, only the following options will be valid:

  • Now it is available cheaper
  • Technical or gaming problem
  • That’s not what I expected

And is that if we select another of the available options, the Steam message will change, informing us that the refund cannot be made and offering us the option of contacting another of the parties involved such as the distributor or the developer.

Clicking on any of the three valid options mentioned above will take you to a submenu asking you more questions. For the purposes of this guide, in our case I have selected that the game «Not what I expected», which led us to a second menu where we could directly choose the refund option. However, depending on the options that we select during these steps, we may end up seeing different alternatives and additional questions during the process.

Finally, although Steam will recommend other contact options in the first instance to solve our problems with the game, we could finally opt for a full refund and return by clicking on “I would like to request a refund”.

In addition, you can choose where the refund amount will go, being able to choose original payment method or Steam Wallet digital wallet. And if our intention is to spend money on Steam again, it would be best to opt for this second option, since it does not involve other parties and is much faster.

Thus, as long as we comply with everything previously established, we should receive the refund within one week of the request. Additionally, mention that in the case of games that we receive directly as a gift through Steam, the monetary value will be returned to the person who made the purchase, and not to our account.

Steam will not issue a return or refund if …

Unfortunately, even though we’ve tried this on occasion, it appears that Steam takes the requirements of 2 hours of game time or 14 days from purchase, without ever having been able to receive a refund in these cases.

Also, another thing to remember is that the games you got through promotional keysSuch as those offered by developers in some of their giveaways or free trials, these are not eligible for reimbursement.

Last but not least, while Steam does not offer any kind of limitation on the number of refund requests, if we make a large number of returns in a short period of time (exceeding 10 requests in the same week), we could receive a notice from the platform informing us that the fact that we are abusing this option will be considered, and that in case of incurring in a greater number of requests, restrictions could be imposed on us on the account.

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