You can ask for a return on almost everything you buy on Steam, for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn’t have the right hardware, or you got the wrong game, or you played it for an hour and decided you didn’t like it.
It makes no difference. Valve will give a refund for any reason if the request is made through help.steampowered.com within the required return time and the game has been played for less than two hours.
There are more details below, but even if you don’t fit the refund rules, you can still ask for a refund and we’ll look into it. In some places, consumers may have more rights to get their money back if a game is broken.
Within a week of being approved, you will get a full return on what you bought. You will get the money back in your Steam Wallet or through the same way of payment you used to buy the game.
If, for some reason, Steam can’t give you a return through the way you first paid, the full amount will be put back into your Steam Wallet. (Some of the ways you can pay for things on Steam in your country might not let you get a return back to the way you paid.
Steam’s Refund Policy Requirements
Before you ask for a return on Steam, there are a few things to keep in mind. Theoretically, you could request any Steam game you’ve bought as long as you got it within the last 14 days and haven’t played it for more than two hours.
So there’s no point in trying to get a refund for games you bought a few years ago but never played. They will always be in your library.
But Steam says that, based on the reason, it will still look at some requests even if they don’t meet those requirements.
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Refund Request with Care
Even though Valve is pretty easygoing about Steam returns, you could still be turned down for a game refund if the company thinks you are abusing the system.
So don’t keep asking for refunds or try to use the system to play games quickly and then ask for a return. Then, you might lose the right to ask for a return, and you won’t be able to do it again.
Can DLC And In-Game Items Be Returned?
You can also get your money back for things like downloadable material and in-game items, as well as Steam games. Like with games, you have 14 days after buying DLC to ask for a return as long as you haven’t played the game it goes with for more than two hours.
There are some cases to this rule, like if the DLC completely changes the game in a way that can’t be undone.
For the material inside of games, the rules are a little bit different. If it’s a Valve game, you usually have 48 hours to ask for a return on in-game purchases as long as you haven’t changed, used, or given away what you bought.
Games made by different people might be different.
What if You’re Kicked Off?
Valve has a strict rule that banned players can’t get their money back.
If your account or a game has been banned by the Valve Anti-Cheat system (VAC), you won’t be able to get a refund on that game.
Can You Get Your Money Back for The Games That Were Given to You?
You can also return a game that was given to you through Steam. First, you have to meet the same requirements, which are that you haven’t played it for more than two hours and it hasn’t been in your account for more than 14 days. If you meet these requirements, you can ask for a return.
When the refund is handled, the money will go back to your friend’s account if you ask for a refund on a game they bought for you.
What About Games That Are on Sale?
The fact that Steam’s return policy works during sales is another good thing about it. So, if you bought a game before a Steam sale without knowing it was coming, and now it’s on sale for a lot less, don’t worry, you can still get your money back.
If you meet the normal standards, Valve says that you can get a return for the full price of the game you bought and then buy it again at a lower price.
How To Get Your Money Back for A Steam Game?
You only need to do a few different things to get a return for a Steam game:
- Open up Steam and click the help menu on the top left of the program
- Click on Steam Support
- Find the game you want to refund under “recent products” or click on “games and applications” to see more games
- Click on the game you’d like to get a refund on
- Then select the reason you want a refund
- Choose how you’d like a refund
- Select either to refund into your Steam wallet or directly to the original payment method you used
When you want to return a game, there are a few different reasons you can choose from.
These include:
- Gameplay or technical issues
- DLC or bonus content is missing
- I’m having trouble with my retail CD key
- It’s not what I expected
- I purchased this by accident
- I want to permanently remove this game from my account
People often think the most likely reasons to ask for and get a refund are problems with how the game works or how it works, buying it by chance, or saying “It’s not what I expected.”
If you’ve chosen one of the reasons and have the chance to explain why you want a refund, we suggest that you do so. Especially if the game has bugs or other problems that might be real problems that other people are also having.
Don’t worry if you’re not on the PC where Steam is loaded. You can still ask for a refund in another way. Just go to the Steam Support site, sign in, and then do the same things.
Once you’ve sent in the request, there’s nothing left to do but wait. Your request will need to be checked, and Valve says the approval process can take up to seven days. When it’s done, you should get an email.
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Can You Get Your Money Back for Games You Got Somewhere Else?
You may be thinking if you can get your money back for games you bought on another site. Users can enter codes for games they bought elsewhere to add them to their Steam collections.
In the past, this was used for CD/DVD keys when you wanted to add a real game to Steam. In recent years, though, you can buy games from sites like Green Man Gaming, Humble Bundle, and others.
Then, you can trade these in on Steam.
This can be a good way to save money on games if the keys or packages are on sale or the price is low. But can you get your money back for these kinds of Steam purchases?
Short answer: no. If you want a return, you’ll have to get in touch with the site where you bought the key.