Steam Can You Download a Game Again
Everything you need to know about Steam refunds, explained
When Valve introduced the Steam refund system back in 2015, it promised to make buying digital games as worry-costless an experience every bit purchasing any concrete product. Steam refunds would let you buy with confidence: if a game didn't work, wasn't as advertised, or was just patently bad, y'all could get your money back quickly and painlessly without having to trade a novel'south worth of emails with customer support.
Fast forward two years, and Steam refunds accept struggled to deliver on that promise. Much of the refund process is poorly-explained or subconscious from the average Steam user completely, making information technology tough to understand why the organization works the way it does. Even Valve's own Steam refund FAQ offers just the nigh basic of explanations as to what you can and can't refund, neglecting a number of of import questions Steam users deserve the answers to.
That's why nosotros've put together this Steam refund primer: an Advanced FAQ, if you volition. It addresses the most disruptive aspects of Steam'south refund system, demystifying them using data sourced from Valve'due south fragmented FAQ, official Steam Support forum responses, and discussions we've had with game developers. With this primer in mitt, your next Steam refund should become a lot more smoothly.
How Steam refunds work, in short:
- Go to the Steam back up page and click "Purchases," then click the game you'd like to refund.
- Select "I would like a refund," and and then "I'd similar to request a refund." You lot can then choose your Steam Wallet or the payment method y'all'd similar to receive your refund through.
- If it's inside fourteen days of purchase and you've played for less than 2 hours, the refund request is automatically approved.
- Within a week, your purchase will be refunded.
Is it possible to request for a game outside the fourteen-day/ii-hour window?
Yes, and Valve will consider it on a case-by-instance basis. If the refund is well exterior the 14-24-hour interval limit, even so, it will be rejected.
Is there a limit to how many games you tin refund?
No. Y'all tin can request as many refunds equally you want through Steam, just if Valve believes you're abusing the system, it can revoke your right to request futurity refunds.
If your refund is refused, can you claiming the decision?
Yes. If you feel your refund was unfairly refused, you can issue another request and it'll be reconsidered by a different Valve employee. A fresh set of optics may be plenty to get it approved.
How long does it take for the coin to show upward after a refund has been approved?
Most refunds are processed within seven days of approval, but refunds for purchases made using international payment methods tin can accept longer. Steam publishes some public statistics for refunds.
How much of the refund process is automated?
According to Valve, any refund made within 14 days of purchase for a game with less than two hours of playtime will be automatically canonical. If you've requested a number of refunds recently, or your refunds falls outside of the fourteen-day/two-hour window, it won't be automatically approved and will instead be manually reviewed by a Valve employee.
How does the financial side of refunds piece of work for Valve and the programmer?
When you buy a game on Steam, the coin doesn't go straight to the developer. Valve doesn't distribute sales revenue to developers until the end of the calendar calendar month after the sales have been made, meaning devs don't come across coin from January'south sales until the end of Feb. Because the Steam refund window is typically only 14 days, developers technically don't lose money from refunds—they simply never see the sale in the first place.
Tin can you become a alert for refunding likewise many games?
Yes. If you lot issue multiple refund requests within a brusk catamenia of time, Valve will transport you a alarm along with your refund ticket stating that the refund system is not to exist used as a manner of demoing games. While there is no official number on how many games you can refund before receiving the warning, it seems to trigger after issuing effectually 5 refunds within six months. The standard warning message is as follows:
"You lot've requested a bunch of refunds recently. Please proceed in mind that refunds are not a method for trying out games. If nosotros think the refund system is existence misused nosotros'll pass up to grant hereafter refunds."
Can people farm games for achievements/cards and then refund them?
This was a problem when Steam refunds were first rolled out, but Valve subsequently updated the Steam Trading Card system in two key ways to minimize abuse. The first change prevents cards from dropping until after you've put at least 2 hours into a game, past which fourth dimension you lot're no longer eligible for an automatic refund. This restriction initially applied to all Steam users, but Valve has since limited it to new accounts and accounts that take made a refund request inside the final few months.
The second change Valve made to the trading card system stops games from dropping cards the moment they're released on Steam. Instead, a game must accrue a certain number of owners and players before its cards will start dropping. This threshold, what Valve calls its 'confidence metric', varies from game to game, and is intended to stem the tide of 'imitation' games released purely to make money from farming trading cards. For less-popular games, this can mean cards won't start dropping until the fourteen-24-hour interval refund window has passed.
It's also worth noting that while you lot tin can claim a refund outside the two-60 minutes/xiv-day refund window, Valve may notice if you corruption this to farm cards and foreclose you from requesting refunds in the future.
Achievements, meanwhile, accept no such farming restrictions, and can be earned freely during the 2-hour refund window without issue.
How has Steam'due south new gifting system changed the way refunds work?
Since the start of May 2017, gifting games on Steam works a little differently. Where gifts used to exist as items in your inventory, they must now be sent or scheduled to i of your Steam friends at the time of buy. If a friend declines your gift, the buy volition exist refunded instead of the game actualization in your inventory. Other than that, refunding gifts works much the aforementioned as before.
Can yous refund a gift you purchased for someone else?
Aye, provided the gift has not nevertheless been redeemed by the person you bought information technology for.
Can you refund a gift that's already been redeemed?
Yes, but the refund asking will demand to be initiated by the gift recipient. The request will also need to be fabricated within 14 days of you purchasing the gift, and the recipient can't have played the game for more two hours. Once the recipient has initiated the refund request on their end, you'll exist able to submit your own request as normal.
If yous buy multiple games in a single transaction, tin you refund just one of them?
Yes, but it's a decidedly confusing process. Bear in mind this only applies when yous buy multiple individual games in a unmarried transaction, non when yous purchase multiple games as part of a bundle.
Get-go, you lot'll demand to be refunding the buy to your Steam Wallet—if you want to refund to your credit card or another external payment method, you'll need to refund the whole transaction or naught at all. And then you'll need to ignore the fact that Steam will listing every game from the transaction in your refund request and instead merely check the total value of the refund. This should be equal to the sum of just the games yous selected to refund. One time canonical, only those games volition be removed from your library and your Steam wallet will exist credited with their purchase price. It's a confusing process, merely information technology does work.
Can you refund bundles?
Yep, so long equally the cumulative playtime on all games within the bundle is less than two hours. Certain bundles that include not-refundable DLC may not be eligible for a refund, and Steam will let you know this when yous first buy the package.
Can you refund a single game from a bundle?
No. Only complete bundles tin can be refunded.
If a game goes on sale after your purchased it, can you refund and rebuy it at the cheaper price?
Yeah, although y'all may take to pay the cheaper price out-of-pocket since refunds tin can take upwards to 7 days to process.
Can I refund Dota 2 and get dorsum all the hours I spent farming creeps?
No. Every hour you've put into Dota 2 is legally the belongings of Valve and may or may non be used against you in the future for the purpose of selling hats.
Only kidding.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-refunds/
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