A lot of gamers have a fear of going digital because they believe it is not possible to get a refund for a recently purchased game that they do not enjoy, or if it fails to work properly on their system. This was the case in the past, but things have changed as Steam has long allowed its users to request refunds.
How to return a Steam game and get a refund?
This feature is important because since many games do not give potential buyers the option of playing a demo, a person can purchase a game with surety that if they do not like it, then it wouldn’t be hard to recoup their losses.
- Here is when you request a refund successfully
- How to get your refund for games
Let us discuss this in more detail.
1] Here is when you request a refund successfully
Note that there are a few requirements for demanding a refund for your game, and you must follow these rules or else your bid will fail. OK, so the first thing is to make sure the game was purchased within 14-days. The second is to make sure the game was played for less than two hours.
Users who meet the above requirements will find little problems with getting a refund. However, if you do not fully meet the requirements, Valve will look into your account and determine if you should be refunded regardless. Going this route is not a safe bet, therefore, we suggest avoiding at all cost.
We should point out that it is not possible to refund games purchased outside of Steam that was added to the platform. If you want a refund, then go on ahead and request it via the original retailer and hope they have a policy for that.
Many gamers tend to purchase Steam keys from third-party retailers due to added savings. However, despite the fact that these keys are tied to Steam, that doesn’t mean you can go through the Steam process to get your money back, it just won’t work.
Here’s where things get interesting. You see, if you’re the type of person who refunds a lot of games in a short span of time, Valve may view your actions as abuse, and from there, refuse to consider refund requests in the future.
Since the company does not specify what it views as abuse, we recommend users to be careful and try to keep themselves in the right as best as possible.
Finally, if you buy a game today for $60, but in the next few days the game goes on sale for a lower price, you can ask for a refund. However, if the game was not played for less than two hours, then collecting that refund would be more difficult.
Read: How to stop Steam launching automatically after Windows 10 boot.
2] How to get your refund for games
When it comes down to going through the process of having your money returned to you, we suggest opening the Steam client then navigate directly to the Help link at the top, and then select Steam Support.
Under the section that says Recent Products, please select the game you want to get rid of. Bear in mind that Recent Products will only show titles you’ve recently played.
Alternatively, one could go to the Purchases section to view all the titles under your belt that were bought in the last 6 months.
After finding the game, select it, then click on I would like a refund > I’d like to request a refund.
Steam will now check if you are eligible for a return of cash.
If this is the case, choose why you want to collect a refund, then click on the button that says Submit Request.
An email will be sent to you confirming the request. If the request has been granted, then another email will appear confirming the return of your money.
Now read: How to pin Steam games to Taskbar or Desktop.
