If I Got a Steam Game and Downloaded Then Refunded Do I Have to Download It Again?
Everything you demand to know about Steam refunds, explained
When Valve introduced the Steam refund arrangement back in 2015, it promised to make ownership digital games as worry-free an experience every bit purchasing any physical product. Steam refunds would allow you buy with confidence: if a game didn't work, wasn't as advertised, or was but obviously bad, you could get your coin back speedily and painlessly without having to trade a novel's worth of emails with client support.
Fast frontward 2 years, and Steam refunds accept struggled to evangelize on that promise. Much of the refund process is poorly-explained or hidden from the average Steam user completely, making information technology tough to empathize why the system works the way it does. Even Valve's own Steam refund FAQ offers merely the most basic of explanations equally to what you tin can and can't refund, neglecting a number of important questions Steam users deserve the answers to.
That's why we've put together this Steam refund primer: an Advanced FAQ, if you volition. It addresses the about confusing aspects of Steam's refund system, demystifying them using information sourced from Valve'southward fragmented FAQ, official Steam Support forum responses, and discussions we've had with game developers. With this primer in paw, your adjacent Steam refund should go a lot more than smoothly.
How Steam refunds work, in short:
- Go to the Steam support page and click "Purchases," so click the game you'd like to refund.
- Select "I would similar a refund," and then "I'd similar to asking a refund." Y'all can and so choose your Steam Wallet or the payment method you lot'd similar to receive your refund through.
- If information technology'due south within fourteen days of purchase and y'all've played for less than two hours, the refund asking is automatically approved.
- Within a calendar week, your purchase will be refunded.
Is it possible to request for a game outside the 14-day/two-hour window?
Yes, and Valve will consider it on a case-past-instance basis. If the refund is well exterior the xiv-day limit, withal, information technology volition exist rejected.
Is there a limit to how many games you tin refund?
No. You can request as many refunds as you lot want through Steam, but if Valve believes you're abusing the system, it can revoke your right to asking future refunds.
If your refund is refused, tin you lot challenge the conclusion?
Yes. If you experience your refund was unfairly refused, you can issue another request and it'll be reconsidered by a different Valve employee. A fresh set of eyes may be plenty to get it canonical.
How long does it take for the money to show upwardly afterward a refund has been approved?
About refunds are candy within seven days of approval, but refunds for purchases made using international payment methods can take longer. Steam publishes some public statistics for refunds.
How much of the refund process is automatic?
According to Valve, any refund made within fourteen days of buy for a game with less than two hours of playtime volition exist automatically approved. If y'all've requested a number of refunds recently, or your refunds falls outside of the 14-day/two-60 minutes window, it won't exist 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 developer?
When y'all buy a game on Steam, the money doesn't get straight to the developer. Valve doesn't distribute sales revenue to developers until the cease of the month afterward the sales take been made, meaning devs don't see money from Jan's sales until the end of February. Because the Steam refund window is typically just fourteen days, developers technically don't lose money from refunds—they simply never encounter the sale in the first place.
Can you go a warning for refunding too many games?
Aye. If y'all issue multiple refund requests within a short period of fourth dimension, Valve volition send you a alarm along with your refund ticket stating that the refund organization is not to exist used as a fashion of demoing games. While at that place is no official number on how many games you can refund before receiving the warning, it seems to trigger later issuing around five refunds inside six months. The standard warning message is equally follows:
"You've requested a bunch of refunds recently. Please keep in mind that refunds are not a method for trying out games. If we remember the refund arrangement is being misused nosotros'll decline to grant future 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 Carte arrangement in two primal ways to minimize abuse. The first change prevents cards from dropping until after yous've put at to the lowest degree two hours into a game, past which fourth dimension yous're no longer eligible for an automatic refund. This brake initially practical to all Steam users, just Valve has since limited information technology to new accounts and accounts that accept made a refund request within the last few months.
The 2d change Valve fabricated to the trading card organization stops games from dropping cards the moment they're released on Steam. Instead, a game must accrue a sure number of owners and players before its cards will get-go dropping. This threshold, what Valve calls its 'conviction 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 tin can hateful cards won't kickoff dropping until the fourteen-day refund window has passed.
It's also worth noting that while you can merits a refund exterior the 2-hr/14-day refund window, Valve may notice if you abuse this to subcontract cards and forbid yous from requesting refunds in the time to come.
Achievements, meanwhile, take no such farming restrictions, and can be earned freely during the two-hour refund window without effect.
How has Steam'southward new gifting system inverse the way refunds work?
Since the start of May 2017, gifting games on Steam works a petty differently. Where gifts used to exist equally items in your inventory, they must at present exist sent or scheduled to one of your Steam friends at the time of purchase. If a friend declines your gift, the purchase volition be refunded instead of the game appearing in your inventory. Other than that, refunding gifts works much the aforementioned equally before.
Can you lot refund a gift you purchased for someone else?
Yeah, provided the gift has non all the same been redeemed by the person yous bought information technology for.
Can you refund a gift that's already been redeemed?
Aye, just the refund asking will need to be initiated by the gift recipient. The asking will also demand to be fabricated within fourteen days of you purchasing the souvenir, and the recipient can't have played the game for more than two hours. Once the recipient has initiated the refund request on their end, you lot'll be able to submit your ain request every bit normal.
If you lot purchase multiple games in a single transaction, can you refund just one of them?
Yes, merely it's a incomparably confusing procedure. Bear in heed this just applies when you buy multiple private games in a single transaction, not when you buy multiple games as office of a bundle.
First, y'all'll demand to be refunding the purchase to your Steam Wallet—if you desire to refund to your credit carte du jour or another external payment method, you'll need to refund the whole transaction or cipher at all. Then y'all'll demand to ignore the fact that Steam will listing every game from the transaction in your refund request and instead just check the total value of the refund. This should be equal to the sum of only the games you selected to refund. In one case canonical, only those games will be removed from your library and your Steam wallet will be credited with their purchase cost. It'due south a confusing process, merely information technology does work.
Can yous refund bundles?
Yes, and so long as the cumulative playtime on all games within the bundle is less than two hours. Certain bundles that include non-refundable DLC may non be eligible for a refund, and Steam will let you lot know this when you first purchase the bundle.
Can you refund a single game from a parcel?
No. Simply complete bundles can be refunded.
If a game goes on sale after your purchased it, can you refund and rebuy it at the cheaper price?
Aye, although you may have to pay the cheaper price out-of-pocket since refunds can have up to vii 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 ii is legally the property of Valve and may or may non be used against you lot in the future for the purpose of selling hats.
Only kidding.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-refunds/
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