How To Refund Games On Steam
Feeling buyer's remorse on a new Steam purchase? Here's how to request a refund and reclaim your capital.
We've all been there — Steam is running a fresh new sale that makes it all too easy to finally pull the trigger on what looks to be an exciting new game. Upon diving in, however, something is wrong: maybe it runs poorly, maybe some expected features are missing, or maybe the game just flat-out sucks. Fortunately, as long as too much time hasn't passed, Steam users can request a refund from Valve and put their hard-earned dollars back into something better. Here's how to contact value to request a refund for a game purchased from Steam.
How To Refund A Game Purchased Through Steam
The first and most critical step to getting a refund for a Steam game is to understand Steam's own rules regarding refunds. Users can follow that link to check out the specific guidelines, but these are the highlights: any refund request must be made within 14 days of purchase, and that applies to games, DLC, pre-purchased titles, and Steam Wallet funds. In-game purchases, on the other hand, have a 48-hour window for returns, and players have a 30-day window following delivery to request a refund for bits of Steam hardware.
Assuming the purchase is still within the stated return window, the next step in requesting a refund is to head over to the Steam help website. Users will need to sign in through the web portal and then choose the Purchases option from the menu. From there, click on the listing for the product for which the refund will be requested, then choose the reason for the refund request. After that, click on the "I'd like to request a refund" option.
Afterward, users will be able to request what sort of refund transfer they would like, be it putting funds back into their credit or debit card account or simply placing the spent funds back into their Steam wallets. There will also be a short field to select a reason for wanting a refund, followed by a Notes field where the user can explain the reason why they want the refund.
Clicking submit sends the request to Valve, and players shouldn't have to wait too long before their refund request is either approved or denied. In the case of approval, it still may be several days — up to seven — before the funds can make its way back to the player. If the request is denied, there's not too much that Steam users can do outside of sending another refund request through the Steam help website. That said, Valve has been in this business for a while, and there shouldn't be too much trouble in securing a refund outside of very unusual or very unfortunate circumstances.
