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Physical Steam gift cards discontinued

lightwo

lightwo

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After some speculation following a news article by a grey market key retailer, there is now official confirmation that physical Steam gift cards have ceased production, with the stated reason being continued prevalence of scammers using them to steal money:

Can I purchase Steam Gift Cards at retailers?​


Yes, but only for a limited time.

We introduced Steam Gift Cards to retail stores back in 2012, and added the digital program in 2017. Unfortunately, scammers use gift cards from major brands like Steam to take advantage of all people all over the world.

We’ve responded to gift card scams over the years by taking a number of actions to protect customers, including:
  • Working with retailers
  • Working with law enforcement
  • Making changes to the cards, including adding a prominent scam warning
  • Limiting redemption to be in the currency of your Steam wallet
  • Limiting availability of cards
  • Removing cards from sale when we observed abnormal activity

As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted. They continue to have an impact on Steam customers and other unsuspecting individuals. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores.

As Steam Gift Cards run out of stock at retail locations, we will not be restocking them. We expect all retailers to be out of stock by the end of 2026. Though we will no longer be selling physical gift cards, you will still have the ability to use your existing gift cards on Steam whenever you choose, subject to local laws.

We also continue to offer Steam Digital Gift Cards, and are working to make this an even better experience. Guest checkout, which we added last year, is another way for family members and friends to gift Steam users with a digital card anytime.

You can learn more about gift card scams here.
Click to expand...

This is a major setback as there is now one less method to purchase Steam funds with cash (in some regions, it was the only method), and the vast majority of games can no longer be gifted in physical form, even if it means redeeming a wallet code first.
 
Last edited by lightwo,
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This sucks because the only way to add steam funds to someone elses account without having a steam account of your own is gone. Seems to me like they just want to force everyone to get a steam account. "Cause scammers use it" is a poor excuse. Scammers use CS skins but no way would they be getting rid of those.
 
thebigC said:
"Cause scammers use it" is a poor excuse.
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I have dealt with this first hand through my retail job, it's usually older people who have no idea what Steam even is.

It's gotten to a point where we actively restrict/questions people buying gift cards because of the amount of scams going around.

In one case we had someone want to buy several hundred pounds worth 'for a friend to buy plane tickets'.

So whilst it will cause problems, myself included, it's not without merit.
 
If you'd ever worked somewhere that sells these, you'd agree with Steam on this point. Old people (legit old, not like in their 50s, I'm talking 80s and 90s) would tell you to your face that the $300 of steam cards were for personal use and nobody it asking them to buy them.
 
tech3475 said:
I have dealt with this first hand through my retail job, it's usually older people who have no idea what Steam even is.

It's gotten to a point where we actively restrict/questions people buying gift cards because of the amount of scams going around.

In one case we had someone want to buy several hundred pounds worth 'for a friend to buy plane tickets'.

So whilst it will cause problems, myself included, it's not without merit.
Click to expand...
spinal_cord said:
If you'd ever worked somewhere that sells these, you'd agree with Steam on this point. Old people (legit old, not like in their 50s, I'm talking 80s and 90s) would tell you to your face that the $300 of steam cards were for personal use and nobody it asking them to buy them.
Click to expand...
I'm sure anyone who has seen vids by Jim Browning or some other scam buster is aware that the gift card scam has been prevalent for years and especially devastating to older people.

However, I never heard Steam cards in particular being used, and there have been many additional measures to curb scams. Either Steam took it as an excuse, or it really did get to a point they couldn't manage it any more... It sucks either way, as scammers and other criminals continue to ruin everything for everybody, even if used as a cheap excuse.
 
spinal_cord said:
The only reason to use paper money to buy virtual money is laundering.
Click to expand...
That's the same excuse countries used as an excuse to cancel cash. What did we get in return? Those in charge of our intangible money keep getting away with taking our money from us for any reason they see fit, restrict transacting between one another, and more, whilst not letting us fall back to the proven ways of tangible cash.

These codes available in stores were in some regions the only method to acquire Steam funds with cash. One step at a time, it becomes harder to use cash for ordinary things like games. Do you see the problem?
 
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lightwo said:
I'm sure anyone who has seen vids by Jim Browning or some other scam buster is aware that the gift card scam has been prevalent for years and especially devastating to older people.

However, I never heard Steam cards in particular being used, and there have been many additional measures to curb scams. Either Steam took it as an excuse, or it really did get to a point they couldn't manage it any more... It sucks either way, as scammers and other criminals continue to ruin everything for everybody, even if used as a cheap excuse.
Click to expand...

Well consider me the first time you've heard about it, specifically with Steam Cards..... unless Steam now sell plane tickets.

spinal_cord said:
If you'd ever worked somewhere that sells these, you'd agree with Steam on this point. Old people (legit old, not like in their 50s, I'm talking 80s and 90s) would tell you to your face that the $300 of steam cards were for personal use and nobody it asking them to buy them.
Click to expand...

This is why I usually specifically say why we ask question the purchase, to make them aware it is a thing.
 
Lol, we've been using electronic bank transfers and automated payroll since the 1960s. You really think there is some 'Big Brother' plan in place? If there were, it would have been fully executed decades ago. In fact, governments are doing the opposite. They are passing laws to protect physical currency and legally forcing banks to guarantee people access to free cash, because they are terrified of cyberattacks. If Valve wants to limit people using their product to launder money, thats entirely up to them.
 
spinal_cord said:
Lol, we've been using electronic bank transfers and automated payroll since the 1960s. You really think there is some 'Big Brother' plan in place? If there were, it would have been fully executed decades ago. In fact, governments are doing the opposite. They are passing laws to protect physical currency and legally forcing banks to guarantee people access to free cash, because they are terrified of cyberattacks. If Valve wants to limit people using their product to launder money, thats entirely up to them.
Click to expand...
I mean absolutely, if governments and international bodies can be trusted to regulate money fairly, surely they can protect the children and ensure consumers' rights are respected...?

I realise this has become a conversation almost strictly about cash, but cashless societies are a thing nowadays. There has been a trend of entire countries (Sweden in particular) having virtually no cash in circulation and stores not accepting cash at all.

But on the topic of gift cards, sure, assuming that laundering is all they're used for (they're not), well, what would someone with spare cash buy? Not Steam funds? Other than BattleNet (and maybe Epic?), no other PC game online retailer has gift cards in stores to my knowledge. I seldom find any PC games in stores, code-in-a-box or otherwise, period. That's a problem...
 
Sweden actually had to pass pro-cash laws to correct that blunder, other governments are not about to make the same mistake.
Laundering is a huge problem and one that Valve don't want to be part of. I can't blame them.
Cashless is nothing more than "everything is easier online", you can blame the internet for that, not big brother.
 

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