How do steam purchases work

Subscriber Account active since. Steam is one of the largest digital distribution platforms in terms of the PC gaming sector. If you are a PC gamer, there is a high probability you have Steam downloaded on your computer. Aside from housing a large number of digital games, Steam allows you to purchase games directly through the application, or enter codes that you purchased through a third-party company.

You can also enter your personal card information in your Steam Wallet, or add funds directly to it. Essentially, Steam Wallet is a digital bank of sorts, allowing users to add funds to their Steam Account, which in turn, can be used to purchase games available on Steam.

Steam Wallet Codes can also be used to pre-purchase a select number of funds to add to your account. Launch the Steam app on your Mac or PC. When you pre-purchase a title on Steam and have paid for the title in advance , you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title. You may request a refund for Steam Wallet funds within fourteen days of purchase if they were purchased on Steam and if you have not used any of those funds. For some content and services, Steam offers periodic e.

If a renewable subscription has not been used during the current billing cycle, you may request a refund within 48 hours of the initial purchase or within 48 hours of any automatic renewal. Content is considered used if any games within the subscription have been played during the current billing cycle or if any benefits or discounts included with the subscription have been used, consumed, modified or transferred.

Please note that you can cancel an active subscription at any time by going to your account details. Once cancelled, your subscription will no longer automatically renew but you will retain access to the content and benefits of the subscription through the end of your current billing cycle.

Within the applicable time frame identified in the Hardware Refund Policy , you may request a refund for Steam hardware and accessories purchased via Steam for any reason. You must ship the hardware back to us within fourteen 14 days after requesting the refund, following the instructions we provide you. Please see the Hardware Refund Policy for detailed guidelines on the return and cancellation process for Steam hardware and accessories. You can receive a full refund for any bundle purchased on the Steam Store, so long as none of the items in the bundle have been transferred, and if the combined usage time for all items in the bundle is less than two hours.

Can you buy games for my account on one computer, then access them from another computer if I log in with the same account? Yes, if you log in with the same account, you will be able to download it onto both computers.

Not Helpful 3 Helpful 9. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Steam often has sales and special offers.

If a game you are interested in is currently being sold for a higher price than you'd like to pay, check back occasionally and you may find that it is on sale. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. After you download or install a game, you can play the game by clicking on the "View" drop-down menu and then selecting "Games List.

Simply double-click on the game you want to play, select the option to play it, and then click on the "Play" button. Once you purchase a game, you can download it by clicking on the "View" dropdown menu and selecting "Downloads.

You can start, pause, and resume downloads from here. If the game dissatisfies you, you can get a refund if you bought it less than 2 weeks ago and played under 2 hours of it. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Related wikiHows How to. How to. Co-authors: Updated: August 17, Categories: Steam Games.

Nederlands: Via Steam spellen voor de pc kopen. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy.

About This Article. Don't display a product key for in-game purchases that could be harvested for another account. There are Steam APIs for granting packages or unlocking content without needing to display a key to customers that can potentially be duplicated. Don't allow users to change the linked accounts that are described in the next section: Linking Accounts. Using the Steam Inventory Service incorporates many of these suggestions. Linking Accounts Do you have your own account system?

If so, we strongly encourage you to use Steamworks API to automatically create or link the Steam customer's account with your system, rather than requiring the customer to manually create an account through your game or website. Creating a new account through another service can be a huge hurdle for some customers, and can significantly impact your potential audience.

Ideally, it shouldn't be possible for a customer to disassociate their Steam account from your account system and then re-link another Steam account.

For more information on account linking, please see the "Account Linking" section in the User Authentication and Ownership documentation. Considerations for in-game economies and best practices Steamworks provides a variety of opportunities to integrate microtransactions and in-game economies.

There are a few things to consider on the topic. Artificial barriers to progress and virtual currencies that obfuscate value tend to make customers regret their purchases over the long term. Paying money to eliminate frustration is not a sustainable business model, and the marketplace is competitive enough that customers have lots of better alternatives for their time and money. Build systems wherein customer purchases make your game better for other customers.

Many free to play products, especially multiplayer games, rely on systems where the more money one player spends, the worse the game gets for the other players. We cite specific examples in the Steam Dev Days presentation, but a good starting point is a product designed around a simple concept: "I celebrate when the player next to me makes a purchase.