Steam How to Refund a Game

How to Refund a Game on Steam

For all the times you notice you own a game elsewhere

As you make various purchases on Steam, you may accidentally buy a game you don’t want to keep. You might encounter many game-breaking bugs, realize you have it on another platform or just not enjoy it after playing for an hour. Thankfully, Valve has a method to refund any recently purchased game you have little playtime in. However, figuring out how to initiate this can be challenging at first. If you’re interested in learning more, continue reading to discover how to refund a game on Steam.

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How to Refund a Game on Steam

The official Steam Support page is the first place to start when you want to refund a game. After logging into your account, you’ll find a list of your recent products and various categories where you can seek help. Head into Purchases and scroll down until you find the game, DLC or steam wallet addition you wish to refund. Before progressing further, though, there are a few things to note:

  • You can refund games, some DLCs and Steam Wallet funds within fourteen days after purchasing.
  • You can also request a refund on games with less than two hours of playtime.
  • Some DLCs are nonrefundable, which is displayed on their official store page.
  • Any in-game purchases you make in Valve-developed games or specific third-party-developed games have a 48-hour window for refunds. Not every game has this feature, meaning some in-game purchases are nonrefundable.
  • You can’t refund items purchased outside of Steam (ie. CD keys)

It’s important to note that even if your item doesn’t meet some of these requirements, you can still attempt to initiate a refund request. However, those that don’t meet the prerequisites are dealt with case-by-case and are not guaranteed to be accepted!

Related: How to Remove a VAC or Game Ban from your Steam Account

With all of that out of the way, you can initiate your refund request. To do this, choose a game and pick the “I would like a refund” option. You’ll find another page where you can select “I’d like to request a refund”, to which you can choose to return your funds to your Steam Wallet, PayPal, Credit Card or any other payment method attached to your account.

The Steam launcher is available for download through the official website. If you’re interested in learning more, check out Steam Error e502 l3 Explained and How to Check Steam Server Status.


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About the Author

Madison Benson

Madison was a staff writer at Prima Games who has played video games for over twenty years and written about them for over two years. Her love for video games started with turn-based strategy games like Heroes of Might and Magic and has since extended to casual farming sims, MMORPGs, and action-adventure RPGs.