Gift a steam deck to someone in another Region

[Poison Mind]

Hi ! I live in Montreal and i wished to gift a Steam Deck to my little sister who lives in France.

How can i do that ?
When i tried to use my personal Steam Account, it was specified i can only buy it for me or someone in the same region.
When i tried to use a VPN, make my sister an account, and buy the Steam Deck through it ; i was told the purchase was suspicious and therefore cancelled with my sister account blocked !

So, how can i buy a Steam Deck for Christmas to my sister who lives in France without her knowing ?

[Bee🐝]

Firstly, don't try the VPN thing ever again on Steam, the auto-flag system is far more sensitive now and getting around it is a really bad idea.

As for the gifting, you can always send her some digital gift cards for the amount on Xmas and then have her buy it.

[Mahjik]

Buy it for yourself, receive it and then ship it to her.

[Poison Mind]

Originally posted by Bee:

Firstly, don't ever try the VPN thing ever again on Steam, the auto-flag system is far more sensitive now and getting around it is a really bad idea.
As for the gifting, you can always send her some digital gift cards for the amount on Xmas and then have her buy it.

First of, thanks for the tips.

It's not the same though ; I could also transfer her some money and tell her to buy it herself, it would be even easier but opening a gift a see something great and almost unexpected is a different deal.

I don't understand why Steam doesn't allow to gift it to someone in another region, paying the difference doesn't bother me (i mean, i tried).

[Poison Mind]

Originally posted by Mahjik:

Buy it for yourself, receive it and then ship it to her.

That's a great idea, but we have different electical outlets in Canada than the ones used in France. She could use an adapter of course but all in all it would feel kinda clunky compared to her having the european version directly.
I may do this if the support team doesn't deliver though. Thanks.

[Bee🐝]

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

Originally posted by Bee:

Firstly, don't ever try the VPN thing ever again on Steam, the auto-flag system is far more sensitive now and getting around it is a really bad idea.
As for the gifting, you can always send her some digital gift cards for the amount on Xmas and then have her buy it.

First of, thanks for the tips.

It's not the same though ; I could also transfer her some money and tell her to buy it herself, it would be even easier but opening a gift a see something great and almost unexpected is a different deal.

I don't understand why Steam doesn't allow to gift it to someone in another region, paying the difference doesn't bother me (i mean, i tried).

It sucks but it's basic logistics and robots.

The Decks are automatically sorted and shipped according to the region they're ordered in and not the shipping address. That means the region-specific plugs are sorted that way as well.

Right now, shipping between regions would throw the whole auto-system into chaos. It's incredibly strict, we Irish - who live in a country in the EU Zone - could not have our orders re-routed to an EU country because we use UK plugs. Trust me, the Irish have fought the Deck-Shipping Location Battle for months now.

[Poison Mind]

Originally posted by Bee:

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

First of, thanks for the tips.

It's not the same though ; I could also transfer her some money and tell her to buy it herself, it would be even easier but opening a gift a see something great and almost unexpected is a different deal.

I don't understand why Steam doesn't allow to gift it to someone in another region, paying the difference doesn't bother me (i mean, i tried).

It sucks but it's basic logistics and robots.

The Decks are automatically sorted and shipped according to the region they're ordered in and not the shipping address. That means the region-specific plugs are sorted that way as well.

Right now, shipping between regions would throw the whole auto-system into chaos. It's incredibly strict, we Irish - who live in a country in the EU Zone - could not have our orders re-routed to an EU country because we use UK plugs. Trust me, the Irish have fought the Deck-Shipping Location Battle for months now.

That's why i used a VPN to make it look like i was in France ; everything went well, i received an email telling me the order was registered. I was so happy i told her she will have a nice surprise.
And then, the day right after, i receive that stupid email stating the order was suspicious. I opened a ticket this morning and i hope to sort things out with the support team but i really wish they explain to us what's the proper way to gift someone who is in another region.

I'm sorry for you guys, this whole shipping thing seems like a pain for everyone...

[Jake Sully]

How old is your sister? If she's over 18+ and has a boyfriend then talk to her boy friend about your surprise and maybe him and you can work together. So she gets it? Like you send money to him and he purchases it and notes the gift is from you in a card attached to the package.

Alternative two is to put her adress on order after purchase and see if valve accepts it.

[Poison Mind]

Originally posted by Jake Sully:

How old is your sister? If she's over 18+ and has a boyfriend then talk to her boy friend about your surprise and maybe him and you can work together. So she gets it? Like you send money to him and he purchases it and notes the gift is from you in a card attached to the package.

Alternative two is to put her adress on order after purchase and see if valve accepts it.

Thank you for your answer.

As for alternative 2. that's the first thing i tried but you cannot gift it to someone who lives in another region (at least that's what i saw at that time)

For your first solution, she's with someone at the moment but i don't know him much ; so i wouldn't trust him with that much money.

[Poison Mind]

I think i'm gonna give up for Xmas and find her something else.

I'll do as Mahjik said : i'll buy it with my steam account to my address and i'll give it to her at her birthday when i'll visit her ; and i'll find a way to give her the Steam points associated afterward, i'm not even sure what it's used for (i never used mine).

It's gonna be to late for her to have it for Xmas even if i found a working solution today anyway. That really pisses me off.

Still, i'd really appreciate if the support team explained to us how to do this because i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who wanted to gift the Steam Deck to someone in another region.
There should be a way to do it properly.

[Mahjik]

Unfortunately, you'll need to purchase a euro spec power supply as well, but it's likely the best option. I know a lot of online retailers are starting to clamp down on out of region purchase/shipping due to credit card theft.

[Bee🐝]

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

I think i'm gonna give up for Xmas and find her something else.

I'll do as Mahjik said : i'll buy it with my steam account to my address and i'll give it to her at her birthday when i'll visit her ; and i'll find a way to give her the Steam points associated afterward, i'm not even sure what it's used for (i never used mine).

It's gonna be to late for her to have it for Xmas even if i found a working solution today anyway. That really pisses me off.

Still, i'd really appreciate if the support team explained to us how to do this because i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who wanted to gift the Steam Deck to someone in another region.
There should be a way to do it properly.

I think we can all agree that it's incredibly silly that two legit regions can't gift Decks to each other.

Sorry, you won't be able to do the Xmas thing. Hopefully. the system changes somewhere in the new year.

[class101 [OLED deck]]

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

Still, i'd really appreciate if the support team explained to us how to do this because i'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who wanted to gift the Steam Deck to someone in another region.
There should be a way to do it properly.

The way to do it properly is living in the same region. They can't authorize what you want to do, because that's exactly what resellers are trying to do.

[Jake Sully]

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

Originally posted by Jake Sully:

How old is your sister? If she's over 18+ and has a boyfriend then talk to her boy friend about your surprise and maybe him and you can work together. So she gets it? Like you send money to him and he purchases it and notes the gift is from you in a card attached to the package.

Alternative two is to put her adress on order after purchase and see if valve accepts it.

Thank you for your answer.

As for alternative 2. that's the first thing i tried but you cannot gift it to someone who lives in another region (at least that's what i saw at that time)

For your first solution, she's with someone at the moment but i don't know him much ; so i wouldn't trust him with that much money.

No I mean you send money to her boyfriend then he buys it for you and gives her it. From you as gift that you can do

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Jake Sully:

Originally posted by Poison Mind:

Thank you for your answer.

As for alternative 2. that's the first thing i tried but you cannot gift it to someone who lives in another region (at least that's what i saw at that time)

For your first solution, she's with someone at the moment but i don't know him much ; so i wouldn't trust him with that much money.

No I mean you send money to her boyfriend then he buys it for you and gives her it. From you as gift that you can do

He understood you. He said he doesn't know the boyfriend enough to trust him.