Am i NOT allowed to gift games for giveaways?

[RyWilson]

Hi guys. I just wanted to get some clarification on something because steam support was as useless as you can imagine. I am a youtuber and i do giveaways for games when they go on sale..i asked steam why i wasnt allowed to use my wallet..then i got a reply "something about we notice lot of activity on my account and could be locked and basically accused me of being a third party something or rather". my question is, is it against the rules to buy games for my subscribers? i don't sell games anywhere or anything like that. i would definitely appreciate your help.

[wuddih]

looks like a commercial purpose to me. dont use Steam for that.

there are other ways to get games and give them to someone else that dont involve Steam, do those.

[RyWilson]

okay. i didnt see that as commercial..i figured by that they meant charging people for games. but i do see what mean. they didn't even give a reply saying that..their reply was nothing what i asked and then they added "no further replies to this issue will be answered". at least the community is kinder than the actual people who work there. thank you

[Izzyfied]

That giveaway site whose initials are SG is loaded with topics like this, the system's probably flagging on you adding people to gift them a game out of nowhere and then unfriending them fairly quick.

[MalikQayum]

The reason is not about whether you do something commercially or not, it seems like a default answer given by support.

There is a pattern here, and that is the steam wallet, it seems like valve has implemented a few restrictions on steam wallet, you see it in gifting, and now also in this event.

however while supports answer is pointless, you can push them to lift this restriction by continuously telling them you are not affiliated with anything they claim you to be affiliated with.
(so keep writing to them until they lift that restriction.)

meanwhile, this means that you should not tank up on steam wallet again, in the future keep your money on the credit card, paypal account or whatever you may use.

yes it is silly that purchasing the very same game via another payment method will allow you to gift that game, so if you have the funds elsewhere then purchase the games like that when you do your giveaways.

[rawWwRrr]

It's not silly when you consider it could be used as a source of money laundering which Steam has had to combat in the past.

A person with dirty money loads up a Steam Wallet with that money. That person then sells games to others at a reduced cost than what appears on Steam. They collect the money directly from that person and gift that person the game with the dirty funds in the wallet. Even at a loss they have successfully laundered the money.

While many of the policies on Steam seem to make things more difficult for those of us without illegal intentions, there are reasons they are in place.

If OP wants to gift games to viewers, they should obtain keys for the games from other sites. If the YT channel is big enough, OP may even be able to solicit the game developers for free keys.

[MalikQayum]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

It's not silly when you consider it could be used as a source of money laundering which Steam has had to combat in the past.

A person with dirty money loads up a Steam Wallet with that money. That person then sells games to others at a reduced cost than what appears on Steam. They collect the money directly from that person and gift that person the game with the dirty funds in the wallet. Even at a loss they have successfully laundered the money.

While many of the policies on Steam seem to make things more difficult for those of us without illegal intentions, there are reasons they are in place.

If OP wants to gift games to viewers, they should obtain keys for the games from other sites. If the YT channel is big enough, OP may even be able to solicit the game developers for free keys.

how do you literally go this far off-topic, that you ended up on money laundering..
how does it fit your narrative that if you ask support enough times, they will lift that restriction..

then you proceed to telling him he should not gift games at all through steam.. then tells him to do it through other means (keys and whatever) when valve themselves added a gift option at checkout which purpose is to gift whatever is in that cart to said person..
and this option is available if he uses another payment method than steam wallet.

paying through steam wallet would be available for him if he was not "flagged" which is a silly thing.. and will be available again once they lift it, as far as i have seen everyone that has appealed it or written to support they want the restriction lifted has had it lifted.
(now i can't survey the entire userbase but that should be an indication that it can be lifted.)

maybe it is best you don't write more stuff, we don't want the bratva, yakuza and the italian mob to find out that the common man knows that they are money laundering through steam wallet funds.

[rawWwRrr]

It's not that far off topic and rather to the point.

I know a few streamers that give away games quite frequently and it's with existing keys, not through Steam's gifting process.

The money laundering scenario is a valid one. It's a possible reason to be flagged. I hope very much that OP can get it resolved but my suggestion still stands as an alternative to using Steam gifts.

[Zekiran]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

It's not that far off topic and rather to the point.

I know a few streamers that give away games quite frequently and it's with existing keys, not through Steam's gifting process.

The money laundering scenario is a valid one. It's a possible reason to be flagged. I hope very much that OP can get it resolved but my suggestion still stands as an alternative to using Steam gifts.

It's malik, Rawr. They were flagged this way and led a one-man crusade against it.

[RyWilson]

thank you guys again :D i'm an honest gamer just tryin make a living. so it's awesome ya took time out to help me. thank you and merry christmas :)

[Sampayne]

I wasn´t also allowed to buy a gift for my friend. I wanted to use the money that I have in my steam wallet, but I couln´t gift the games. Looks like Steam doesn´t want that we gift games to friends. We all know Steam thinks Christmas is about taking and not giving.