will i get banned if my friends use a vpn to buy me a game?

fluxtorrent Jan 23, 2023 @ 2:06am

Most likely yes. Any involved accounts will

#1

Sonk Jan 23, 2023 @ 2:06am

okay thanks

#2

Chika Ogiue Jan 23, 2023 @ 2:47am

Originally posted by Sonk:
will i get banned if he does i am curious

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.

#3

Seraphita Jan 23, 2023 @ 3:22am

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:
Originally posted by Sonk:
will i get banned if he does i am curious

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.

Is that even true? Because I am sure the rules state that it is strictly forbidden to try to avoid the regional prices with a VPN in order to get cheaper. (And that would be fraud anyway)

#4

(N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★ Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:08am

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:
Originally posted by Sonk:
will i get banned if he does i am curious

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.

Either way, it is in the Steam User Agreement stating using a Proxy to bypass regional restrictions can lead to account terminations.

Though it is unheard of.... that is what the user agreement states.

Originally posted by Seraphita:
Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.
Is that even true? Because I am sure the rules state that it is strictly forbidden to try to avoid the regional prices with a VPN in order to get cheaper. (And that would be fraud anyway)

It is... 'kinda' true.
You'd have to use a VPN on top of changing your store region and then you get a 3 month regional change cooldown. So even if you just VPN'd you wouldn't get access to that region's prices anymore. (You'd also need a payment method from that region as stated in the below post)

I am also pretty sure doing both will surely catch some attention.
If you were ever curious, Steam absolutely tracks where you are logging in/supposedly logging in and you can view that in your account data all login locations.

I'm sure turning on a VPN and then 2FA your way into your account and then change your region only to VPN back could easily flag an account automatically.

Last edited by (N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★; Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:15am

#5

Ogami Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:10am

Originally posted by (N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★:

It is... 'kinda' true.
You'd have to use a VPN on top of changing your store region and then you get a 3 month regional change cooldown. So even if you just VPN'd you wouldn't get access to that region's prices anymore.
.

On top of that the only way to change store country nowadays is to have a registered external payment method in the country you want to switch to.
So you need a legit bank account / credit card from that country.

#6

(N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★ Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:14am

Originally posted by Ogami:
Originally posted by (N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★:

It is... 'kinda' true.
You'd have to use a VPN on top of changing your store region and then you get a 3 month regional change cooldown. So even if you just VPN'd you wouldn't get access to that region's prices anymore.
.

On top of that the only way to change store country nowadays is to have a registered external payment method in the country you want to switch to.
So you need a legit bank account / credit card from that country.

Oh.
You're right, I forgot about that.
I'll add an edit to see below post. xD

Last edited by (N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★; Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:15am

#7

steven1mac Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:43am

If you have any friends outside of the region they can try to gift you the game, but sometimes gifts can be region locked.

#8

Judgmental Amaterasu Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:55am

Originally posted by Seraphita:
Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.
Is that even true? Because I am sure the rules state that it is strictly forbidden to try to avoid the regional prices with a VPN in order to get cheaper. (And that would be fraud anyway)

It's not as simple as it was in the past with VPNs bypassing regional pricing. Valve made changes to where you have to have a payment method tied to a region in order to make purchases from that region.

Last edited by Judgmental Amaterasu; Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:55am

#9

Hikari Light Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:56am

Regions such as Turkey and Argentina are region locked. No gifting or trading with anyone outside the region. There are a few others but those are the only 2 I am aware of.

#10

Asher Farris Jan 23, 2023 @ 5:56am

nope

#11

Chika Ogiue Jan 23, 2023 @ 10:15am

Originally posted by Seraphita:
Is that even true? Because I am sure the rules state that it is strictly forbidden to try to avoid the regional prices with a VPN in order to get cheaper. (And that would be fraud anyway)

Yes it's true. Store region will not change if you connect to Steam with a VPN. The SSA was never updated to reflect this change. For that matter, they never updated it to reflect that they don't terminate accounts anymore for something as trivial as VPN use. Now, the worst punishment you'd get (if you could theoretically buy out of region direct on Steam with just a VPN alone) would be your account stripped to only being able to play the games already on it. That is, the worst that can happen to your account is you lose access to purchasing, key activation, and all community features.

And even back in the days when Valve did disable accounts for VPN usage, you could still get your account back if you were polite with support.

There are at present (that is as of Jan. 2023) only two areas of Steam usage where IP address (and thus, a VPN) has an effect:
(1) At account creation -- but you still need a valid billing address in any region you create your account in in order to purchase directly on Steam. *
(2) Family sharing -- if you have two accounts with different regional stores, the ability to share games depends on IP address. **

* Meaning that an out of region account without a billing address is only good for activating out of region keys. And as such, is useful for certain regions where third party sites often sell only the out of region keys. Valve won't take action on any such accounts as there are no monetary transactions involving Steam.

** Say, for example, you have two accounts. One has its store region set to region X, the other to region Y. If you live in region X (and thus have a region X IP address), the region Y account will be able to share the region X account games, but the region X account won't be able to share the region Y account games. Even if both are used on the exact same PC. Using a VPN to change your IP address to a region Y IP address will mean the reverse is true.

#12

J4MESOX4D Jan 23, 2023 @ 10:28am

Originally posted by Seraphita:
Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

No. You won't. Neither will they, because it hasn't been possible to buy games directly on Steam from a different store using a VPN for years now.
Is that even true? Because I am sure the rules state that it is strictly forbidden to try to avoid the regional prices with a VPN in order to get cheaper. (And that would be fraud anyway)

Those are still the rules but it has been made almost impossible for users to even attempt this now because they are required to have an authorised payment method attached from the region they are attempting to buy from. There are further restrictions on existing wallet funds on the account and gift card/vouchers redemptions on top now so it's virtually impossible to make a purchase outside of the users region without a matching currency which completely negates the purpose of doing this.

#13

Seraphita Jan 23, 2023 @ 12:25pm

Well, all these answers were informative. I didn't even know that Steam had done changes like this. At the same time, it makes sense to prevent said fraud or illegal activities.

Last edited by Seraphita; Jan 23, 2023 @ 12:27pm

#14

(N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★ Jan 23, 2023 @ 1:34pm

Originally posted by Seraphita:
Well, all these answers were informative. I didn't even know that Steam had done changes like this. At the same time, it makes sense to prevent said fraud or illegal activities.

Well, I think it was more or less Steam was getting into hot water with it. :P

If you were around in like 2017 I think? Games and other profile stuff were public but Steam got slapped with data violations and then defaulted everyone's profiles to where certain things are hidden.

And then Steam is losing a ton of money in France because they lost a court case where digital games SHOULD be allowed to be traded.... which is kind of wild and if that is true that would absolutely hurt developers.... they lost the first case but appealed.....

Idk I'm ranting at this point.
A lot of neat info out there exists is where I am getting at. :P

Thank god someone didn't just come in here and post a massive copy and paste though -_-

#15

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