Gifting a game to someone from another country

[kareem2002]

So I'm in a country with no regional pricing and a horrible currency, yet the pricing is just as that as you'd see in the US. I have a family member in saudi that doesn't play or have steam, can i make them download it and gift me the game i want, rather than buying it here at full price?

[Chika Ogiue]

If the price difference is over a certain amount (I think it's around 10%) then no. The gift purchase will not be allowed.

[kareem2002]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

If the price difference is over a certain amount (I think it's around 10%) then no. The gift purchase will not be allowed.

Is there a way for me to check? Since i have no access to it to know whether the price difference is more than that.

[MadZec]

If person does not already has steam account you can not buy them game over steam. But if they have account, just select "buy as a gift" and choose the name over friend list.

[Seraphita]

https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/

This is what you use if you want to gift things to people from other countries.

[kareem2002]

Originally posted by Seraphita:

https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/

This is what you use if you want to gift things to people from other countries.

But wouldnt i still need them to pay 60$ for a game, just like i would need to in the country I'm at?
So how does that solve anything if im still going to pay 60$

[kareem2002]

Originally posted by MadZec:

If person does not already has steam account you can not buy them game over steam. But if they have account, just select "buy as a gift" and choose the name over friend list.

I think i asked the question in an unclear way, i mean i want them to gift me a game from their country since it has a regional pricing while mine doesn't, so i dont need to pay 60$ for a game. (country's currency is down hard, so that would be a large sum)

[Seraphita]

Originally posted by kareem2002:

Originally posted by MadZec:

If person does not already has steam account you can not buy them game over steam. But if they have account, just select "buy as a gift" and choose the name over friend list.

I think i asked the question in an unclear way, i mean i want them to gift me a game from their country since it has a regional pricing while mine doesn't, so i dont need to pay 60$ for a game. (country's currency is down hard, so that would be a large sum)

I get what you mean now but I think this is what Steam tries to prevent. There is no way around that if you're not in the correct region for regional pricing discount. Sorry to say.

[kareem2002]

Originally posted by Seraphita:

Originally posted by kareem2002:

I think i asked the question in an unclear way, i mean i want them to gift me a game from their country since it has a regional pricing while mine doesn't, so i dont need to pay 60$ for a game. (country's currency is down hard, so that would be a large sum)

I get what you mean now but I think this is what Steam tries to prevent. There is no way around that if you're not in the correct region for regional pricing discount. Sorry to say.

Sad to see that, thanks for telling me.

[Seraphita]

Originally posted by kareem2002:

Originally posted by Seraphita:

I get what you mean now but I think this is what Steam tries to prevent. There is no way around that if you're not in the correct region for regional pricing discount. Sorry to say.

Sad to see that, thanks for telling me.

There is also the fact that buying games with a VPN by example (to cheat regional pricing) is seen as fraud, which tells me they will not allow you to get the game for cheaper with gifts. It made lot of people unhappy when they disabled gifting but this is how it is now.

[kareem2002]

Originally posted by Seraphita:

Originally posted by kareem2002:

Sad to see that, thanks for telling me.

There is also the fact that buying games with a VPN by example (to cheat regional pricing) is seen as fraud, which tells me they will not allow you to get the game for cheaper with gifts. It made lot of people unhappy when they disabled gifting but this is how it is now.

Yeah i guess, ill not bother with it.

[MadZec]

One idea that drop me on mind is that they physical copy for discount with sn to get you sn for a game. But now when I think about it, it would be region locked sn...

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by kareem2002:

Is there a way for me to check? Since i have no access to it to know whether the price difference is more than that.

Look up Steam DB and use that to search for the game. It'll show you the prices in different regions.

Originally posted by Seraphita:

There is also the fact that buying games with a VPN by example (to cheat regional pricing) is seen as fraud...

Keep in mind that this hasn't been possible for several years now. Steam does not use your IP address to determine location except in a couple of circumstances. Those being initial account creation (which is based on current IP address at the time of signing up) and checking validity of Family Sharing (which is based both on Steam store region and current IP address at the time of trying to share).

To buy games on Steam from a given region, you must have a valid payment method and billing address for that region. Likewise, to activate a game bought outside Steam in a specific region, you're Steam store account region must be the same as that of the key you're trying to activate. And VPNs won't alter Store region for existing Steam accounts for either purchasing or key activation.