Why do I need a phone number to make a purchase now?

[jonathonmcorey]

How about no. I'm not a new account - you already have enough of my personal information - you don't need my phone number, and lets face it - steam isn't trust worthy enough these days.

So I guess I'm done buying stuff?

[eram]

never had to give a phone number for a regular purchase on steam.

what exactly are you doing? what purchase?

[jonathonmcorey]

It removed my credit card option - when I went to make a purchase it would not allow me to proceed with payment until I entered a phone number.

[eram]

best contact steam support.

ive never given a phone number to purchase a game from the steam store with 700 games (not a large number i know but enough to say something)


steam store not a market transaction. not the same thing.

[jonathonmcorey]

I basically can't add/use my credit card without. This didn't exist a few weeks ago.

[eram]

contact steam support

[jonathonmcorey]

How? I can't find away around the help links to actually reach out to them

[eram]

you create a steam support ticket on the support site

[Eagle_of_Fire]

This has been a thing for well over a year now. Maybe even two.

When you use your credit card they already collect all those infos simply because it is linked to your bank account on which your credit card is linked to. But they of course had to ask all those completely pointless questions to get that if you opted not to use a credit card, right?

So yeah, you can't purchase anything without them knowing which color of underwear you have when you do any purchase now. Among other things.

[Tito Shivan]

At which point during checkout are you asked to add a phone number?

[Muppet among Puppets]

They asked for my number when i bought my first game.
Got the game. Didnt notice any other change.

[Xaviruso]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

So yeah, you can't purchase anything without them knowing which color of underwear you have when you do any purchase now. Among other things.

A gentleman enters a store and addresses the clerk.

Sir: "Good afternoon, I want to buy toilet paper."

Clerk: "Of course, we have a wide selection. Could you give me more details about what you're looking for?"

Sir: "Well, I just need regular toilet paper, please."

Clerk: "But could you tell me what kind of consistency you prefer? Would you like a smoother or stronger paper?"

Sir: "Actually, anything that does the job is fine with me."

Clerk: "How about the number of layers? We have options of one, two or even three layers."

Sir: "Look, I just need regular toilet paper. I don't care about the number of layers."

Clerk: "Okay, I understand. How about scented toilet paper? We have a variety of fragrances available."

Sir: "No thanks. I just need toilet paper."

The clerk continues to ask about other features and the man begins to lose patience. After a while, he finally gives up and leaves the store.

A few minutes later, the man returns to the store with a toilet in his hands.

Sir: "Look, this is my ass and this is my toilet. Now could you please give me the toilet paper?"

[RiO]

Oh great. This again.
The Valve jokers tried this nonsense with requiring the phone number a few years back as well. Back then had to dial it back under user protest. Looks like they're trying it again now.

Considering they're explicitly mentioning area code: I expect their main use for it is establishing physical location. Well... what are they going to do with people that don't have a land line and reside in countries where mobile numbers all use the same area prefix? Fun!

Moreover; if they already have access to your IP address -- which can be geolocated -- and have access to attested zip code and physical address, then they already have the required two non-conflicting and disjoint data points that tax legislation in the EU requires of them as legal evidence of the transaction's location. Which means that at least by the EU's standards, asking EU consumers for anything more is a violation of the GDPR under the data minimization principle.

[JVC]

Originally posted by RiO:

Oh great. This again.
The Valve jokers tried this nonsense with requiring the phone number a few years back as well. Back then had to dial it back under user protest. Looks like they're trying it again now.

Considering they're explicitly mentioning area code: I expect their main use for it is establishing physical location. Well... what are they going to do with people that don't have a land line and reside in countries where mobile numbers all use the same area prefix? Fun!

Moreover; if they already have access to your IP address -- which can be geolocated -- and have access to attested zip code and physical address, then they already have the required two non-conflicting and disjoint data points that tax legislation in the EU requires of them as legal evidence of the transaction's location. Which means that at least by the EU's standards, asking EU consumers for anything more is a violation of the GDPR under the data minimization principle.

Chill with the legalese interpretations. Noone is going to make a class action lawsuit about GDPR and which legal code to apply in what instance. It's a completely moot point.

We don't know where OP is from, there might be good reasons for steam to demand extra confirmation that OP's store settings are the correct ones.

[Muppet among Puppets]

I tested it, but only got wallet to show any address window. If i changed method, couldnt get to that address window.
And there was not even a field for phone number.

So i assume it depends on the payment method?

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Like I said earlier, they already get this kind of information automatically when someone use something like a credit card. All those infos are transmitted by your financial authority taking charge of the transaction. It would make no sense to ask several times for the same information then.