Can not give a gift to my friend in another region?

[Ducky goes to War]

I wanted to give my buddy a Xmas gift, but Steam refused saying he is is in another region with a different price, so I can not send him the gift. So I tried to adjust shop settings to USA so I could send it to him. But that does not work either because then it adjusts my whole account to USA, which I do not want.

Why does Steam, not just let me buy a gift for my friend? Is there a way around this?
Most my friends are from another region....

I think Steam should offer to adjust the price for that specific region in case of a gift.

[BJWyler]

There are plenty of reasons why this is not allowed - a simple search will bring up dozens of threads that provide the details which amount to: legal reasons and fraud.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Steam digital gift cards are a thing. Use them.

[Com Nguoi]

Why would steam allow it? People can just ask their friends who live in a region with cheaper prices to gift games to them. It's clearly busted.

[Ducky goes to War]

I do not want to gift a card. I want to gift a specific game. I solved this now buy buying a key elsewhere and just send him that.

I do see why there are limits in place to avoid fraud. But this would not be an issue if the price is adjusted to the country you send the key to. At least I do not see how that would cause a problem. Also I still think it is stupid. They are better of limiting the amount of keys you can buy/ sent at once to avoid fraud imo. Keys from low income countries are already separated from Global keys to avoid fraud because of the big price difference. But between Western Europe and USA? Those price are very similar. So I do not get it why it is needed to refuse sending between those regions.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by Ducky goes to War:

I do not want to gift a card. I want to gift a specific game. I solved this now buy buying a key elsewhere and just send him that.

I do see why there are limits in place to avoid fraud. But this would not be an issue if the price is adjusted to the country you send the key to. At least I do not see how that would cause a problem. Also I still think it is stupid. They are better of limiting the amount of keys you can buy/ sent at once to avoid fraud imo. Keys from low income countries are already separated from Global keys to avoid fraud because of the big price difference. But between Western Europe and USA? Those price are very similar. So I do not get it why it is needed to refuse sending between those regions.

You're not gifting a card lol

You're gifting money (in this case, Steam store credit) so they can buy the game.

Apparently you have not looked into this at all.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

You're also not sending a key. Steam has not used keys in quite some time.


You're not buying a key, when you purchase from the Steam store.

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by Ducky goes to War:

I do not want to gift a card. I want to gift a specific game. I solved this now buy buying a key elsewhere and just send him that.

I do see why there are limits in place to avoid fraud. But this would not be an issue if the price is adjusted to the country you send the key to. At least I do not see how that would cause a problem. Also I still think it is stupid. They are better of limiting the amount of keys you can buy/ sent at once to avoid fraud imo. Keys from low income countries are already separated from Global keys to avoid fraud because of the big price difference. But between Western Europe and USA? Those price are very similar. So I do not get it why it is needed to refuse sending between those regions.

As I said, because of legal reasons and fraud. Just because you don't like the answers doesn't mean they are not valid or absolutely necessary to keep Valve and developers in business.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Ducky goes to War:

I do see why there are limits in place to avoid fraud. But this would not be an issue if the price is adjusted to the country you send the key to.

It cannot be adjusted due to the simple fact that tax has to be collected based on where you are in the world and your store location because your government wants their slice of the pie and Valve are legally obligated to collect that tax.

I am from the UK and the price i see on the store is "inclusive of vat" (tax) and i cannot be charged more nor can i be charged less than the advertised price.

Secondly the price cannot be adjusted because i want to gift someone a game, whether the price be higher or lower in their region. I can however gift a game IF the price difference between the UK and their region is not more than 10%.

When you cannot send a gift you send them a Steam Digital Gift Card which converts to their currency and they can buy the game.

[Ducky goes to War]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

It cannot be adjusted due to the simple fact that tax has to be collected based on where you are in the world and your store location because your government wants their slice of the pie and Valve are legally obligated to collect that tax.

I am from the UK and the price i see on the store is "inclusive of vat" (tax) and i cannot be charged more nor can i be charged less than the advertised price.

Secondly the price cannot be adjusted because i want to gift someone a game, whether the price be higher or lower in their region. I can however gift a game IF the price difference between the UK and their region is not more than 10%.

When you cannot send a gift you send them a Steam Digital Gift Card which converts to their currency and they can buy the game.

Thank you for you answer. That clears it up.

I do not like to gift a gift card. it just totally misses the point of the reason I wanted to get him exactly this game. I always hated gift cards. I find them "an easy way out if you have no clue what to give" . :) So as long as I can find a way around that I will definitely do so.

[C²C^Guyver |NZB|]

Originally posted by Ducky goes to War:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

It cannot be adjusted due to the simple fact that tax has to be collected based on where you are in the world and your store location because your government wants their slice of the pie and Valve are legally obligated to collect that tax.

I am from the UK and the price i see on the store is "inclusive of vat" (tax) and i cannot be charged more nor can i be charged less than the advertised price.

Secondly the price cannot be adjusted because i want to gift someone a game, whether the price be higher or lower in their region. I can however gift a game IF the price difference between the UK and their region is not more than 10%.

When you cannot send a gift you send them a Steam Digital Gift Card which converts to their currency and they can buy the game.

Thank you for you answer. That clears it up.

I do not like to gift a gift card. it just totally misses the point of the reason I wanted to get him exactly this game. I always hated gift cards. I find them "an easy way out if you have no clue what to give" . :) So as long as I can find a way around that I will definitely do so.

Again, you are not gifting the user a gift card. You are literally giving them Steam wallet credit that can be used on the Steam store. I hate to say it but you're the one missing the point.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by Ducky goes to War:

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

It cannot be adjusted due to the simple fact that tax has to be collected based on where you are in the world and your store location because your government wants their slice of the pie and Valve are legally obligated to collect that tax.

I am from the UK and the price i see on the store is "inclusive of vat" (tax) and i cannot be charged more nor can i be charged less than the advertised price.

Secondly the price cannot be adjusted because i want to gift someone a game, whether the price be higher or lower in their region. I can however gift a game IF the price difference between the UK and their region is not more than 10%.

When you cannot send a gift you send them a Steam Digital Gift Card which converts to their currency and they can buy the game.

Thank you for you answer. That clears it up.

I do not like to gift a gift card. it just totally misses the point of the reason I wanted to get him exactly this game. I always hated gift cards. I find them "an easy way out if you have no clue what to give" . :) So as long as I can find a way around that I will definitely do so.

In this instance there is no way around region restrictions. Tell your friend, hey I wanted to buy this game for you as a gift but Steam isn't letting me, so I'm sending you the money via digital gift card so you can buy it for yourself.

[Ducky goes to War]

I bought a key on another website and sent him the code. Will see if he can activate it or not.

[Neo]

Yes it is annoying when steam stops you from buying a game for a friend. I understand why they do it, but from the customer perspective it is still annoying.

As others have stated, you could buy your friend steam funds, then your friend could use those funds to buy the game. But then that removes the element of surprise with gifting the game directly.