Not allowed to buy gifts

[Vod19Ka]

I recently bought some Steam Wallet Codes as my IRL friends have birthdays in November and December, and for Christmas gifts.
And yesterday to today, I wasn't allowed to gift to any.

When I contacted Steam, they claimed that it was unusual gifting activity and didn't give me any form of alternative.

[Vod19Ka]

I use Steam Wallet for transactions as my bank and debit card usually have issue with random online purchases

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You'll have to use external payment methods to gift games. That should have been stated in the ticket, unless your account is fully cut off from gifting.

Contact and ask for more clarity..

[Vod19Ka]

This was their entire reply to me.

"Hello,

We have detected unusual gifting activity on this account.

Using your Steam account for commercial purposes violates the Steam Subscriber Agreement and may result in the account being locked.

Please note you will not receive further replies regarding this issue.

Thanks for using Steam,
Cletus"

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

So, no more gifting on that account.

[MalikQayum]

it happens because of your past gifting history, a lot of traders back in the days used to gift games etc and this has finally come around to bite them. it is pretty unfair but you are not alone, they will most likely restore your gifting but that just means you will need to be extra careful on the amount of stuff you gift.

there is an ongoing topic about it in the steamgifts community and some other places but the public one i can think of is on steamgifts.

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/Q6V6z/most-disappointing-day-here-on-steam

[Vod19Ka]

Last time I gave a (1) gift was in May, then around 3 last year.

I'm not even a frequent gifter.

Note: I bought Steam Wallet Cards/Codes, it's not steam trading.

[MalikQayum]

Originally posted by Vod19Ka:

Last time I gave a (1) gift was in May, then around 3 last year.

I'm not even a frequent gifter.

I don't know but it does sound like you triggered the same flags as the ones in that topic and that is regarding gifting a lot in the past, doesn't need to be within this year, these people seems to have been flagged from gifting happening years ago.

i would post more but those are in private communities so i can't but it does sound like you fit the same description but they also said they had their restrictions lifted so it is possible.

(i only mentioned trading because it used to happen as a trade, not necessarily within the trade window, but as in they wired money through paypal or other means or even items and the other party would buy it directly from the store gifting it directly to them, so it would have been outside of the trade window.)

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You can always ask again for a second opinion. A new ticket.

[Vod19Ka]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully they lift it.
I actually can't spend on my card or bank (if the bank allows the purchase) anymore since I already spent the money buying the wallet codes.

[MalikQayum]

Originally posted by Vod19Ka:

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully they lift it.
I actually can't spend on my card or bank (if the bank allows the purchase) anymore since I already spent the money buying the wallet codes.

but just so you know:

Charlie22
So, you can still gift games to other people, but using a different payment option?
As for your Steam wallet, they only let you use it on games for your own account, but not for gifting?

6 days ago
Permalink
madjoki
Yes to both.

You'll gain risk score based on your gift activity (and market). If it's too much, you'll trigger fraud prevention systems.

I'd assume adding someone to gift something is considered much more risky than gifting to long time friends for example. Because in first case you'll definitely look like gift seller, which means better not use Steam for things like Steamgifts.

6 days ago
Permalink

in case you did not bother reading that thread i linked to, but since it is valuable info i think i would just make sure you understood that.

[Vod19Ka]

Yes, I read through it, those are understandable fraud prevention. I may have had previously gifted to newly added friends. (Not all IRL friends are added to my Steam) But the 2 people I was planning to gift to today are my Steam friends for almost 2 years.

Shouldn't they just compare "External Funds Used" vs the amount I gift?
I bought Steam Wallet Cards and should just compare it to that.
I'm just hoping they try to listen before closing the ticket outright.

[Lystent]

Does Valve atleast allow the ungiftable material to be refunded?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Lystent:

Does Valve atleast allow the ungiftable material to be refunded?

No money taken, no money to refund back to you.

[Lystent]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Lystent:

Does Valve atleast allow the ungiftable material to be refunded?

No money taken, no money to refund back to you.

:qr:

So it stopped the transaction from being completed?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Lystent:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

No money taken, no money to refund back to you.

So it stopped the transaction from being completed?

Correct.

Money is not taken from you until the transaction is successfully completed.