How do I gift Steam Games to someone who isn't on my friends list?

[WackyModder84]

I used to be able to do this in the past, but now I can't find the method I did it with anymore.
Please, for the love of God, tell me Valve wasn't stupid enough to remove that option.
If there is something I'm missing here, I would love to know. =)

[mimizukari]

you can't. removed to prevent game reselling. why would you want to gift someone not on your friends list anyways? you must be friends for a certain amount of time now, and price difference must be <=10%

[WackyModder84]

Originally posted by Yuiko:

why would you want to gift someone not on your friends list anyways?

My Counter-Examples:

- What if my friends list is FULL, and I know the person's Steam Account that I wanna gift?
- What if THEIR friends list is full, and are unable to add me, yet I would wanna gift them something?
- What if I know the account of a Content Creator on Steam, and wanna gift them something to show support to that person's content?

And yeah, I can keep going. There are MULTIPLE scenarios where that feature would come in handy. If Valve SERIOUSLY removed that, then that is so stupid for so many reasons.

[Spectacle]

Buy the steam code and then just message it to them. They acan activate it on their account.

[WackyModder84]

Originally posted by Spectacle:

Buy the steam code and then just message it to them. They acan activate it on their account.

Wait, how???
As in like.... from a Steam Key Reseller Site???

[ÁED]

Yeah that will work

[fractal9091]

Originally posted by Yuiko:

you can't. removed to prevent game reselling. why would you want to gift someone not on your friends list anyways? you must be friends for a certain amount of time now, and price difference must be <=10%

I had a friend who for the holidays was trying to give some games to a family member who wasn't already on Steam. After spending hours on it, it eventually turned out to be pretty much impossible.

This seems like the sort of thing that Steam should want to make easy.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by fractal9091:

I had a friend who for the holidays was trying to give some games to a family member who wasn't already on Steam. After spending hours on it, it eventually turned out to be pretty much impossible.

This seems like the sort of thing that Steam should want to make easy.

Read...

Steam News Announcement    May 4, 2017

STEAM GIFTING CHANGES 

Today we’re announcing changes to gifts on Steam. The gifting process has had a bunch of friction in it for a while, and we want to make it easier for you to share the games you love with friends.

[fractal9091]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Read...

Thanks for the link, but it looks like they are just saying how it is indeed impossible to give gifts to people you're not already friends with on Steam? The article seems to be pretending that no one would ever want to do this thing.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

To ensure the gifts go to the account that it was meant for. Many users complained that their gift was sent anothers email (99% gifter error typing in the email) they gave it to a random user pretending (impersonators) to be one on their friends list.

[fractal9091]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

To ensure the gifts go to the account that it was meant for. Many users complained that their gift was sent anothers email (99% gifter error typing in the email) they gave it to a random user pretending (impersonators) to be one on their friends list.

Well, Steam certainly prevented that outcome in this case, since no gifts could be sent at all.

I would have thought that sending gifts to someone already on the friends list could be a preferred option, without having to make it the only option. Anyway, thanks for explaining some of their rationale, even if it still seems like a terrible move for Steam overall.

[Brorahm]

how can i gift a game from trade offer do i have to buy mysefl first(buy for library then trade offer)? cant buy it as a gift it makes me chose someone from friend list.

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by Brorahm:

how can i gift a game from trade offer do i have to buy mysefl first(buy for library then trade offer)? cant buy it as a gift it makes me chose someone from friend list.

You can’t put games in your inventory for trading.

[carabanchel]

crap... I wanted to gift a game to my niece... she has not spent $5, so can't add her as a firend.
this sucks.

[Cassidy]

Originally posted by carabanchel:

crap... I wanted to gift a game to my niece... she has not spent $5, so can't add her as a firend.
this sucks.

She can't add you, but you can add her.

[mimizukari]

Originally posted by SpunkyJones:

Originally posted by Brorahm:

how can i gift a game from trade offer do i have to buy mysefl first(buy for library then trade offer)? cant buy it as a gift it makes me chose someone from friend list.

You can’t put games in your inventory for trading.

Wrong. you can, and there are still games which sell 4 packs and the like which go to your gift inventory.

Examples:

Shellshock Live
100% Orange Juice
The Ship