Requires Billing Address for Purchase with Steam Wallet Funds

[Literally Me]

I am unable to purchase anything with my wallet funds without first inputting a billing address. I have never had to do this before. Is this a recent change and, if possible, how can I go back to just purchasing with wallet funds?

[Zero]

Publicado originalmente por Living Computer:

Tbh this issue will maybe make Steam lose 0,001% of its customers.

Any of you guys being concerned over this, did you really only use anonoymous adress details for Steam before this?

Btw, the whole thing about egging houses and doxxing ppl, sure, but that sounds like a really low risk thing. Plus there is law enforcement, criminal proceedings and the like. Tbh an alarm system/security camera sounds like a better investment in that case.

Tbh the privacy policy things and changing usually can't be retroactive, unless you accept it in some way IIRC. Especially in EU, with GDPR and stuff. Corporations can't just ♥♥♥♥ around like they like.

I'm not saying the risk doesn't exist, i'm just saying it is really low. I am much more concerned with being the victim of random criminals then people that would target me for a Steam account.

I can understand ppl thinking it is a bit unnessecary (bad spell) for Valve to ask. Maybe it is.

I would prefer they didn't if they could. But tbh it is not gonna affect my purchases on Steam at all.

i'm sure it's more than 0.001 % just look how much people are talking in this thread comparing other threads XD

[Brian9824]

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

Publicado originalmente por Living Computer:

Tbh this issue will maybe make Steam lose 0,001% of its customers.

Any of you guys being concerned over this, did you really only use anonoymous adress details for Steam before this?

Btw, the whole thing about egging houses and doxxing ppl, sure, but that sounds like a really low risk thing. Plus there is law enforcement, criminal proceedings and the like. Tbh an alarm system/security camera sounds like a better investment in that case.

Tbh the privacy policy things and changing usually can't be retroactive, unless you accept it in some way IIRC. Especially in EU, with GDPR and stuff. Corporations can't just ♥♥♥♥ around like they like.

I'm not saying the risk doesn't exist, i'm just saying it is really low. I am much more concerned with being the victim of random criminals then people that would target me for a Steam account.

I can understand ppl thinking it is a bit unnessecary (bad spell) for Valve to ask. Maybe it is.

I would prefer they didn't if they could. But tbh it is not gonna affect my purchases on Steam at all.

i'm sure it's more than 0.001 % just look how much people are talking in this thread comparing other threads XD

50 / 20,000,000 active users = 0.0000025

So .001% was generous. Even making it 50,000 people would only be 0.0025

If you actually go by number of accounts that are on steam add about 2-3 more 0's.

[Cryptic]

Publicado originalmente por brian9824:

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

i'm sure it's more than 0.001 % just look how much people are talking in this thread comparing other threads XD

50 / 20,000,000 active users = 0.0000025

So .001% was generous. Even making it 50,000 people would only be 0.0025

If you actually go by number of accounts that are on steam add about 2-3 more 0's.

I think a better way of looking at it is how much do those users spend each year (compared to the average user) that you are now alienating as well as potential new customers that might be turned off by this new policy and not join and go to competitor instead.

[Ihatetrainyards]

Publicado originalmente por Living Computer:

Tbh this issue will maybe make Steam lose 0,001% of its customers.

Any of you guys being concerned over this, did you really only use anonoymous adress details for Steam before this?

Btw, the whole thing about egging houses and doxxing ppl, sure, but that sounds like a really low risk thing. Plus there is law enforcement, criminal proceedings and the like. Tbh an alarm system/security camera sounds like a better investment in that case.

Tbh the privacy policy things and changing usually can't be retroactive, unless you accept it in some way IIRC. Especially in EU, with GDPR and stuff. Corporations can't just ♥♥♥♥ around like they like.

I'm not saying the risk doesn't exist, i'm just saying it is really low. I am much more concerned with being the victim of random criminals then people that would target me for a Steam account.

I can understand ppl thinking it is a bit unnessecary (bad spell) for Valve to ask. Maybe it is.

I would prefer they didn't if they could. But tbh it is not gonna affect my purchases on Steam at all.

As people have already mentioned in this thread before, people who cared about not giving private information just used things like paysafecard or steam gift cards which previously did not require anything else than the PIN for payment.

[Draconic NEO]

Personally I think steam is and has been for a while now, testing the waters to see how strong brand loyalty is and How many human rights their customers are okay with losing. In my experience most gamers I've met couldn't care less about human rights unless it directly causes them to suffer, or prevents them from playing games. If you are concerned about privacy and other human rights I'd suggest you look for an alternative to steam like itch.io or GOG, stay away from flagship stores like Epic or Uplay since they are flagships. If you can't find the game you want there you can usually find them for sale on other sites as steam keys, This isn't 100% safe either because some shady websites collect as much or even more than Steam, but other than that the only other option is illegal (piracy).

[♂Culinary Master♂]

Can someone tell me what caused this recent change in steam? I see alot of people talking about a change in laws regarding taxation in USA, i see people saying it's about a change in the EU law. It's really confusing to me.

[Ihatetrainyards]

Publicado originalmente por Toothless NEO:

Personally I think steam is and has been for a while now, testing the waters to see how strong brand loyalty is and How many human rights their customers are okay with losing. In my experience most gamers I've met couldn't care less about human rights unless it directly causes them to suffer, or prevents them from playing games. If you are concerned about privacy and other human rights I'd suggest you look for an alternative to steam like itch.io or GOG, stay away from flagship stores like Epic or Uplay since they are flagships. If you can't find the game you want there you can usually find them for sale on other sites as steam keys, This isn't 100% safe either because some shady websites collect as much or even more than Steam, but other than that the only other option is illegal (piracy).

God help you if you actually dare to complain about privacy violation or un-needed data collection, all of the companys fans will come to their defense and call you a paranoid tinfoil hat wearer to derail the original topic of the thread.

[Draconic NEO]

Publicado originalmente por Midget Pirate of the Violin:

Can someone tell me what caused this recent change in steam? I see alot of people talking about a change in laws regarding taxation in USA, i see people saying it's about a change in the EU law. It's really confusing to me.

I feel like whatever reason they'll give is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ because they didn't update the steam subscriber agreement or make any kind of announcement yet

[Ihatetrainyards]

Publicado originalmente por Toothless NEO:

Publicado originalmente por Ihatetrainyards:

God help you if you actually dare to complain about privacy violation or un-needed data collection, all of the companys fans will come to their defense and call you a paranoid tinfoil hat wearer to derail the original topic of the thread.

Go complain to your fellow Valve Fanboys who actually care about your opinion, you can tell them what an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I am. I'll just advise that you try not to break the terms of service when doing so, unless you want to get banned, I'm pretty sure fanboys are not immune to the rules (yet).

I read your post 5 times and i cannot understand what this is about.

[Living Computer]

Well, i kinda see your point, i care a lot about privacy normally when it comes to more sensitive stuff on the internet. I would never talk about politics here for example, even if it would be allowed.

But when we are speaking about human rights? That's kind of exaggregating. Tbh i think the chance of Steam fixing this will be really low, even if it could it probably wouldn't be worth the legal consultation.

Your best chance is probably the EU through GDPR. I think even that has a low probablity of success though, as least if they are only using it to verify your residence for tax purposes. Read a bit of GDPR but absolutely no lawyer, know a bit law in general since i studied a bit of law.

But i'm no lawyer, there are data protection authorities and i guess Valve has a Data Protection Officer or something? I guess that's the way to start if you feel strongly about this.

I agree with you in principle, if they can do it without your adress i would prefer they didn't ask.



But will it affect my purchases on Steam in the slightest? Unlikely.


Idk if i have much more to add to this discussion, we will see.

[Vandread]

Publicado originalmente por Midget Pirate of the Violin:

Can someone tell me what caused this recent change in steam? I see alot of people talking about a change in laws regarding taxation in USA, i see people saying it's about a change in the EU law. It's really confusing to me.

Steam Support: Billing Information Requested During Checkout

Why is my billing information required?

In the EU, merchants are required to gather location information from customers in order to properly source the sale. To read more about this requirement for all EU countries, please see Regulation No 1042/2013 here[eur-lex.europa.eu]. In the US and Canada, billing information is needed to apply the appropriate sales tax rate for your state/province.

Same Directive can be found here[eur-lex.europa.eu] in an easier to read format.

Note they're using a mostly 5 year old, some 3 year old, set of laws to make you believe they need it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2015.

However, Articles 13b, 31a and 31b of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011, as inserted by this Regulation, shall apply from 1 January 2017.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Luxembourg, 7 October 2013.

For the Council

The President

J. BERNATONIS

Which when you think about it makes this even more hilarious. Either they're slow as a snail, or they're just spewing a load of bull to farm personal data.

FWIW, there's numerous other posts on it that hold explanations as to why some from the EU believe they do not need it and think it's actually illegitimate that they're asking due to conflicts with the GDPR - there are alternatives to the requested data that are less invasive on privacy.

[DC-GS]

Publicado originalmente por Living Computer:

Any of you guys being concerned over this, did you really only use anonoymous adress details for Steam before this?

In my case: yes. That's why I was surprised why they asked for private information.

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

i'm sure it's more than 0.001 % just look how much people are talking in this thread comparing other threads XD

That's not that much. The same people post here over and over again.

[Zero]

Publicado originalmente por DC-GS:

Publicado originalmente por Living Computer:

Any of you guys being concerned over this, did you really only use anonoymous adress details for Steam before this?

In my case: yes. That's why I was surprised why they asked for private information.

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

i'm sure it's more than 0.001 % just look how much people are talking in this thread comparing other threads XD

That's not that much. The same people post here over and over again.

you don't count that people who don't want talk here or don't even care and already leave steam to other plataform because of this...

[Brian9824]

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

Publicado originalmente por DC-GS:

In my case: yes. That's why I was surprised why they asked for private information.



That's not that much. The same people post here over and over again.

you don't count that people who don't want talk here or don't even care and already leave steam to other plataform because of this...

Considering the broke their record for the most users active users online on steam this month I don't think they are worried. Sure some might leave, but its not going to make much of a difference. People leave and new people join every day.

[Cryptic]

Publicado originalmente por brian9824:

Publicado originalmente por Zero:

you don't count that people who don't want talk here or don't even care and already leave steam to other plataform because of this...

Considering the broke their record for the most users active users online on steam this month I don't think they are worried. Sure some might leave, but its not going to make much of a difference. People leave and new people join every day.

I doubt they care about active users online (besides people playing their games). This isn't twitter, they are not looking to have huge user engagement trying to get as many people looking at a particular advertisement. They care more how much money people spending when they are on the site.