Impossible to purchase games / DLC without phone number?

[the_xandos]

Recently, I've run into steam asking me for my phone number when attempting to purchase a game several times. I do not want to give steam my phone number: I do not agree that it increases security (a phone is easily lost or stolen, so I try to not tie it to things like bank accounts or things that have value like a steam account), and besides that there is no reason for them to have it. Buying steam keys from other websites is a possibility, but it feels silly to have to use such workarounds, and it means I cannot use steam sales.

Is there still any way to buy a steam game without having to give your phone number during the payment steps?

PS: I tried to ask this question to steam support. But it turns out it is impossible to contact steam support for anything that isn't part of a small list of pre-selected questions. What a joke of a support system for such a large marketplace.

[wuddih]

that has nothing to do with security, that is standard requested billing data.

[Kargor]

I don't have this stupid authenticator either, and Steam works just fine for me except for their trading penalty (which has basically stopped me swapping duplicate cards, as people don't want to wait 15 days for the trade to complete). They DO still let me buy games in the Steam store.

Of course, this may or may not be a regional thing (I'm in Germany), and it may or may not depend on the payment method (I use PayPal).

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by the_xandos:

Is there still any way to buy a steam game without having to give your phone number during the payment steps?

Use Steam Wallet Cards to make the purchase.

[the_xandos]

Originally posted by wuddih:

that has nothing to do with security, that is standard requested billing data.

Is it? Steam didn't use to ask for my phone number when paying by card until recently, and no other website / service I use asks for it.