Does Steam not like me buying games on Steam?

[李善淵]

Recently, I saw some sales and picked out about thirty games. Then, I went to each game's store page to check if there were any bundles. After selecting, adding, and removing items, I tried to check out, but I encountered the following error message:

There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance.

After waiting and retrying several times but still getting stuck on the error message, I tried to seek a solution from Steam support. I selected 'Purchases,' then 'I can't complete my purchase on the Steam Store.' Next, some purchase records appeared, but since I failed at the initial purchase stage, no records were shown. I could only select 'My purchase isn't listed here,' and then 'Game or other software.'

The following support options are all related to CD keys, which doesn't help at all with my issue of not being able to make a purchase. I couldn't find a way to submit a ticket to describe my situation, leaving me completely at a loss for help.

So, I started removing items from my cart one by one, but even after removing all but one item, I still encountered the error message. This was incredibly frustrating. Then, I cleared my cart and tried adding a single item again, attempting to complete the purchase.

As a result, even though I hadn't completed any purchases, Steam showed me the following error message:

It looks like you've been attempting a lot of purchases in the last few hours. Please wait a while before trying again.

This purchasing experience has been very frustrating. I don't know what kind of attacks Steam is trying to defend against, but it's clear that I have become a helpless victim of legitimate Steam purchases.

I'm exhausted.

[rawWwRrr]

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

As a result, even though I hadn't completed any purchases, Steam showed me the following error message:

It looks like you've been attempting a lot of purchases in the last few hours. Please wait a while before trying again.

The error message here talks about "attempts" not actual purchases. It's a cooldown that triggers after many *attempts* to make a purchase such as going through the checkout process multiple times without making a purchase. It typically lasts about 2 hours before expiring and any attempt before then will reset the timer back to 2 hours.

[rawWwRrr]

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

The following support options are all related to CD keys, which doesn't help at all with my issue of not being able to make a purchase. I couldn't find a way to submit a ticket to describe my situation, leaving me completely at a loss for help.

Those are for CD key issues. If you type the name of a game you're trying to purchase in the search box below that, you'll continue to get other options, one of which will result in opening a ticket.

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

As a result, even though I hadn't completed any purchases, Steam showed me the following error message:

It looks like you've been attempting a lot of purchases in the last few hours. Please wait a while before trying again.

The error message here talks about "attempts" not actual purchases. It's a cooldown that triggers after many *attempts* to make a purchase such as going through the checkout process multiple times without making a purchase. It typically lasts about 2 hours before expiring and any attempt before then will reset the timer back to 2 hours.

The problem is that Steam itself had issues which prevented me from completing the purchase. Then, based on its own defense mechanism, it blocked me and made me waste a while waiting. In the end, I had to wait for two hours. Is this reasonable?

And if I don't know which of my thirty-something items has an issue, or if there's a problem with my account, causing me to be unable to complete the checkout and continually trigger these so-called attempts, wouldn't that create an infinite loop of being locked out forever?

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

The following support options are all related to CD keys, which doesn't help at all with my issue of not being able to make a purchase. I couldn't find a way to submit a ticket to describe my situation, leaving me completely at a loss for help.

Those are for CD key issues. If you type the name of a game you're trying to purchase in the search box below that, you'll continue to get other options, one of which will result in opening a ticket.

The problem is, I have no idea which of the thirty-something games and bundles is causing the issue, or if it's a problem with my account. If I just pick one to submit a ticket, would I end up waiting five days for a response from Steam, and by then the sales would be over?

It's also very likely that they might not even consider the purchase to have a problem, and ask me to provide more information. This back-and-forth makes me wonder whether I'm spending money to buy games or paying to get tortured.

Moreover, the most important thing is that since "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction" is already a standard error message, the default options should include assistance related to this error message, rather than just listing three options related to CD-key assistance.

[VaLiuM]

Well, there seems to be a problem with the way how a ticket can be sent in the help system.

For me, they also only list issues regarding CD keys even when selecting purchase can't be completed, game is not listed, which is not what i needed.

That means, you aren't really able to send a ticket for the right issue which in return blocks you from getting real support.

So, to be able to send a ticket, you have to specify the game you wanted to purchase but failed.

Just copy the link in a browser while being logged-in and add the AppID from the game after "=" and then open the link.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpCompletePackagePurchase?appid=

That should give you the option to send a support ticket for the correct game, where you then can explain in detail.

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por VaLiuM:

Just copy the link in a browser while being logged-in and add the AppID from the game after "=" and then open the link.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpCompletePackagePurchase?appid=

That should give you the option to send a support ticket for the correct game, where you then can explain in detail.

I tried purchasing each game one by one to avoid the vague error messages. After successfully buying a few games, Steam blocked my purchase again. I still have about twenty more games to try, which means this game purchasing process has turned into a tiring chore that will take one or two days.

During the process, I found that one of the purchases failed, but it was a bundle
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24241/RMKING_BUNDLE/
so it has a bundle ID and multiple app IDs. I will try using one of the app IDs first, but this is really exhausting.

[rawWwRrr]

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

The error message here talks about "attempts" not actual purchases. It's a cooldown that triggers after many *attempts* to make a purchase such as going through the checkout process multiple times without making a purchase. It typically lasts about 2 hours before expiring and any attempt before then will reset the timer back to 2 hours.

The problem is that Steam itself had issues which prevented me from completing the purchase. Then, based on its own defense mechanism, it blocked me and made me waste a while waiting. In the end, I had to wait for two hours. Is this reasonable?

And if I don't know which of my thirty-something items has an issue, or if there's a problem with my account, causing me to be unable to complete the checkout and continually trigger these so-called attempts, wouldn't that create an infinite loop of being locked out forever?

Regardless of what caused you to make several attempts, it's the attempts that triggered the cooldown, not any actual purchases or lack there of.

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Those are for CD key issues. If you type the name of a game you're trying to purchase in the search box below that, you'll continue to get other options, one of which will result in opening a ticket.

The problem is, I have no idea which of the thirty-something games and bundles is causing the issue, or if it's a problem with my account. If I just pick one to submit a ticket, would I end up waiting five days for a response from Steam, and by then the sales would be over?

It's also very likely that they might not even consider the purchase to have a problem, and ask me to provide more information. This back-and-forth makes me wonder whether I'm spending money to buy games or paying to get tortured.

Moreover, the most important thing is that since "There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction" is already a standard error message, the default options should include assistance related to this error message, rather than just listing three options related to CD-key assistance.

Sometimes you have to have to do some investigative work. You could have simply just chosen one game to start the process and then when you got to the ticket just explain in detail from the start including the list of games you first attempted to purchase. I was merely helping you find your past the CD key prompt. The rest is on you.

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Regardless of what caused you to make several attempts, it's the attempts that triggered the cooldown, not any actual purchases or lack there of.

This looks to me like a mechanism created just to trouble customers.

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Sometimes you have to have to do some investigative work. You could have simply just chosen one game to start the process and then when you got to the ticket just explain in detail from the start including the list of games you first attempted to purchase. I was merely helping you find your past the CD key prompt. The rest is on you.

Yes, I did purchase each game one by one. As you know, this is very exhausting, and I have to keep waiting for a two-hour interval each time. Even when I successfully identify the problematic appid or bundle id, the customer service only replies with canned messages saying to use a browser, check if I am not using a proxy, and verify the payment information (in my case, the purchase didn't even initialize, so I couldn't verify anything). They also ask if the card is being blocked by the bank (in my case, I had already switched to using Steam Wallet), and I even had individual transactions succeed.

This clearly indicates that when such an error occurs, the system should continue the check-out process for the items in the shopping cart that can successfully initialize the purchase, allowing players to complete the purchase of games in one go. The system should also automatically create tickets for the problematic items, informing players when the issues are resolved and allowing them to make the purchase then.

This entire process could be automated, but now players have to purchase items one by one, face multiple attempts, and get blocked for two hours. The whole situation is very unreasonable.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Actually that mechanism is in place because you know people try to abuse systems. Such as like the family system of how people were not living in the same house, but all over the world, or using VPN to bypass region price restrictions. As you can see, this mechanism is annoying, but you can blame the people who abused it. I believe it was put into place in case someone got on someone's account by nefarious means and buy alot of games. This is to prevent them from spending all the owner's money on games if there not the account owner.

[李善淵]

For those who need it, here's the canned message from Steam:

Hello,

If you have not already done so, please use your system’s native web browser to make the purchase through our web store:http://store.steampowered.com/

Before you try to make a new purchase, please make sure that you:
Are not using any IP proxy or VPN software
Verify that you enter the correct information for your payment method
Have confirmed with your bank that they are not blocking purchases from Steam Games

If the issue persists while trying to purchase in your browser, please wait a few hours and try again.

Please let us know if this does not resolve the issue.

Steam Support

If I encounter a situation where I can open a ticket again, I will try to mention that I used a browser, did not use a proxy, and used Steam Wallet when opening the ticket. Let's see if customer service still replies with a canned message.

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por RPG Gamer Man:

Actually that mechanism is in place because you know people try to abuse systems. Such as like the family system of how people were not living in the same house, but all over the world, or using VPN to bypass region price restrictions. As you can see, this mechanism is annoying, but you can blame the people who abused it. I believe it was put into place in case someone got on someone's account by nefarious means and buy alot of games. This is to prevent them from spending all the owner's money on games if there not the account owner.

I can understand that some people might try to abuse the system, but the practical approach should be to focus on users who have switched regions and apply stricter screening mechanisms to their transactions, rather than treating everyone like a suspect. As a user who has never switched regions and uses a fixed transaction method, I find this mechanism quite annoying.

As for the issue of account theft and unauthorized spending, let's be honest, humans need eight hours of sleep, and under exhaustion, it can go up to 12 hours or even over a day. So, I don't see how a two-hour block can effectively prevent anything. Secondly, there are many games on Steam that cost over $40, so if someone wants to maliciously spend all the Steam Wallet money, multiple transactions are not needed. Thirdly, this just highlights that Steam is only selling you a usage right, but cannot fully revert the wallet to its original state before the unauthorized use. After all, it's not the account holder who used it maliciously, yet the costs are being transferred to the victim. The people using these games aren't even the account holders, nor have they ever used them. This makes people want to re-evaluate why we should bear these risks when we don't even own the games, right?

[rawWwRrr]

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Regardless of what caused you to make several attempts, it's the attempts that triggered the cooldown, not any actual purchases or lack there of.

This looks to me like a mechanism created just to trouble customers.

It's not. If it was you would have not have ever been able to make a purchase. Plus, that conclusion is illogical given the circumstances. Restrictions are in place to prevent abuse. Any user making simple purchases would never encounter. Only those that are encountering issues or attempting to abuse the checkout process will ever see it, much like yourself.

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

Yes, I did purchase each game one by one. As you know, this is very exhausting, and I have to keep waiting for a two-hour interval each time. Even when I successfully identify the problematic appid or bundle id, the customer service only replies with canned messages saying to use a browser, check if I am not using a proxy, and verify the payment information (in my case, the purchase didn't even initialize, so I couldn't verify anything). They also ask if the card is being blocked by the bank (in my case, I had already switched to using Steam Wallet), and I even had individual transactions succeed.

This clearly indicates that when such an error occurs, the system should continue the check-out process for the items in the shopping cart that can successfully initialize the purchase, allowing players to complete the purchase of games in one go. The system should also automatically create tickets for the problematic items, informing players when the issues are resolved and allowing them to make the purchase then.

This entire process could be automated, but now players have to purchase items one by one, face multiple attempts, and get blocked for two hours. The whole situation is very unreasonable.

You're making it unreasonable.

The canned responses are typical of support teams that have to answer thousands of tickets asking the same questions. Their canned to process them quickly. Something that you seem to overlook in your canned response is the request to reach back out to them should you still encounter problems after addressing the most common issues, those of which they outlined in their canned response.

It seems you're more upset that you aren't getting the personal attention you feel you deserve. Unfortunately that's not going to happen.

I have encountered check out issues in the past. Yes, they can be frustrating, but there's usually a solution if you're willing to see it through with Support. There was a bundle I couldn't buy because I owned a title that was included but under a different appid. After working with Support, which did take a few days to complete, not only was I able to buy the bundle but was also given an extra copy of the game in question which I gifted to a friend of mine.

Moral of the story is stop making this more than what it is. Be patient and work with Support to find a solution.

[Alex Hatake]

0_0

[Silicon Vampire]

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

This looks to me like a mechanism created just to trouble customers.

It's not. If it was you would have not have ever been able to make a purchase. Plus, that conclusion is illogical given the circumstances. Restrictions are in place to prevent abuse. Any user making simple purchases would never encounter. Only those that are encountering issues or attempting to abuse the checkout process will ever see it, much like yourself.

Escrito originalmente por 李善淵:

Yes, I did purchase each game one by one. As you know, this is very exhausting, and I have to keep waiting for a two-hour interval each time. Even when I successfully identify the problematic appid or bundle id, the customer service only replies with canned messages saying to use a browser, check if I am not using a proxy, and verify the payment information (in my case, the purchase didn't even initialize, so I couldn't verify anything). They also ask if the card is being blocked by the bank (in my case, I had already switched to using Steam Wallet), and I even had individual transactions succeed.

This clearly indicates that when such an error occurs, the system should continue the check-out process for the items in the shopping cart that can successfully initialize the purchase, allowing players to complete the purchase of games in one go. The system should also automatically create tickets for the problematic items, informing players when the issues are resolved and allowing them to make the purchase then.

This entire process could be automated, but now players have to purchase items one by one, face multiple attempts, and get blocked for two hours. The whole situation is very unreasonable.

You're making it unreasonable.

The canned responses are typical of support teams that have to answer thousands of tickets asking the same questions. Their canned to process them quickly. Something that you seem to overlook in your canned response is the request to reach back out to them should you still encounter problems after addressing the most common issues, those of which they outlined in their canned response.

It seems you're more upset that you aren't getting the personal attention you feel you deserve. Unfortunately that's not going to happen.

I have encountered check out issues in the past. Yes, they can be frustrating, but there's usually a solution if you're willing to see it through with Support. There was a bundle I couldn't buy because I owned a title that was included but under a different appid. After working with Support, which did take a few days to complete, not only was I able to buy the bundle but was also given an extra copy of the game in question which I gifted to a friend of mine.

Moral of the story is stop making this more than what it is. Be patient and work with Support to find a solution.

My family’s recent support experiences are not as you describe. These people don’t read anything, much like the moderators of this forum these days.

I don’t see this changing

[李善淵]

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

It's not. If it was you would have not have ever been able to make a purchase. Plus, that conclusion is illogical given the circumstances. Restrictions are in place to prevent abuse. Any user making simple purchases would never encounter. Only those that are encountering issues or attempting to abuse the checkout process will ever see it, much like yourself.

If you cannot understand the difference between unnecessary troublesome steps in the purchasing process that lead to purchasing difficulties and being unable to make a purchase, it will be difficult for you to understand what I am about to say.

And then you accused my normal purchasing behavior of being misuse. Considering your comprehension ability, I decided not to waste time explaining and merely lodged a protest.

Escrito originalmente por rawWwRrr:

You're making it unreasonable.

The canned responses are typical of support teams that have to answer thousands of tickets asking the same questions. Their canned to process them quickly. Something that you seem to overlook in your canned response is the request to reach back out to them should you still encounter problems after addressing the most common issues, those of which they outlined in their canned response.

It seems you're more upset that you aren't getting the personal attention you feel you deserve. Unfortunately that's not going to happen.

I have encountered check out issues in the past. Yes, they can be frustrating, but there's usually a solution if you're willing to see it through with Support. There was a bundle I couldn't buy because I owned a title that was included but under a different appid. After working with Support, which did take a few days to complete, not only was I able to buy the bundle but was also given an extra copy of the game in question which I gifted to a friend of mine.

Moral of the story is stop making this more than what it is. Be patient and work with Support to find a solution.

To put it simply, after making one purchase after another, I find this problematic bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/24241/RMKING_BUNDLE/
It caused an error during the checkout process, displaying the message, 'There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance.'

After reporting this issue to customer support, the bundle can still be found on steamdb and has not been removed, but it no longer appears on my Steam page. Clearly, this indicates that the bundle was not meant for me to purchase, which led to the checkout error when I clicked 'Continue to payment.'

My suggested process is to filter out products that can't be checked out when clicking 'Continue to payment.' Then, other games/bundles can proceed with purchases smoothly, and any problematic game/bundle can be flagged for Steam to investigate and hide if needed. This straightforward improvement could save users from spending days identifying problematic bundles and figuring out how to report them. These Steam issues have nothing to do with the user, so why should the user be responsible for debugging?

Your focus is on the fact that you've encountered difficulties before and spent several days resolving them with customer support.

But in this day and age, a simple process improvement could save users from wasting days identifying problems. Your other points are also flawed, but if you can't even understand the convenience brought by process improvement and think that it complicates things, then explaining anything else to you is a waste of time.