Namibian Currency on Steam Store

[Mew Mew Kitty]

Good Day!

Yesterday me and a friend were looking at purchasing some games on steam.
He lives in South Africa, and I live in Namibia. NOW, thing is, the Namibian Dollar and the South South African Rand are LINKED currencies, meaning they have the EXACT SAME value!!!!

Now what's bothering me, when he enters the steam store, he sees prices in Rand and at a adjusted value for his country, when I look at prices on my store, I only see it in USD, which means, he can purchase a game for 50Rand and I have to purchase that exact same game for 150Rand/Namibian Dollar because I have to convert Namibian dollar/South African Rand to USD which makes the game 3x more expensive!

This has to be corrected as it is clearly not right, I refuse to pay 3x more for a product that I'm supposed to get for the same price as they get it in south Africa since our currencies are linked and will never change!!!

I propose our store region/pricing to be the same as South Africa's.

Please I implore you to take this up with your team responsible for region/pricing and have a representative from them contact me to insure that this is being looked at, as it is woefully unfair towards the Namibian gaming community!
I will not stop at this support ticket if I receive a generic answer.
Please help! I have more than $1400usd invested in my steam library, and will continue to if this issue can be addressed .

I do NOT want to change my store region, I want pricing on the store for our region changed to reflect our linked currency to South Africa. Where can I launch a request for this to be addressed?

In fact. We ARE NOT America, we are Namibia. Thus our store currency should be NAD and not USD

[999999999]

Valve talks about adding currencies and other payment options here...

~5:42

https://youtu.be/g2rT0Ji3BWI

And here...

https://youtu.be/wrvr02SiHY4

Some where after 35:00. They just use Russia as the example.

But beware. Adding currencies does not mean the publisher will set their game prices to something similar to the other country. It might be more or less. And there are times when a new currency is added, publishers will not update the price at all, leaving their games unavailable for purchase unless they do.

And changing your store country when you are not physically in that country to purchase games can lead to account locks or termination.

[~Psycho.Kitty~]

I agree completely with the OP! I wish more Namibians would comment and raise this issue.

Steam is now linking your Visa card to your country so it is impossible to purchase using the South African currency (ZAR), even if you are in South Africa.

It is utterly ridiculous that they are forcing us to use USD as our currency, when we should be linked to the South African currency (ZAR) like we are in real life. All other gaming platforms allow us to use ZAR, so why must Steam be extra about this?

I am currently engaging with Steam Support on this issue, because it is making it impossible to purchase games on Steam. All that they have said so far is that it is region based. WELL we are in southern Africa, right next to South Africa and our currencies are linked. What is the problem really??

I will also continue to send support tickets until something is done about this, until we obtain some sort of confirmation that this is being looked into and corrected.

[Start_Running]

Be careful what you wish for.
8 times out of 10, the addition of a currency cause the price of games to go up.

[~Psycho.Kitty~]

We already have to pay 3x higher prices by being forced to use the USD currency, the exchange rate is insane. So can't really see how it can get any worse.

The South African currency is already on Steam, we are just asking for the Namibia region to be linked to it instead of USD...not a new currency to be added...

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by ~Psycho.Kitty~:

We already have to pay 3x higher prices by being forced to use the USD currency, the exchange rate is insane. So can't really see how it can get any worse.

That's exactly what the Aussies said...and they found the answer not to their liking. Look if you have that kind of exchange rate your currency is either sliding or fluctuating alot. Banks , like every other business tend to price their services based on volume. If you're a company that does hundreds of thousnds of transactions you'll get a better rate on those transaction fees than some one who only does a couple hundred. Valve is a big ass company and as such the banks give Valve a bit of a better rate on exchange rates simply because of the sheer volume.

WHen a currency is added. Valve no longer handles the currency conversion...that will be up to the publisher's bank and a single publisher is going to in most cases not have the sheer volume of transactions needed to take advantage of the preferential rates. So it will cost them more to accept your money and that increase in cost will be passed on in their pricing policy.

They will also have to price to account for the instability of your currency and the general rule tends to be to have a 20% buffer. So combine everything and you can probably expect the price of your games to go up b between 20 and 30 percent..

You will also have to deal with the idea that you will outright lose the ability to purchase certain games. Its been just over a year since aussies got their wish if I recall and there are still games that don't have prices in australia.


Again. Be careful what you wish for. You migght get it.

[Mew Mew Kitty]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by ~Psycho.Kitty~:

We already have to pay 3x higher prices by being forced to use the USD currency, the exchange rate is insane. So can't really see how it can get any worse.

That's exactly what the Aussies said...and they found the answer not to their liking. Look if you have that kind of exchange rate your currency is either sliding or fluctuating alot. Banks , like every other business tend to price their services based on volume. If you're a company that does hundreds of thousnds of transactions you'll get a better rate on those transaction fees than some one who only does a couple hundred. Valve is a big ass company and as such the banks give Valve a bit of a better rate on exchange rates simply because of the sheer volume.

WHen a currency is added. Valve no longer handles the currency conversion...that will be up to the publisher's bank and a single publisher is going to in most cases not have the sheer volume of transactions needed to take advantage of the preferential rates. So it will cost them more to accept your money and that increase in cost will be passed on in their pricing policy.

They will also have to price to account for the instability of your currency and the general rule tends to be to have a 20% buffer. So combine everything and you can probably expect the price of your games to go up b between 20 and 30 percent..

You will also have to deal with the idea that you will outright lose the ability to purchase certain games. Its been just over a year since aussies got their wish if I recall and there are still games that don't have prices in australia.


Again. Be careful what you wish for. You migght get it.

Well... As stated in my initial post, they can just have our steam store give is pricing in ZAR, like the Origin store does, since our currency is 100% linked to the South African currency..
Basically enable us to set our region to South Africa...

[Chris]

here in 2020, still seems like it hasint changed...

[WhiteKnight]

If only adding currency along with local payment supports were easier. am i rite?.

[Wayward]

The same here...

[Wayward]

I wanted to buy New World for my Friend in Namibia for his birthday but it wont let me....

[abanthis]

Completely agree, OP. I see nothing has changed, and there does not appear to be any plans for it to change any time soon. I've tried to talk to Steam Support about the issue, but I suppose we need strength in numbers. Would love to see the Namibian region hooked to the ZAR as well. Not sure why it can't be done since they are linked currencies.

[Cutey Mouse]

I'm annoyed by this as well... Why make a poor country pay 3 times the actual price due to the exchange rate? I don't get it, it just seems very greedy at the end of the day. If the exchange rate is way fairer then I won't mind buying games in USD. I don't feel like paying for overpriced games.

[Alphace(tone)]

And here we are 4 years later, still with the same problem. I think it is so unfair that we need to pay so much more. Thank you so much for standing up for us. did anything come of the support tickets you send?

[Zukabazuka]

Originally posted by Alphace:

And here we are 4 years later, still with the same problem. I think it is so unfair that we need to pay so much more. Thank you so much for standing up for us. did anything come of the support tickets you send?

Companies will most likely put the price to be equal to US dollar, so it wouldn't change much for you people.

[abanthis]

Originally posted by Zukabazuka:

Originally posted by Alphace:

And here we are 4 years later, still with the same problem. I think it is so unfair that we need to pay so much more. Thank you so much for standing up for us. did anything come of the support tickets you send?

Companies will most likely put the price to be equal to US dollar, so it wouldn't change much for you people.

It’s the sad price of ignorance. Latest game I acquired had to be gifted to me from a friend abroad because paying 1000ZAR for a video game isn’t a decision made lightly. That’s literally equivalent to a month’s worth of groceries for one. It’s always sucked, but I suppose seeing that a country with your same currency has access to something like this, but you don’t because companies refuse to recognise that your currency is linked with the Rand sucks harder lol. Such is life.