Steam guard is on, why 15 days trade restriction still bother me?

[CiccioCc]

Hi, I'm here after my phone broken and had to activate Steam Guard on new one. The 15 days trade/market restriction is leading me to madness. There is no way for me to wait 15 days, that is an infinite time, especially without a valid reason.

There are several evidence that allow Valve to to identify me and these could reduce if not cancel the useless wait. In many fields today digital signatures allow us to be sure who we are on Internet, Bank accounts, governments and other corporates already use them.

Steam support already answers these matters, at the same fare and time it could take care of checking and reactivating the trade.

Here is a series or ways to demonstrate the identity and remove restrictions time immediately:
1 : I reactivated the app, the authenticator and the steam guard on the new phone thanks for my phone number. That number is mine, I can access to steam games with that I don't understand why I can't access the rest.
2 : I can send photo of my steam devices, like Index, Vive, controllers. Their serial numbers can't be wrong
3 : I can send a photo with me and my ID
4 : I can send a photo with my broken phone, my new phone, and all the receipts, even the repair receipt
4: I can video call the assistance and they could register the call

Valve says that is for account security and make people things safe, but I don't get how such a matter of time and only that could protect from illegitimate use of my account. If I lost my account control for first or second day and I don't care for it, I don't understand why I should have control on it on day 16th. It could still be used illegitimately after the restriction time.

it shouldn't be a time wait to identify for sure people.


edit: hold>restriction

[JPMcMillen]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

Hi, I'm here after my phone broken and had to activate Steam Guard on new one. The 15 days trade/market hold is leading me to madness. There is no way for me to wait 15 days, that is an infinite time, especially without a valid reason.

There are several evidence that allow Valve to to identify me and these could reduce if not cancel the useless wait. In many fields today digital signatures allow us to be sure who we are on Internet, Bank accounts, governments and other corporates already use them.

Steam support already answers these matters, at the same fare and time it could take care of checking and reactivating the trade.

Here is a series or ways to demonstrate the identity and remove hold time immediately:
1 : I reactivated the app, the authenticator and the steam guard on the new phone thanks for my phone number. That number is mine, I can access to steam games with that I don't understand why I can't access the rest.
2 : I can send photo of my steam devices, like Index, Vive, controllers. Their serial numbers can't be wrong
3 : I can send a photo with me and my ID
4 : I can send a photo with my broken phone, my new phone, and all the receipts, even the repair receipt
4: I can video call the assistance and they could register the call

Valve says that is for account security and make people things safe, but I don't get how such a matter of time and only that could protect from illegitimate use of my account. If I lost my account control for first or second day and I don't care for it, I don't understand why I should have control on it on day 16th. It could still be used illegitimately after the hold time.

it shouldn't be a time wait to identify for sure people.

Without the hold it would be easier for someone that gained access to your Steam account credentials to move the Steam app and Authenticator to a device they have control of, under the guise of a broken device.

[CiccioCc]

Originally posted by JPMcMillen:

Without the hold it would be easier for someone that gained access to your Steam account credentials to move the Steam app and Authenticator to a device they have control of, under the guise of a broken device.

Even after being identified with the methods described above? They can be sure of my identity somehow, starting with the phone number which is the F2A I log into the account with...I thought I made myself clear

And why wait 15 days and not 1 or 2 or 10? do thieves have this expire time?

This phone accident happened to me now but I cannot think if somehow it happened during the december sales...

[Nx Machina]

Read: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8078-TPHC-6195

And understand why trade holds are not about individual choice but simply about protection for all users who want to trade. Your personal preference, wants, needs are not applicable.

[CiccioCc]

Originally posted by Kusa:

Read: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8078-TPHC-6195 And understand why trade holds are not about individual choice but simply about protection for all users who want to trade. Your personal preference, wants, needs are not applicable.

First of all. You Read: I have Mobile Authenticator, I had Mobile Authenticator and I will have Mobile Authenticator. It is useless and offensive for you to suggest me to read the istruction page. We are here to suggest.

I am not against trade hold, I am here to focus attention on the hold WITH mobile authenticator ON, because it was already ON on a device and transfered to another device after an accident.
I'm not against 2 factor authentication nor the access control systems. I am here for the time wait. Also I am legal in my country and responsible for my property, if I don't make attention to my car key I could lost it, day 1 as day 16th.

Everybody here needs protection but there are methods to protect people without this wait. Would you be happy if your bank told you that you are stopped for 15 days? Identification of persons is not a concept to be applied to a waiting time.

Moreover you said "My personal preference, wants, needs are not applicable" but they could become if they are well explained, argued and shared with other people in the community. I remember you that we are here as consumer and not as volunteers, we pay for market trade and its services and we are free to wish a better experience.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

I am not against trade hold, I am here to focus attention on the hold WITH mobile authenticator ON, because it was already ON on a device and transfered to another device after an accident.
I'm not against 2 factor authentication nor the access control systems. I am here for the time wait. Also I am legal in my country and responsible for my property, if I don't make attention to my car key I could lost it, day 1 as day 16th.

Everybody here needs protection but there are methods to protect people without this wait. Would you be happy if your bank told you that you are stopped for 15 days? Identification of persons is not a concept to be applied to a waiting time.

Moreover you said "My personal preference, wants, needs are not applicable" but they could become if they are well explained, argued and shared with other people in the community. I remember you that we are here as consumer and not as volunteers, we pay for market trade and its services and we are free to wish a better experience.

Which boils down to: I want it to work the way I need it to work and not the way it is.

More importantly:

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

Hi, I'm here after my phone broken and had to activate Steam Guard on new one. The 15 days trade/market hold is leading me to madness.

Which is about personal preference and your impatience.

And finally:

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

There is no way for me to wait 15 days, that is an infinite time, especially without a valid reason.

Valid Reason:

Trade and market holds protect items if a user's account is compromised. These holds also give users a way to recover items before they are lost. Even if a hijacker manages to access your account, you can prevent them from stealing your items by canceling any transactions that are on hold.

[CiccioCc]

You did not answer me in the simplest of questions: why should I get the trade hold when I have already and immediately reactivated the Steam Guard and there are methods and systems to let the assistance identify me

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

You did not answer me in the simplest of questions: why should I get the trade hold when I have already and immediately reactivated the Steam Guard and there are methods and systems to let the assistance identify me

Did you read the FAQ?

Does the FAQ explain why trade holds happen? Yes.

Does the FAQ include the following? Your personal preferences, wants, needs, desires or have an impatience clause. The answer is no.

Did you activate the app on a new phone? Yes, so you wait the required time before you can trade again.

[CiccioCc]

Yes I've read all of them, but this is a forum for SUGGESTIONS, not a thread for remember to read instructions. Rules can be changed if they are for the better.

You said "So wait"! Who are you? A parent who has to educate the child? a policeman who has to scold? My impatience does not concern you and I won't let you tell me what to do.

You have not read the reasons for my suggestion, you have concentrated the speech on personal preferences and discomfort. I have every right to express them to be eventually recognized by others who share and who may suffer the same impatience, that it is not necessarily wrong . If one thing is "The way it is" and we don't like it we are here in the right forum, the one of suggestions. You just dwell on how things are as per the manual and instructions but do not add reasons as to why they should not be changed

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

Yes I've read all of them, but this is a forum for SUGGESTIONS, not a thread for remember to read instructions. Rules can be changed if they are for the better.

You said "So wait"! Who are you? A parent who has to educate the child? a policeman who has to scold? My impatience does not concern you and I won't let you tell me what to do.

You have not read the reasons for my suggestion, you have concentrated the speech on personal preferences and discomfort. I have every right to express them to be eventually recognized by others who share and who may suffer the same impatience, that it is not necessarily wrong . If one thing is "The way it is" and we don't like it we are here in the right forum, the one of suggestions. You just dwell on how things are as per the manual and instructions but do not add reasons as to why they should not be changed

You are correct this is a suggestion forum and others like myself can disagree with your suggestion.

Not liking replies nor how the system works does not invalidate any responses made.

The trade hold FAQ contains all the information you need.

This will not change based upon your impatience with the system.

The system is to protect ALL users who trade.

[Black Blade]

Let's go on your suggestion on how to verify on the spot:

2 : I can send photo of my steam devices, like Index, Vive, controllers. Their serial numbers can't be wrong
3 : I can send a photo with me and my ID
4 : I can send a photo with my broken phone, my new phone, and all the receipts, even the repair receipt
4: I can video call the assistance and they could register the call

All these options need human interaction and that means manpower that is wasted on something like this (honestly)

1 may be valid, but then most phishing cases (what the auth is kind of there to help with) are done by social engineering
So if you let the user do this, the hijacker can as well

The reason for 15 days is to give you 15-10 days to find out your account has been hijacked, and to find out what to do (contact support) and regain control
I say 15-10 as of the support possibly being loaded and therefor tickets taking longer as well as the time the user may not notice

the reason its 15 and not 1 is that it may not be enough time
The reason its 15 and not 100000 is that they need to give a reasonable time so the user that do it, don't have to wait too much

Besides that how many times do you change a phone that is so much of a problem?
I think at least most users don't change a phone every two weeks and there for the 15 days can be a bother but its not the end of the world in any way

[CiccioCc]

Thanks Black Blade, finally a response from a not squared mind who only knows the rules and doesn't think differently. I appreciate that you read well my argues and undestood the particular case. I understand everything you said.

But considering that the assistance takes up to 15 days to safeguard someone who reports in hijack of his account, at the same time he could manually unlock an account that make request, proves and ascertains real identity. The manpower in that case would be the same as the first case (regain control) but with a reversed situation.
Despite having clear the faq I wanted to contact the support and I have received several responses from them for this in under 24h, and with the same effort they have made for reply they could unlock, if the procedure allowed it. As you said there will be no so many cases like mine but at the same time I was being prevented just for being a minority.

All this effort should be balanced, as you say so manpower should not be wasted, on the basis of the 15days money movements that the trading / market can do to the valve treasure cashes.

[CiccioCc]

Originally posted by Kusa:

You are correct this is a suggestion forum and others like myself can disagree with your suggestion.

My suggestion was to make it better and not to make it dangerous. I suggest to add a identifying service not to remove the protection service. You disagree to get better things, maybe cause you didn't get the spirit of the proposal

Originally posted by Kusa:

This will not change based upon your impatience with the system.

My impatience is not proven as an individual issue, and so not a wrong thing. Time everywhere in the world (like silence sometimes), is a value.

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

My suggestion was to make it better and not to make it dangerous. I suggest to add a identifying service not to remove the protection service. You disagree to get better things, maybe cause you didn't get the spirit of the proposal

Your suggestion requires manpower and a live service.

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

My impatience is not proven as an individual issue, and so not a wrong thing. Time everywhere in the world (like silence sometimes), is a value.

Not proven? I beg to differ.

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

There is no way for me to wait 15 days, that is an infinite time, especially without a valid reason.

[Black Blade]

Originally posted by CiccioCc:

Thanks Black Blade, finally a response from a not squared mind who only knows the rules and doesn't think differently. I appreciate that you read well my argues and undestood the particular case. I understand everything you said.

But considering that the assistance takes up to 15 days to safeguard someone who reports in hijack of his account, at the same time he could manually unlock an account that make request, proves and ascertains real identity. The manpower in that case would be the same as the first case (regain control) but with a reversed situation.
Despite having clear the faq I wanted to contact the support and I have received several responses from them for this in under 24h, and with the same effort they have made for reply they could unlock, if the procedure allowed it. As you said there will be no so many cases like mine but at the same time I was being prevented just for being a minority.

All this effort should be balanced, as you say so manpower should not be wasted, on the basis of the 15days money movements that the trading / market can do to the valve treasure cashes.

The support used to take around 14 days to reply, somewhat because of overloading and lots of things coming into them
This is one more thing that they may need to deal with, and that will take support away from users that need help on in my opinion important stuff

I am not sure I read you right but are you changing phones every two weeks? because that is the only part I talk about a minority their

Valve did say at some point there looking at more options, so possible we get more ways to auth that may help on that

The 15 days is also to let the user find out there account was taken, not only for support to reply, and part of it is also to let the user deal with the problem themself most times

The support used to be overloaded as people turn to them on all type of stuff, today Valve push for more self-helping tools for users (Auth, FAQ, Warnings, Account lock, refunds) so I think part of it is that support needs to deal with less and answer faster
Putting a photo verifying that unlocks on the spot is likely to load them again, as users will feel pretty safe to just dump their phones and switch if they can just gain back trading in moments meaning more support tickets and more delays for users that got there accounts hijacked, or have payment issues and the like

I mean I don't know maybe I am in a small group of people that do this, but I had my last phone for like 3...5 years at this point.. maybe more
I don't think most users change phones that much that the 15 days is really so much of a hassle for them on a daily basis, and on the other hand its really helpful for users to regain control
So much so that hijackers today try different ways to get, and I nearly heard of users losing access and items from hijacked (while having mobile auth) at most times they give there times away that its is own problem

[CiccioCc]

Thanks again for the kind reply. However seems all of you know better than me how things works inside Valve offices, and what is better for them to do and all to tolerate.

This is caused by the fact that rather than getting a response from a complaints office, getting an official response from someone who really knows how things can go, they prefer to have us slaughtered in a forum where anyone can write all the bul***it that goes through their heads.

No, I don't change phone every 15 days. I changed it because it broke by accident. It can happen to anyone and anyone can get annoyed by a 15 days wait. It could happen during the winter sales and this would have been even worse. I speak for those who in these cases like me are willing to do what is asked to me in order to unblock the situation and regain control. Also to be identified and even pay for that if necessary for all necessary checks. As has already been said, for me time and waiting time is a value and if I can buy it for few bucks it doesn't bother me. Here we are in front of a corporation, and for companies, money talks. It is like when we choosing urgent shipping rather than standard shipping to have things soon. it's a personal choice.

Having said that, I cannot understand how an additional service I could suggest that a company can offer, whether free or paid, can disturb community participants, even to discuss and debate that this reduces protection for all, which it is not. If something that does cost you nothing, it bothers you so much it would seem to that things are convenient for you as they are configured at the moment, because someone of you had already found a way to deceive the system as is.