Advocating for Change: Revisiting Steam's Item Restoration Policy

[Innvo]

Hello everyone,

I hope you're all doing well.

Before I delve into the main topic, let me recount an incident that occurred with me over a year ago. I had an expensive CS:GO item (StatTrak Butterfly knife | Lore) worth around $2K or more that I intended to send to a friend. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that my account had been compromised. After initiating the trade offer to my friend, the thief capitalized on this opportunity. They cancelled my trade offer and swiftly executed their theft plan by sending the item to an unfamiliar user with a different Steam Level. Although I realized something was amiss and attempted to cancel the trade, I was unable to act in time. The item had already been transferred to the thief's account, leaving me helpless. My research led me to the term "API scams," a common tactic in such incidents.

Subsequently, I reported the issue to Steam. The thief was trade-banned, yet the stolen item remains in their possession to this day. However, Steam's policy states that they do not restore items under any circumstances.

Is this policy fair or unfair? What are the reasons behind Steam adopting this stance? Can the community contribute to improving this situation? Can we devise a process that benefits victims without disrupting the Steam Market economy? These are the questions I aim to address in this post, and I kindly request your thoughts, reactions, and engagement, as the community's feedback has the power to drive change.

Let's start by exploring a pivotal question: Why does Steam decline to restore scammed, lost, or stolen items?

A response I received from a support agent sheds light on this matter:

"Since Steam Support does not remove items from accounts, we'd have to duplicate an item to restore it. Duplication lowers the value of all items by reducing their scarcity and inflating the economy, which affects everyone involved in trading and the Market. To maintain the value of everyone's inventory, we do not restore items. For more information, please see the Steam Item Restoration Policy."

What's another rationale?

Items often change hands multiple times before a restoration request, making it challenging to restore them without either duplicating them or removing them from another innocent user's inventory.

Considering these explanations, it's evident that Steam's policy aims to safeguard the integrity of the trading and market systems.

However, could there be situations where restoring an item is justified? Take my case as an example: when a thief is trade-banned but still retains the stolen item. Wouldn't it be advantageous for all parties if the item were returned to its rightful owner?

Furthermore, it's worth noting that in instances where an item is stolen and the thief is subsequently trade-banned, the item becomes inactive and unusable. This impacts the Steam Market Economy because the ability to use, sell, or trade the item on the Steam Market is lost. If the item were recoverable, it would retain its value and utility. As the offending user often steals the item solely for financial gain, returning the item to its original owner, especially when the thief can't utilize it due to a trade ban, benefits everyone involved. The current policy, however, places the burden solely on the victim, with no avenue for recovery, despite the item being rendered useless.

I believe that there are numerous cases where exceptions could offer respite to victims. Hence, I've composed this community post to champion the cause of the community and myself as a member. If you believe that this warrants a reconsideration of Steam's policy, please share your thoughts in the comments, react to this post, and spread the message. Unity has the power to effect change, and we hope that Steam will lend us their ear.

Thank you for taking the time to read and engage. Your input is invaluable in our pursuit to make things better.

Best regards,
Fadi

( ChatGPT in the edit and proofread )

Edit:

I've been following up closely on the discussion and I got a lightbulb moment that I want to share with you after I've been discussing it with my v-friend ChatGPT.

It's about introducing a fee for investigating and returning stolen items. And I think it's quite intriguing.

I'd like to expand on this concept a bit further and share my thoughts below:

Benefits of introducing a fee for investigating/returning stolen items:

1- Deterrence: Introducing a fee could discourage users from being careless with their accounts and items, as they would be more cautious to prevent theft in the first place because they will have to pay if they want their item back.

2- Revenue Generation: The fee could generate additional revenue for Valve, which could potentially be reinvested into improving their services and infrastructure.

3- Resource Allocation: A fee could help allocate resources to more serious cases and genuine requests, as users might be more selective about when to request an investigation.

here are a few more ideas regarding the implementation of a fee for investigating and returning items in cases of theft on Steam:

1- Tiered Fee Structure: Implement a tiered fee structure based on the value of the item being investigated or recovered. This way, users would pay a higher fee for more valuable items, which could help offset the costs of investigating and processing requests.

2- Voluntary Donation: Instead of a mandatory fee, Steam could allow users to make a voluntary donation to support the investigation and recovery process. This approach might encourage users to contribute without making it a requirement.

3- Subscription Model: Introduce a subscription model where users can pay a monthly or yearly fee to gain access to enhanced account security features, including priority investigations and recovery services.

4- Percentage of Item Value: Set the fee as a percentage of the item's value. This way, users with more valuable items would pay a proportionately higher fee, while still covering the costs of the investigation.

5- Limited Free Investigations: Offer one free investigations per year for each user, and then charge a fee for additional investigations. This balances the need for user protection while also addressing potential misuse of the service.

6- Refundable Deposit: Users could pay a refundable deposit upfront, which would be returned after the investigation if the item is successfully recovered. This would encourage genuine cases while discouraging frivolous requests.

7- In-Game Currency Option: Allow users to pay the fee using in-game currency earned through game-play. This could enhance user engagement and provide an alternative way to cover the cost.

8- Discount for Strong Security Practices: Offer a discount on the fee for users who have strong security measures in place, such as two-factor authentication and regular password updates.

These are just a few potential ideas to consider. It's essential to strike a balance between user protection and the sustainability of the service. Your thoughts and feedback on these concepts are highly valued, so let's continue this discussion and explore the possibilities together.

If you find this discussion interesting and believe it's an avenue worth exploring, I encourage you to engage with this post by sharing your thoughts, reacting to it, and sharing it with your fellow Steam users. The more engagement we receive, the better chance our collective voice has of reaching Steam and potentially bringing about positive changes for the community.

[Innvo]

引用自 SlowMango：

引用自 Tito Shivan：

Let's not forget the fact that having an item restoration policy made people engage in unsafe trade practices and scams, as they had a "safety net" that would recover their items.

At a certain point training wheels have to come off.

I mean, like I stated, people literally think they are the exception with the current policy.

Making that looser will only make more people think they are this special exception. It will only cause more problems without solving any issues.

It looks like you're intentionally spamming the discussion by posting the same reply over and over.

As you seem to be doing this on purpose with no new insights to share. Your replies are going to be ignored.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Tito Shivan：

引用自 SlowMango：

Item restoration is not 'user security'. Neither is it fostering a community that's 'engaging and protected'.

Let's not forget the fact that having an item restoration policy made people engage in unsafe trade practices and scams, as they had a "safety net" that would recover their items.

At a certain point training wheels have to come off.

Eeyup.
And sometimes, the road rash is the perfect thing to teach you not to F around.
Now the policy ensures that those with unsafe practices will learn very quickly.

[Innvo]

引用自 Tito Shivan：

引用自 SlowMango：

Item restoration is not 'user security'. Neither is it fostering a community that's 'engaging and protected'.

Let's not forget the fact that having an item restoration policy made people engage in unsafe trade practices and scams, as they had a "safety net" that would recover their items.

At a certain point training wheels have to come off.

You guys are not paying good attention.

As this discussion has already addressed concerns such as challenges that led Valve to discontinue the restoration policy and potential suggestions to overcome these challenges.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 Tito Shivan：

Let's not forget the fact that having an item restoration policy made people engage in unsafe trade practices and scams, as they had a "safety net" that would recover their items.

At a certain point training wheels have to come off.

You guys are not paying good attention.

As this discussion has already addressed concerns such as challenges that led Valve to discontinue the restoration policy and potential suggestions to overcome these challenges.

The current situation overcomes those challenges and requires no extra manpower. JUst be more responsible and you have nothing to worry about. The Majority of steam users and even marketplace/trade users don't have the issues of their inventory getting stolen

[JPMcMillen]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 Tito Shivan：

Let's not forget the fact that having an item restoration policy made people engage in unsafe trade practices and scams, as they had a "safety net" that would recover their items.

At a certain point training wheels have to come off.

You guys are not paying good attention.

As this discussion has already addressed concerns such as challenges that led Valve to discontinue the restoration policy and potential suggestions to overcome these challenges.

Valve isn't going to change the policy. Restoring the items will just encourage users to continue to be irresponsible with their accounts. It also makes more work for Valve as item restoration would certainly involve support intervention to review the situation, and they already have enough to do.
The main issue is that too many people grew up not being held accountable for their actions and there was always some (i.e. parent) that would clean up their mess and make everything right. When people aren't held accountable for what they did, they frequently don't learn to not do it again and that they need to be more careful about their actions in the future. Because that's how the real world works, you screw up, you're going to pay for it. You may not like it, but it's your own fault for what happened.

[Innvo]

引用自 JPMcMillen：

引用自 Krex'：

You guys are not paying good attention.

As this discussion has already addressed concerns such as challenges that led Valve to discontinue the restoration policy and potential suggestions to overcome these challenges.

Valve isn't going to change the policy. Restoring the items will just encourage users to continue to be irresponsible with their accounts. It also makes more work for Valve as item restoration would certainly involve support intervention to review the situation, and they already have enough to do.
The main issue is that too many people grew up not being held accountable for their actions and there was always some (i.e. parent) that would clean up their mess and make everything right. When people aren't held accountable for what they did, they frequently don't learn to not do it again and that they need to be more careful about their actions in the future. Because that's how the real world works, you screw up, you're going to pay for it. You may not like it, but it's your own fault for what happened.

Again. Most of what you highlighted has been addressed in the discussion already. If you go back in the comments you'll find that we already discussed the challenges that Valve will have to deal with, Potential solutions, Penalties for users careless with their account's security .etc

Despite Valve's investments to educate and warn users about potential scams, That's clearly not enough to stop them. People are getting scammed literally everyday. The number is big and growing, The impact is huge.

We are not talking who's fault is this. We are talking if a better approach can be taken in order to combat scams. Something more than just warning users as it's clearly not enough. ( Some users are new and not aware of all the scams in the world. Some are falling victims due to psychological factors, Slick phishing scams or not easily identifiable .etc )

We lost our items and lesson learned, Fine. But why don't we strive for a safer gaming environment?

I'm also curious about Valve's approach dealing with the dozens of items that are inactive due to scams. ( Items that are sitting with no use under offending user's accounts who got trade bans ).

The number of items in question is definitely huge. But in the other hand it may help other active items appreciate in value due to rarity. And If needed, Valve will just increase the supply accordingly and problem solved.

[Boblin the Goblin]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 JPMcMillen：

Valve isn't going to change the policy. Restoring the items will just encourage users to continue to be irresponsible with their accounts. It also makes more work for Valve as item restoration would certainly involve support intervention to review the situation, and they already have enough to do.
The main issue is that too many people grew up not being held accountable for their actions and there was always some (i.e. parent) that would clean up their mess and make everything right. When people aren't held accountable for what they did, they frequently don't learn to not do it again and that they need to be more careful about their actions in the future. Because that's how the real world works, you screw up, you're going to pay for it. You may not like it, but it's your own fault for what happened.

Again. Most of what you highlighted has been addressed in the discussion already. If you go back in the comments you'll find that we already discussed the challenges that Valve will have to deal with, Potential solutions, Penalties for users careless with their account's security .etc

Despite Valve's investments to educate and warn users about potential scams, That's clearly not enough to stop them. People are getting scammed literally everyday. The number is big and growing, The impact is huge.

We are not talking who's fault is this. We are talking if a better approach can be taken in order to combat scams. Something more than just warning users as it's clearly not enough. ( Some users are new and not aware of all the scams in the world. Some are falling victims due to psychological factors, Slick phishing scams or not easily identifiable .etc )

We lost our items and lesson learned, Fine. But why don't we strive for a safer gaming environment?

I'm also curious about Valve's approach dealing with the dozens of items that are inactive due to scams. ( Items that are sitting with no use under offending user's accounts who got trade bans ).

The number of items in question is definitely huge. But in the other hand it may help other active items appreciate in value due to rarity. And If needed, Valve will just increase the supply accordingly and problem solved

You keep talking about a 'safer gaming environment'.

People don't generally get scammed within Steam itself. They get scammed because they go outside of Steam for what they want.

Valve took an approach to combat scams. They used to require Guard approval for every single purchase or sale on the marketplace(IIRC) and people lost it. They hated having to verify every single thing. So Valve removed it and put approval only above a certain price. People are already mad about the 7 day funds hold even though it's literally to thwart the same thing.

Valve's approach to those items is "Oh well." and that's fine.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 JPMcMillen：

Valve isn't going to change the policy. Restoring the items will just encourage users to continue to be irresponsible with their accounts. It also makes more work for Valve as item restoration would certainly involve support intervention to review the situation, and they already have enough to do.
The main issue is that too many people grew up not being held accountable for their actions and there was always some (i.e. parent) that would clean up their mess and make everything right. When people aren't held accountable for what they did, they frequently don't learn to not do it again and that they need to be more careful about their actions in the future. Because that's how the real world works, you screw up, you're going to pay for it. You may not like it, but it's your own fault for what happened.

Again. Most of what you highlighted has been addressed in the discussion already. If you go back in the comments you'll find that we already discussed the challenges that Valve will have to deal with, Potential solutions, Penalties for users careless with their account's security .etc

And the best solution to potential challenges and problems is...not to put yourself in a position to have them in the first place.

There's nothing Valve really gains from putting themselves in a position where they need to deal with those issues. And lets be frank. There's no need for them if the user just follows the proper security procedures and guidelines.

Not Valve's job to protect people from themselves.

引用自 Krex'：

Despite Valve's investments to educate and warn users about potential scams, That's clearly not enough to stop them. People are getting scammed literally everyday. The number is big and growing, The impact is huge.

Yup. but the good news is most people learn well from that first experience.
Those who don't heed the warnings, will feel the consequences until they do learn. Such is life.

引用自 Krex'：

We are not talking who's fault is this. We are talking if a better approach can be taken in order to combat scams. Something more than just warning users as it's clearly not enough.

At this point Valve has done as much as they can to prevent and protect users from scams. I mean at this point tyou have to go out of your way to get scammed and lose your stuff.
At somepoint the user has to accept and learn responsibility.

引用自 Krex'：

We lost our items and lesson learned, Fine. But why don't we strive for a safer gaming environment?

Even the safest environment isn't enough to protect a determined fool.

I'm also curious about Valve's approach dealing with the dozens of ite

引用自 Krex'：

ms that are inactive due to scams. ( Items that are sitting with no use under offending user's accounts who got trade bans ).

They stay in the account. And its not like they can't be used in game. because you know that's their original function. It's not different than the millions of people who have items but don't trade or use the market.

[Abigail From Sneaky Squid Dept.]

m8te came here from the csgo forum posting the same thing expecting a different reaction.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3821921031520288832/

[Innvo]

引用自 Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.：

m8te came here from the csgo forum posting the same thing expecting a different reaction.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3821921031520288832/

Not expecting a different reaction but voicing my ideas to more people, And I've said it myself in the other reply. Wondering why you came in a hurry to post such a useless reply with a useless addition that can benefit absolutely no one. I think you have a problem with people highlighting this topic. Goodluck though.

[Abigail From Sneaky Squid Dept.]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.：

m8te came here from the csgo forum posting the same thing expecting a different reaction.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/730/discussions/0/3821921031520288832/

Not expecting a different reaction but voicing my ideas to more people, And I've said it myself in the other reply. Wondering why you came in a hurry to post such a useless reply with a useless addition that can benefit absolutely no one. I think you have a problem with people highlighting this topic. Goodluck though.

and you got more people saying that
1. valve is not going to change their policy.
2. there is no need to change the system for people that still fall for the "free iphone if you fill out a survey" or "you are the 100,000 visitor".
3. no matter how many ways valve tries to stop people from getting scammed, people will still end up handing over all the information a scammer needs

i think you have a problem. people keep telling you NO, the current system is fine the way it is. no matter how many silly ideas people who falling for common scams come up with, it is NOT going to change.

[Innvo]

引用自 Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.：

引用自 Krex'：

Not expecting a different reaction but voicing my ideas to more people, And I've said it myself in the other reply. Wondering why you came in a hurry to post such a useless reply with a useless addition that can benefit absolutely no one. I think you have a problem with people highlighting this topic. Goodluck though.

and you got more people saying that
1. valve is not going to change their policy.
2. there is no need to change the system for people that still fall for the "free iphone if you fill out a survey" or "you are the 100,000 visitor".
3. no matter how many ways valve tries to stop people from getting scammed, people will still end up handing over all the information a scammer needs

i think you have a problem. people keep telling you NO, the current system is fine the way it is. no matter how many silly ideas people who falling for common scams come up with, it is NOT going to change.

We don't see eye to eye on this matter, So maybe better stop spamming my discussion with the same reply on both threads, Thank you and take care.

[Boblin the Goblin]

引用自 Krex'：

引用自 Abigail From Sneaky Beaky Dept.：

and you got more people saying that
1. valve is not going to change their policy.
2. there is no need to change the system for people that still fall for the "free iphone if you fill out a survey" or "you are the 100,000 visitor".
3. no matter how many ways valve tries to stop people from getting scammed, people will still end up handing over all the information a scammer needs

i think you have a problem. people keep telling you NO, the current system is fine the way it is. no matter how many silly ideas people who falling for common scams come up with, it is NOT going to change.

We don't see eye to eye on this matter, So maybe better stop spamming my discussion with the same reply on both threads, Thank you and take care.

You're only proving them right.

[Innvo]

引用自 SlowMango：

引用自 Krex'：

We don't see eye to eye on this matter, So maybe better stop spamming my discussion with the same reply on both threads, Thank you and take care.

You're only proving them right.

I'm not denying they could be right. If I get convinced this is the better approach, I will stop. Not yet though. But I'm not here to force change I'm here to discuss and explore potential possibilities.

[Abigail From Sneaky Squid Dept.]

引用自 Krex'：

We don't see eye to eye on this matter, So maybe better stop spamming my discussion with the same reply on both threads, Thank you and take care.

its only spam if its not someone agreeing with you, right?