WTF's up with friends not being able to gift games !?!?

[Grimaldus]

I play a lot with certain friends while they stream on twitch etc etc and some of them
lives in other countries in europe. This particular friend likes in the UK and he wanted
to send me a game for my B-day... but he wasn't allowed due to differense insale-taxes.

WTF has happened to steam where friends can't gift friends games if they're in a
different country !?. Isn't that the whole point of having friends on this community-
platform that we should be able to gift games and giftcards !?.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Grimaldus:

WTF has happened to steam where friends can't gift friends games if they're in a
different country !?. Isn't that the whole point of having friends on this community-
platform that we should be able to gift games and giftcards !?.

Its been like this for quite a while, its to combat people in cheaper regions acting as a store and selling games. he can easily send you a gift card instead as those are not restricted.

Without it someone in a cheaper region would set up a store offering a $70 game for $40 because it costs $30 in their region.

[Animus]

Originally posted by IKategame:

Oh look, we’ve got a birthday celebration ruined by Steam’s tax policy. How charming. “WTF’s up with friends not being able to gift games?!” Like, seriously, who needs friends when you’ve got international tax laws ruining the fun? It’s almost like Steam thinks we’re all just one big happy family, but the moment you try to share a little joy, they hit you with the bureaucratic buzzkill.

Your buddy in the UK wanted to gift you a game for your birthday, and instead, he got smacked down harder than a toddler at a toy store. It’s like Steam’s sitting there, counting their pennies like Scrooge McDuck, and saying, “No way, Jose! We can’t have that! You can’t send games across borders without jumping through a thousand hoops!” Because who needs a smooth gaming experience when you can deal with convoluted tax regulations instead?

I mean, come on! Isn’t the whole point of being part of a gaming community to share and enjoy stuff together? But nah, let’s just make it impossible for friends to send each other gifts because of some outdated sales tax nonsense. Forget the joy of gaming; we’ve got red tape to wrap around everything! It’s like Steam is saying, “Happy birthday! Here’s a tax headache instead.”

So, congrats! You’re officially living in the dystopian gaming nightmare where friendship is measured in currency and tax compliance. Sounds like a blast, right? Just keep on streaming and crying over missed gifts, while Steam sits back, enjoying their cash flow.

Steam doesn't make digital taxation laws/requirements. They're just required to comply in regions that require them. If they don't, they're opening themselves up to liabilities or restrictions, such as no games being able to be sold in those regions whatsoever.

[Maria]

Originally posted by Animus:

Steam doesn't make digital taxation laws/requirements. They're just required to comply in regions that require them. If they don't, they're opening themselves up to liabilities or restrictions, such as no games being able to be sold in those regions whatsoever.

That person has been going on a spree of copy-pasting from some rant AI. Just ignore them.

[Animus]

Originally posted by Maria:

Originally posted by Animus:

Steam doesn't make digital taxation laws/requirements. They're just required to comply in regions that require them. If they don't, they're opening themselves up to liabilities or restrictions, such as no games being able to be sold in those regions whatsoever.

That person has been going on a spree of copy-pasting from some rant AI. Just ignore them.

I figured, if they wanna rant and insult folks. Welp, no harm done to me to report it and keep the facts straight. Lol

[Gnome]

It's been like this since 2015, if I recall correctly. Before then, lots of people used the trade forum (on the game's hub) to ask users from countries with very low regional prices (like Russia) to buy them a game in exchange of Team Fortress 2 keys or other items.

This is the classic case of "bad actors spoiling a good system". I would love to gift some games to some dear friends I have on Steam that are from other countries, but I simply can't do it anymore. The closest possibility is buying a digital Steam Wallet card, but it's far from the same thing.

It would be nice if some day we could gift games for people on other countries while paying the monetary difference to reach the price charged on that country. Of course it would be more expensive (when gifting to someone who lives in a country where games are more expensive that is), but it could be an alternative that some people would use eventually.

Last, but not least: users from countries that pays more for games on Steam can gift them to other users from poorer countries. For instance: someone from the United States can gift a game to someone from Brazil, but not the contrary (just like someone from Australia can send gifts to United States, but not receive gifts from them). I've been there, and it feels awful not being able to gift a game in return.

[ꉔꏂ꒐꒒ꇙ]

Originally posted by Grimaldus:

Isn't that the whole point of having friends on this community-
platform that we should be able to gift games and giftcards !?.

Is that what having friends on here means? having people in your friends list to gift you games and gift cards?

Also, your friend could just gift you a Steam Gift Card through Steam. They could just send you the money to get it, since they can't gift you the game themselves.

https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/

Edit: and if it's supposed to be a birthday gift, getting money is even better.

[Kiwi_ZD]

I have been gifted games from the the UK, US and Australia, but from NZ I cannot gift back to any of these countries, including not being able to buy a digital Steam gift card. So what gives? I keep seeing people say "contact the developers".... really? Australia can gift the US, but New Zealand cannot? This makes absolutely no sense at all. It is frustrating, as I want to return gifts to kind people that have opened their wallets for me and reciprocate their kindness.
Totally lost on me.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Kiwi_ZD:

I have been gifted games from the the UK, US and Australia, but from NZ I cannot gift back to any of these countries, including not being able to buy a digital Steam gift card. So what gives? I keep seeing people say "contact the developers".... really? Australia can gift the US, but New Zealand cannot? This makes absolutely no sense at all. It is frustrating, as I want to return gifts to kind people that have opened their wallets for me and reciprocate their kindness.
Totally lost on me.

Again nothing to do with the country, it's based on the price of the item