Because people abused it in the past. Scammers use them to bypass regional restrictions or for laundry of money. You can blame these people for ruining it for everyone.

If it happens to nintendo or some other store, they will also start to prevent it too, but steam is the first store it was actually done on abused..

You can purchase a digital gift card as a guest account.

Be aware that after they accept it, it can take up to a week to be added to their account.

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You can purchase a digital gift card as a guest account.

Be aware that after they accept it, it can take up to a week to be added to their account.

:nkCool:

Since he wrote that he does not even know the account name or info of his nephew , how would he send it to him? Buying as a guest account solves nothing.
Also how would that even work since you need to be friends for 72 hours on Steam before you can send another account a digital gift card.


@OP
You can just buy him a physical Steam Wallet Card. Those are available in many retail stores from values between 10 to a hundred bucks.
Just buy one, ( which activates them) then give the physical card to your nephew.
There will be a field to scratch open with a code under it, he can redeem that code on his account to receive the money the card is worth.

The obvious answer would be to purchase a Visa gift card, and just have them transfer the funds to their steam wallet. I'm guessing as you can't be bothered to go to a convenience store. You'll probably be happier just paying the surcharge, and you can get a digital version through Amazon. There that should solve your problem, and as it will be a Visa card maybe they wont want to use it on Steam.

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You can purchase a digital gift card as a guest account.


@OP
You can just buy him a physical Steam Wallet Card. Those are available in many retail stores from values between 10 to a hundred bucks.
Just buy one, ( which activates them) then give the physical card to your nephew.
There will be a field to scratch open with a code under it, he can redeem that code on his account to receive the money the card is worth.

It looks like that's what I will have to do. I don't live near any stores that sell these, over 30 minutes away, hence I can't 'be bothered' to just go to a convenience store. But I will check for one on my next trip out. Thanks for the info and confirmation that I'm not missing anything.