Valve is legally still in their right. The refund system does not exist to demo games. It's meant as a safeguard to negate the risk of technical issues.

Keep going then, don't cry when they revoke your refund privileges though.

This isn't a legal thing, it's a customer experience thing. Nordstrom and Costco made their reputations off of liberal return policies. They don't hassle you if you're reasonable about the timing.

Steam being fussy about it is a bad look and will just make me hesitant to give a fair shake to a bunch of lesser known games. Also what do they care? they get paid if I keep it and don't if I don't. Not like there's shipping costs.

But you're not buying games. You're demoing games. Every purchase transaction costs Valve money. Then they lose all the money when you refund plus another fee. Basically Valve is paying for you to try out games.

So that one or two games you keep isn't generating enough revenue to offset the fees Valve losing because of your constant refunding.

Your threatening to stop buying games altogether isn't the financial threat you think it is. If anything, Valve would stop losing money on you.

Sounds like you were expecting a satisfaction guarantee, which doesn't exist on Steam.

Oprindeligt skrevet af rawWwRrr:

But you're not buying games. You're demoing games. Every purchase transaction costs Valve money. Then they lose all the money when you refund plus another fee. Basically Valve is paying for you to try out games.

So that one or two games you keep isn't generating enough revenue to offset the fees Valve losing because of your constant refunding.

Your threatening to stop buying games altogether isn't the financial that you think it is. If anything, Valve would stop losing money on you.

I kept more than half of the ones I bought. Most indies. Wouldn't have bought any if I couldn't refund.

There is not only reviews, the shoppages give videos and screenshots themselves for the very first rough view. There are sure to be videos on youtube aswell, or people in the games discussions.

There usually isn't a reason to refund, unless a game simply isn't even starting or constantly crashing. I've refunded like 2... maybe 3? games in my 17 years and 600 games purchases.

No reason to use those refunds to demo games, you should be able to figure out if something is for you without doing that.

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4LC0N.3:

Oprindeligt skrevet af rawWwRrr:

But you're not buying games. You're demoing games. Every purchase transaction costs Valve money. Then they lose all the money when you refund plus another fee. Basically Valve is paying for you to try out games.

So that one or two games you keep isn't generating enough revenue to offset the fees Valve losing because of your constant refunding.

Your threatening to stop buying games altogether isn't the financial that you think it is. If anything, Valve would stop losing money on you.

I kept more than half of the ones I bought. Most indies. Wouldn't have bought any if I couldn't refund.

So, what, 4?

The actual number is irrelevant. Your actions are still impacting valve's bottom line. And they have right to refuse your ability to refund because of it.

They gave you a friendly warning. I'm assuming because of how you worded your OP, it wasn't the first time they sent it to you. They will not give you a countdown to your last refund. One day you'll be able to. The next day you won't. Take the reminder for what it is and change your buying habits.

The refund policy is meant to provide a safe harbor on the rare occasion you need it, not as a free from consequence buying spree of their entire catalog of games.

Buy less, got it. Thanks for the insight.

You can refund as many games as you want, for example if you refund one game a year, you can do that forever. Just don't refund too many in a short period of time.

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4LC0N.3:

This isn't a legal thing, it's a customer experience thing. Nordstrom and Costco made their reputations off of liberal return policies. They don't hassle you if you're reasonable about the timing.

Steam being fussy about it is a bad look and will just make me hesitant to give a fair shake to a bunch of lesser known games. Also what do they care? they get paid if I keep it and don't if I don't. Not like there's shipping costs.

https://www.dailydot.com/news/costco-banned-from-returns/

Even stores like Costco ban you from using returns if you do too many.

Also every purchase has whats called a transaction fee for handling your card and processing the payment. Those transaction fees are not refunded and Valve eats the cost for a refund. So with tens of millions of users those fees really add up.

The adage "not every customer is worth keeping" applies here.

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4LC0N.3:

"You’ve requested a significant number of refunds recently. If you’re unsure about a product, make sure to check out the customer reviews before purchasing."

Yea, I buy a lot of games and try them out, especially indies (which have only a few reviews and no developer reputation).

Do you want me to buy games? Then stop hazing me about refunding the ones that aren't good.

If you're going to get snippy about refunds then I'll just buy less.

This is a purely automated message. You don't have anything to worry about because it doesn't actually have anything to do with whether you are actually being investigated by Valve. Valve does not determine refund "abuse" by automated means. I have gotten that message on twenty refunds in a row and have no problems.

If you are not abusing the refund policy, you are perfectly fine in requesting refunds on games you don't like. Not liking a game is 100% a valid reason to refund, Valve agrees on this. Do not let the petty jealousies of non-Valve employees try to convince you otherwsie. The people on this board believe that if you bought 1000 games and kept 900 of them the 100 refunds would constitute "abuse". There is zero justification to listen to them on this matter. Valve, when enforcing this policy, understands how gamers shop. You would have to ACTUALLY abuse the policy to get got by it. The message is just a totally automated scare tactic

Oprindeligt skrevet af William Shakesman:

Oprindeligt skrevet af F4LC0N.3:

"You’ve requested a significant number of refunds recently. If you’re unsure about a product, make sure to check out the customer reviews before purchasing."

Yea, I buy a lot of games and try them out, especially indies (which have only a few reviews and no developer reputation).

Do you want me to buy games? Then stop hazing me about refunding the ones that aren't good.

If you're going to get snippy about refunds then I'll just buy less.

False Information

Please disregard this user as if you listen to what he says you will be banned from doing refunds. Valve gives you a few warnings like that, after which as we have seen you DO lose your refund rights.

No matter what you feel, making what valve considers an excessive amount of refunds is abuse, and continuing to do so will result in you losing your ability to refund

Oprindeligt skrevet af Crazy Tiger:

The adage "not every customer is worth keeping" applies here.

I do not see why you think it would if OP is buying several games he would not have bought without the refund policy and is keeping a significant percentage of them. Did you think Valve had not priced that behavior in when they designed the policy? Why would you be so sure of that, given you are not a Valve employee and not privy to the numbers behind these decisions?