Hello! I was thinking about this problem for some time so I just decided to ask ppl who know better online. Here's my situation: I'm a Moldovan citizen with a Moldovan passport and ID card. Currently I am located in Germany. My steam store region is Moldova, however I'd recently run into a problem that would require me to change my steam store to germany to redeem a key, and I am aware that I need to wait another 3 months to change back to Moldovan store. So is there a way for Steam support to change me back to Moldovan store if I provide the required information? In my case, I don't even have German ID so I don't know how it would work. Would I also run into problems if they detect my location to be germany when I want to switch back to Moldovan store? Thanks!

3 weeks ago

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I don't think you need local ID, I believe to change region you just need a payment method in the region. If you have a German bank account you should be fine, and assuming you still have a Moldovan account, you should be able to change back in 3 months.

Well, maybe you shouldn't take my word for it :D

Ideally, someone who has experienced it personally can confirm if it will be a problem for you to set Moldova as your store region while you are located in Germany. I'm not really sure about that part.

3 weeks ago
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I do have access to Moldovan and German pay, however the problem is that I can't wait the 3 months required for changing the region, not to mention the German store is one of the worst currency and censorship wise.

3 weeks ago
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Ah, I thought you were clear on that. Waiting 3 months is an absolute requirement. If you're not able to do that, then you are out of options.

3 weeks ago
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To my knowledge nationality is unimportant. What matters is your country of primary residence. In your case I wouldn't change my store location to Germany for redeeming a key. German Steam store is heavily censored and although I'm too lazy to look it up Moldova will have lower prices due to economic reasons.

3 weeks ago
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I wouldn't have considered all this if the key wasn't valued at around 60 bucks which is why I'm trying to find a ye or nay solution.

3 weeks ago
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Support can't and won't do anything about your region settings. Only you can change it and you need two things to do so:

  1. The IP belonging to a country
  2. A by Steam accepted payment option located in the same country as 1).

Your passport or ID card are irrelevant.

3 weeks ago
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What if I get a friend with a Moldovan IP and provide documents of residency? Could support change my store region back to Moldova before those 3 months are over?

3 weeks ago
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Afaik Steam support won't do anything about it. It happened to me once that Steam all by itself switched my region, from Ireland to Germany. As it later turned out it was a bug that affected many others too.

I contacted support and they (at first) denied that the switch could have happened without my participation and told me that only I can switch it back, by being in Ireland. So I used VPN set in Ireland (I already had an Irish PayPal account connected to Steam) and switched back.

So no, I wouldn't bet on Support fixing it for you. But it's really easy to do all by yourself with VPN. But you need a payment option.

3 weeks ago
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I would be able to do it but that means I'd have to wait on the 3 month cooldown

3 weeks ago
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Since you don't want to wait 3 months and also don't want to have German steam store (both relatable), I recommend to find someone to trade: your German key vs. one working in Moldava. Since you mentioned 60 bucks, I assume it's a popular AAA title. If it doesn't work 1:1, you could still try to trade for something equivalent (PayPal, TF2 keys).
Be aware that trading isn't allowed on Steamgifts, so you need to use SteamTrades, barter or other communities.

3 weeks ago
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Thanks for the suggestion! It is indeed a triple A game, a persona 3 reload digital premium edition for the EU region that doesnt work in Moldova since Moldova is not part of the EU, which is valued at more than 60 but it'd satisfy me to get preferably the same game or at least something of equal value. Though I'm not familiar with any trading platforms. Do you have some you can recommend?

3 weeks ago
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Usually I'd recommend barter.vg because of sync, filter and comparing tools, but they have domain issues right now: https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/j05m8/could-anyone-go-to-bartervg
If you want to try to get a regional key for it first, I'd recommend SteamTrades, because you have free text and can better describe the situation. Keep in mind that traders will usually check current market prices, so they might value the game at less than 51 € (official resellers) or 47 € (key shops).

3 weeks ago
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If you bought it from HB or Fanatical I personally had some luck getting my key exchanged after explaining the situation to them (although mine was slightly different because I got a different version of a game because I bought it from Germany even tho my account and payment method weren't). You might have to insist a little but might we worth a try talking to their support.

3 weeks ago
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