I was just wondering, since the implementation of multiple steam region & pricing, what is the current (most frequent, since prices depends on the publisher not steam) cheapest region for us to buy ROW steam gifts from? Most websites only show the price differences, but not if the game is region-locked or not.

Example :
https://steamdb.info/app/310950/

I'm thinking maybe Canada / S. Korea? I could be wrong though.

8 years ago

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8 years ago
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yeah, norway is cheapest on most. i'd say new zealand is 2nd, but there are some games where Canada has some 25% discount and norway/NZ have 0-10% (or none at all.. i think that football manager game is an example of that)..

japan rarely has some game where they are lowest, same with south korea. the few games where south korea is lowest, are usually only some 5-8% less than US price, though (fallout 4, maybe?)

switzerland as far as i've seen is close to same price as US (usually lower than EU or UK)

8 years ago
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Another question then, why do some traders I see clumps up their steamtrade title with more than one of those countries' name, like 'Norway/New Zealand/Canada ROW' games? They're not even close geographically.

Or are they somehow accessing those stores via VPN or something?

8 years ago
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I think the traders team up / have business connections, so they're sure they always have the cheapest options.

8 years ago
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Steam now stores your country settings to your account so you have your regional pricing wherever you are. Even if I went n a trip to Russia, id' still get the Canadian store.

I've seen many traders with multiple accounts set up in different regions. The initial; setup has to be done either by VPN or by someone physically in that region. After that, the account can be used anywhere.

8 years ago
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Interesting, I should go and visit my neighbor to the west and set up a steam account there myself. I thought the steam store was dependent on your physical location.

8 years ago
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It used to be, but a while ago Valve changed their system (probably to fight VPN exploitation - people would launch Russian VPN, to activate RU restricted copy on their Western account, then switch VPN off and play their game, changing the system seems more efficient way to fight it than hunting and banning these people one by one) and now it requires you contacting Steam Support providing ID/other proof that you moved to another region for them to change your regional settings.

8 years ago
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I know, I've experienced the regional pricing myself. But say if the accounts were created with such condition, wouldn't further use of those accounts be highly suspicious as they are not done in the region it was created? Particularly with trying to use a local steam wallet code with the foreign accounts.

Because if I remembered correctly I had to email Steam Support for this when I moved to Germany just for 1 year for an exchange student program awhile back to clear things up.

8 years ago
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well then probably they use vpn depending the account in use

8 years ago
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If one doesn't want to look suspicious all he has to do is to log in via VPN every toime he goes on this account. For someone having some subscription-based private VPN it's not really a big problem - all it requires is 2 clicks of a mouse button and few seconds of waiting ;)

As for yous Wallet-Code issue - I guess most of professional traders don't really use Wallet Codes but actual virtual money systems like Credit Cards or PayPal accounts ;) And Steam doesn't have a problem with you using PayPal or Credit Card registered to other country ;) And if one want to be paranoid - it's also extremelly easy to set-up different accounts/cards for different regions you use - have one PayPal registered on US address and other for Norwegian for example. Or setting up a virtual prepaid Credit Card in any of the desired countries and just send money to it from your main paypal account or via simple bank transfer ;)

8 years ago
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