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Purchase As A Gift Option

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ogis

I wanted to buy some games as a gift on Steam then create giveaways but Steam forced me to send the games directly to my friends.
Am I doing something wrong?
Did they change the store settings?

5 years ago

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26 Comments
Tzaar

Ages ago. You can no longer store games as gifts in your inventory.

5 years ago
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ogis

Thanks for the info.

5 years ago
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Peetfighter

They changed it long ago. Better buy your gifts from reseller sites.

5 years ago
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ogis

Thanks for the info.
I will think about it

5 years ago
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Orchidaeblue

Just add the giveaway winner in your friend list (temporary) on Steam, like that you will be able to buy your gifts on it :)

5 years ago
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CBlade

If I'm not wrong you can store a gift in your inventory, but only as a receiver do you get the option.
Even then the game stays region locked though.

5 years ago
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ogis

So if I buy it from a friend's account and send it to myself it will work, isn't it?
I wonder how many same gifts I can receive from my friends?

5 years ago
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Tzaar

Nah, that doesn't work, either.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1301948399254001159

This is what I was looking for.

5 years ago
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ogis

Yeah I just tried it and Steam forced me to add it to my library

5 years ago
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Lugum

Make an invite only giveaway here on this forum with some small puzzle or whatever, you got a much better chance for someone to just add you on steam, rather then trying to make a public giveaway.
Or get a key from kinguin/g2a.

You can also hit some region difference with a too much of a price difference i think, however that works.

5 years ago
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Tzaar

Your best bet is just buying keys from third party sites and giving those away. Much less hassle overall.

5 years ago
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AndrewBaton

Just create giveaway with region restrictions and then add winner on Steam and send him gift

5 years ago
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ogis

I will do it that way.
Thanks

5 years ago
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Tcharr

Humble Bundle gift links work well, in my experience.

5 years ago
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ogis

Yeah. But I wanted to gift a game which is on sale on Steam.
And I am from a poor country. Usually if something is not %80 on sale it might be still too expensive.
(Except the times they make poor regions actually more expensive than US :D )

PS: My friend wanted to send a HB gift last week and they did not provide a key to the winner.
They said they run out of keys. He tried to reach to producer too.
But after a week he had to cancel the giveaway.

So if the game is not extremely on demand there is a risk HB gifts might turn out to be some empty gift packages unfortunately. :/

5 years ago
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Tcharr

I am sorry to hear that. I though HB was more reliable.

5 years ago
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ogis

Me too.
But maybe it was just a one time thing.
Probably publisher is a bit problematic and game is an indie one with not too much demand so that is normal.

5 years ago
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ChrisKutcher

What kind of game was he giving away ? Was it by any chance a key he got for free ?

Because to answer Tcharr - they are more reliable then that.... I mean there have been problems with HB locking people out of accounts, but as far as I know - they are an official reseller and its not likely they would run out of keys and just say "screw it"

I havent given away much, but out of my 101 giveaways almost all of them are HB gifts. Not a one problem

5 years ago
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ogis

Game was from Humble Monthly. June probably. (I can't remember but it was a recent one)
HB told him they get keys in a bunch and they don't know when they will get some new ones.

He then tried to reach out to the creator of the game by email, FB and Twitter but never received an answer.
He also told me he tried to call the publisher too (He is Turkish).
When he called, someone from an university answered and they were shocked that publisher put their number on the website. :)

Really odd story

5 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 5 years ago.

5 years ago
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Lugum

If it was that mech game, it was restocked, unless it was a really old bundle then yeah.

5 years ago
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ogis

It was a game called Macdows 95

5 years ago
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Lugum

Yeah i couldn't find it on a reseller site either when i wanted to buy it (for some reason also the same for puss!), it's on ebay for 1,11. Sometimes it handy to try there too.

Best to always reveal keys as quicky as possible i guess so you got them locked.

5 years ago
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ogis

You are correct. My friend was keeping it un revealed.

5 years ago
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Tcharr

I have that one in my library, but haven't played it. The devs seem a little shady, since their "Thank you" in the news is just lorem ipsum. https://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=948900

5 years ago
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ShannonA81

Same problem here for weeks:

"ATTENTION: We have run out of Steam keys for ETHEREAL. We are getting more ASAP. We will have Steam keys for you as soon as they are available again!"

5 years ago
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