How to Refund Games on Steam: A Guide

Sometimes, the games you waited months for weren’t all they were cracked up to be. Or, you took a chance on a pricier game that ended up being full of bugs or microtransactions. Either way, sometimes you need to know how to refund games on Steam. Doing so helps you easily get your money back to invest in something you’ll truly love.

While the process isn’t exactly straightforward, it’s easy enough once you know what to do. Here’s how to refund any Steam purchase.

What Can Steam Refund?

Before diving into the return process, you should know if what you bought is eligible for a refund. Steam thankfully has an entire page dedicated to explaining their return policies.

The main takeaway is you can request a refund for a game you’ve played less than two hours of within 14 days of purchase. However, the page does say you can still ask for a refund if you fall outside of those parameters and they will take a look. So, if you have a game you’ve hardly played but it’s outside of the two-week return window, try requesting a return and see what happens.

Any returns on DLC (downloadable content) also fall under the same time frame. You can also request a refund for pre-purchased titles any time before the game releases or within the 14-day, two-hour window. However, you’ll need to act faster for in-game purchases and subscriptions — you have 48 hours to inquire about a return for them. Steam will not provide refunds for video products unless they came as part of a qualifying bundle and it will let you know if any part of that package is non-refundable.

How to Refund Games on Steam

Once you’ve determined the item you’re looking to return qualifies for a refund, you can move forward with contacting Steam Support. Here’s your guide on how to refund games on Steam.

1. Visit Steam Support

To initiate a refund request, you have to go to Steam’s support page. If you haven’t logged in already, you’ll need to do so to move forward with the process. What makes this process a bit confusing to first-timers is you must go to the actual webpage instead of returning the game on the desktop application. However, you can also click on Help and then Steam Support on the app — it’ll take you to the same place.

2. Find the Game You Want to Return

If you have an extensive library, it may be faster for you to look through your Recent Products to find the game you want to return. Others can simply go through Games and Applications or hit the “A Purchase” button. Then, all you have to do is click on the game. If it doesn’t show up, it’s likely ineligible for a refund.

3. Select Your Reason and If You’d Like a Refund

Steam will then show you a list of reasons you may want to return the game. Select the one that applies closest to your issue and proceed. If your problem is technical, Steam offers solutions before moving forward with the refund. Those who would rather just move forward with the refund can just click that button that says, “I’d like to request a refund.”

4. Fill Out the Request Form

After saying you would like a refund, you’ll go to the refund request form. While this sounds like a headache, it won’t take you that long to fill out. All it asks is how you would like the money returned  — either to your original payment method or Steam wallet — and a note on why you’d like a refund.

Steam does frown upon abuse of its return system, so if you speedrun your games and then try to get your money back, you could end up banned from getting refunds. However, if you meant to purchase a game as part of a bundle or it went on sale the day after you bought it, Steam doesn’t count those reasons as abuse.

Find the Games You Love

Whether you’re excited for the latest AAA release or want to support your favorite indie developer, Steam is a fantastic platform for finding the games you love. However, sometimes they have issues or don’t cooperate with your computer. Learning how to refund games on Steam gives you more opportunities to browse their thousands of games for your next obsession.