Those who are victims of the Steam item trading scams will no longer be reimbursed by Valve.
The Steam support page has been updated, and in an FAQ Steam have explained that replacing the losses of people who were scammed devalues the worth of the item, especially for the rarer – more valuable and commonly targeted – items.
‘Our community assigns an item a value that is at least partially determined by that item’s scarcity,’ the FAQ explains. ‘If more copies of the item are added to the economy through inventory rollbacks, the value of every other instance of that item would be reduced.’
While they express their sympathies, members of the community are perhaps rightfully angered. In a way not too condescending, it does go on to explain that ‘good trading decisions’ can be made, and that ‘all trade scams can be avoided.’ So, more or less, it’s your own fault for falling victim, and they’re not willing to pay out for your mistakes.
What they will do, however, is ban the Steam user who scams you – if Steam Support identifies them as a scammer.
‘The length of the ban is dependent on the severity and quantity of the scams. In some cases, scammers will be banned permanently. If a scammer has multiple accounts, all of their accounts may be subject to the ban as well.’
You may not get a refund, but rest assured the scammer will still be punished. The page talks about other circumstances in which they will dole out appropriate levels of ban or account locking – something you don’t need to worry about unless you plan on hacking someone’s account and scamming people. But seriously, don’t be that guy.
Valve have announced a new refund policy for Steam games and DLC; meaning you can get your money back provided you make a request within two weeks of the purchase and haven’t played for more than two hours.