Valve's New 'Steam Wallet' Adds Pre-Pay Option

Post by DM @ 03:33pm 14/09/10 | 19 Comments

Valve have added an Xbox Live-type feature where you can add $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100 (in US currency) into your account to use at a later date on anything you want in their store.

While not officially announced, it seems to work at the moment - you can check it out now at this URL. Possibly a good way to take advantage of the strong Aussie dollar, even if you don't want to buy anything right now. promoted/edited forum item

steam valve steam wallet

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tequila
Posted 03:36pm 14/9/10

sounds like its more for gifting than using yourself

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Mantorok
Posted 03:38pm 14/9/10

I'd imagine this is just a step towards Steam pre-paid cards in stores, allowing people without credit/debit cards to buy from Steam.

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Tremble
Posted 03:38pm 14/9/10

I really don't like the 'fun bucks' system where you can only buy credit in say $20 increments and everything costs $16. Didn't Microsoft get in trouble for that with the xbox 360, or am I thinking of something else?

It would be handy for giving gift cards to friends when you don't know what game to buy them, otherwise I don't see why you would use the feature. Just use paypal/cc otherwise.

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Tiny
Posted 03:41pm 14/9/10

I really don't see the point in this. At best all it does is maybe slow down transaction time when you want to purchase a game using credit you put on earlier. Also with the risk of someone else gaining access to your steam account and spending your money I wouldn't be doing it. To be a honest it really isn't that hard to just use your credit card when you need it.

They would have to offer some kind of discount or special offer to get people into it.

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Scooter
Posted 03:45pm 14/9/10

Why would I want $100 sitting in my Steam acount, when I could have it in a Bank account making/saving me more money?

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skythra
Posted 03:54pm 14/9/10

You may not want to - but little billy over there may get a gift for christmas from his ma and pa who have no idea about what's cool in the video game industry. He can't wait because he isn't allowed a paypal or credit card.

Wait - they already have a gift system. How does this help? Don't you need a credit card to charge the account?

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Mantorok
Posted 03:55pm 14/9/10

I thought Steam stopped taking Paypal transactions from accounts that weren't linked to a credit/debit card?

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fpot
Posted 04:14pm 14/9/10

Won't people please think of the little billys?

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Mr.Bumpy
Posted 04:43pm 14/9/10

Wait - they already have a gift system. How does this help? Don't you need a credit card to charge the account?

Well, ma and pa don't have a Steam account...

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Tollaz0r!
Posted 05:04pm 14/9/10

Ha, there will be all these people that will put money in the wallet system and Valve will invest that money and basically make free money at the expense of other people.

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FraktuRe
Posted 05:05pm 14/9/10

Pretty sure this would be part of those cards they're implementing that you can buy in the shops, pretty good idea I think.

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TicMan
Posted 05:31pm 14/9/10

Only advantage I can see is putting it into a US steam account and waiting for the AUD to plummet and rigging Steam so you can buy the games via the US store.

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neffo
Posted 05:46pm 14/9/10

Why would I want $100 sitting in my Steam acount, when I could have it in a Bank account making/saving me more money?

To throw $100 in your steam account now while the AU dollar is high?

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Obes
Posted 06:15pm 14/9/10

nF has the right idea ... forex trading using steam !

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Sc00bs
Posted 06:17pm 14/9/10

psn use to be like that, you would have to change money to ur psn account in certain incraments before you could purchase anything.

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deep
Posted 09:02pm 14/9/10

Does this make it any easier to buy from the UK/US stores? Has anyone tried that yet? My credit card gets declined when trying to buy from UK/US. I'd use this new feature if it works that way.

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Enska
Posted 10:55pm 14/9/10

Mantorok my paypal is linked directly to my savings account and I can still buy from steam
Just picked up Force Unleashed last night actually

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Thermal Ions
Posted 12:40am 15/9/10

@tequila: Gifting using it isn't currently implemented, but down the track ... who knows.

@Tickman / deep: I'm reliably informed that it tracks where the funds have come from (country and in some cases state), possibly with a view to blocking purchases through overseas stores. Of course what impact such would have on those who may genuinely be travelling / work overseas and/or what impact it might have on pricing is anyone's guess presently.

Be interesting to see where they go with the feature. Can't see them expecting it to be used much apart from being a beta test of backend systems ahead of introduction of gifting and/or retail Steam cards (purely speculation on my part here). Might be useful from perspective of protection against exchange rate fluctuations of course (there is a $ limit on what you can hold in the wallet however).

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TiT
Posted 09:14am 15/9/10

i think its a good idea saves on paying international transaction fee on my credit card everytime i buy a game

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