Valve Now Refuses to Compensate Trade Scam Victims

Valve has just altered their official Scam FAQ policy and will no longer reimburse lost in-game items through fraudulent trading transactions. Previously, Valve adopted a proactive approach to alleviate concerns about the trade system and encourage more Steam customers to use it. However. this policy is becoming virtually impossible to manage and Valve argues,

“We sympathise with people who fall victim to scams, but we provide enough information on our website and within our trading system to help users make good trading decisions,” 

“All trade scams can be avoided.”

It’s clear that Valve wants to prioritize the new refund measure over trading scams and feels common sense alongside automated warnings should provide enough protection. While the Steam client is extraordinarily popular, Valve’s customer service has come under great criticism. Arguably, Steam only started to take customer rights seriously after the launch of Origin’s Great Game Guarantee and increasing pressure to comply to new EU law allowing for digital refunds in a 14 day period.

Whatever the case, this doesn’t benefit the end user and it’s always disappointing to see Steam neglecting their pro-consumer strategy. In the PC market, Valve pretty much has a monopoly and their introduction of trading cards promoted the sale of in-game items. I do wonder if this new measure will make users more susceptible to scams or simply become deterred from using the trading system.

How do you feel about this policy revision? Let us know if this unsettles you.