Steam Refund Policy: 14 Days and Under 2 Hours of Playtime, Explained

Steam’s refund policy gives you 14 days from purchase and under 2 hours of playtime to get a full refund on a game or piece of software — for any reason, no questions asked. Request it through Steam Support, and once it is approved the money comes back within a week, either to your original payment method or to your Steam Wallet. That simple headline covers most purchases, but DLC, in-game items, pre-orders, subscriptions, gifts and hardware each follow their own rules, and some purchases — video content, Community Market trades and keys bought outside Steam — are never refundable. This guide explains the full policy, how to request a refund step by step, and what to do when your purchase falls outside the standard window.

Refund Rules at a Glance

Purchase type	Refund window	Good to know
Games and software	14 days from purchase, under 2 hours of playtime	Refundable for any reason; out-of-rule requests are still reviewed
DLC	14 days, under 2 hours on the base game since the DLC was bought	DLC must not have been consumed, modified or transferred; some third-party DLC is marked non-refundable on its store page
In-game purchases (Valve games)	48 hours from purchase	Item must not have been consumed, modified or transferred
In-game purchases (third-party games)	Varies	Only if the developer has opted in; Steam tells you at purchase time
Pre-orders	14 days from the release date, under 2 hours of playtime	Early Access and Advance Access playtime counts; refundable any time before release if not yet playable
Steam Wallet funds	14 days from purchase	Only if none of the funds have been used
Renewable subscriptions	48 hours from purchase or renewal	Only if the subscription has not been used in the current billing cycle
Bundles	14 days, combined playtime under 2 hours	Full refund only if none of the items have been transferred
Gifts	Standard 14-day and 2-hour rules	Recipient initiates a redeemed gift’s refund; money goes back to the original buyer
Hardware (Steam Deck, Valve Index)	14 days from the day you receive it	Cancel first, then return within 14 days; reimbursement within 14 days of Valve receiving it
Video content (movies, series, episodes)	No refunds	Unless the video is in a bundle with other refundable content
Purchases outside Steam	No refunds	CD keys or Wallet cards bought from third parties are not covered
Community Market purchases	All sales final	No refund or reversal once a transaction completes

How to Request a Refund on Steam

1. Go to Steam Support and sign in. Head to help.steampowered.com and sign in with the Steam account that made the purchase — or, inside the Steam client, open Help and then Steam Support. Every refund request starts here; there is no phone line or email address to call instead.
2. Open Purchases and find the item. Your recent transactions are listed first, with a full purchase history available if the item is older. Select the purchase you want refunded.
3. Choose “I would like a refund” and submit the form. Pick the refund option, fill in the request form and submit it. Steam sends a confirmation email once your request is received, and another once the refund has been processed.
4. Wait for the decision and the money. Valve reviews the request against its policy. If it is approved, the refund is issued within a week — to your original payment method where that is supported, or to your Steam Wallet if it is not.

How Long Do You Have to Refund a Game on Steam?

The headline rule is two conditions that both have to be met: you must request the refund within 14 days of the purchase, and the game must have been played for under 2 hours. Meet both and Valve says it will issue a refund “for any reason” — you do not have to prove the game is broken, and you do not have to explain why you changed your mind. The refund is a full refund of the purchase price.

Missing one of the two conditions does not automatically end the conversation. Valve’s policy says plainly that “even if you fall outside of the refund rules we’ve described, you can ask for a refund anyway and we’ll take a look.” A game that is faulty, for example, may still be refunded outside the window. Submit the request through the same route and let Valve decide — but treat the 14-day, 2-hour rule as the guarantee, and anything beyond it as a favour, not a right.

One more limit is worth knowing: if you have been banned by Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) on a game, you lose the right to refund that game. And Valve watches for abuse — its policy states that “refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam — not as a way to get free games,” and that it may stop offering refunds to accounts that appear to be abusing them. Buying a title just before a sale and refunding it to rebuy at the sale price is explicitly not treated as abuse.

Can You Refund DLC?

Yes, with tighter conditions than a base game. DLC is refundable within 14 days of purchase, provided the underlying title has been played for under 2 hours since the DLC was purchased — and the DLC itself has not been consumed, modified or transferred. That last condition is the one that catches people: a DLC pack that has already been used in-game, for example to unlock content permanently, cannot be refunded.

There is also an exception to watch for before you buy. Some third-party DLC is non-refundable — for example, DLC that irreversibly levels up a character — and Steam says such exceptions are “clearly marked as nonrefundable on the Store page prior to purchase.” Check the store page before checkout; if it carries that marking, the 14-day rule does not apply.

Can You Refund In-Game Purchases?

It depends on who made the game. For Valve-developed games, in-game purchases are refundable within 48 hours of purchase, as long as the item has not been consumed, modified or transferred. Third-party developers may opt in to the same terms — and Steam tells you at the time of purchase whether refunds are offered for that game’s in-game items. If the developer has not opted in, in-game purchases in non-Valve games are not refundable through Steam at all.

That 48-hour window is short, so check your purchase quickly. An item that has already been consumed — a consumable used in a match, a currency spent, a boost activated — falls outside the rule even inside the 48 hours.

What About Pre-Orders and Early Access Games?

Pre-orders get a fairer clock than they first appear to. The 2-hour playtime limit still applies, but the 14-day period does not start until the game’s release date — so a game you pre-ordered months early does not burn its refund window while it sits unreleased. There are two catches. First, Early Access and Advance Access playtime counts toward the 2-hour limit, so hours spent in a beta or early-access build are not free. Second, if a pre-purchased title is not playable before release, it can be refunded at any time prior to release.

In practice that means: buy early, try the early-access build carefully, and keep an eye on the playtime counter. Once you cross 2 hours — including early-access hours — the guaranteed refund is gone.

Can You Refund Steam Wallet Funds and Subscriptions?

Steam Wallet funds can be refunded, but only in a narrow case: within 14 days of purchase, and only if none of the funds have been used. Once any of the Wallet balance has been spent, the remaining balance cannot be refunded. The same logic applies to Wallet funds added by any means on Steam — the refund covers unused funds bought on Steam itself.

Renewable subscriptions follow a different clock. You can request a refund within 48 hours of the initial purchase or of any automatic renewal, provided the subscription has not been used during the current billing cycle. “Used” is defined broadly: playing any game included in the subscription, or using, consuming, modifying or transferring any of its benefits or discounts, counts as use. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time from your account details, and access continues until the end of the current billing cycle even after you cancel.

Can You Refund a Bundle?

Yes. A bundle qualifies for a full refund if none of the items in it have been transferred and the combined usage time across all items is under 2 hours. The clock is the same 14 days from purchase. One warning: if a bundle includes a non-refundable in-game item or DLC, Steam tells you at checkout whether the whole bundle is refundable — read that notice before you pay.

Can You Refund a Gift?

Yes, and the rules depend on whether the gift has been redeemed. An unredeemed gift is refundable within the standard 14-day and 2-hour period, just like a purchase for yourself. A redeemed gift is also refundable under the same conditions — but the refund must be initiated by the gift recipient, not by the person who bought it, and the money goes back to the original purchaser, not to the recipient.

There is also a built-in safety net for unclaimed gifts. A gift recipient has 30 days to accept or decline a gift. If they take no action in that time, Steam automatically cancels the purchase and refunds the original payment method.

Can You Refund a Steam Deck or Valve Hardware?

Hardware follows a separate policy from games. For a Steam Deck, Valve Index or accessories bought from Valve, you have the right to cancel within 14 days from the day you — or a third party you indicated, other than the carrier — receive the hardware. You must send your cancellation message before that deadline, and then return the goods within 14 days of communicating the cancellation.

Reimbursement covers all payments you made, including delivery charges for the least expensive delivery type, and Valve pays it no later than 14 days after it receives the hardware back, using the same payment method you used — except that purchases paid from the Steam Wallet are refunded only to the Wallet. Two costs sit with you: the direct cost of returning the hardware is yours, and if the hardware was modified, abused, or is no longer in new condition because of testing beyond what a retail store would allow, you may be liable for its diminished value. Valve states that you will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement itself.

What Can’t Be Refunded on Steam?

Steam publishes a clear list of purchases that are never refundable:

• Video content — movies, shorts, series, episodes and tutorials. The only exception is a video that sits inside a bundle with other refundable content.
• Purchases made outside Steam — CD keys or Steam Wallet cards bought from third-party sellers are not covered by Steam’s refund policy at all.
• Community Market purchases — every Market transaction is final. There is no refund or reversal once a transaction completes, and Market funds cannot be withdrawn or transferred to another account or bank.
• In-game purchases in non-Valve games where the developer has not opted in to refunds.
• Non-refundable DLC that is marked as such on its store page before purchase.
• A game you have been VAC-banned on — the refund right for that game is lost.

How Are Refunds Paid and How Long Do They Take?

Once a refund is approved, Steam issues it within a week. Where it lands depends on how you paid:

Payment method	How and when the refund arrives
Credit or debit card (where supported)	Refunded to the original payment method within a week of approval
Payment methods that cannot take a refund	Steam Wallet is credited the full amount instead
Steam Wallet purchases (hardware)	Refunded only to the Steam Wallet
Gifts	Refunded to the original purchaser’s payment method, or Wallet if that is not supported

Steam warns that some payment methods available in your country may not support refunding back to the original method, and it links to a full list of those methods from its refunds page. If your method is on that list, expect the money as Steam Wallet credit instead of cash back to your card.

Does Steam Give Extra Refund Rights in the EU and UK?

Yes — on top of its voluntary policy. Customers in the EU and UK have a statutory right of withdrawal that ends 14 days after purchase or the moment you start downloading the content, whichever is sooner. Steam itself points out that its voluntary refund policy is “much more customer-friendly” than the legal obligation, because the statutory right ends the moment a download starts, while the voluntary policy still allows up to 2 hours of play. Withdrawal is exercised by an unequivocal statement to Valve Corporation at 10400 NE 4th St., Suite 1400, Bellevue, WA 98004, United States, and reimbursement follows within 14 days of Valve being informed.

Steam Contact Options

Option	Details
Steam Support (all refund requests)	help.steampowered.com — sign in, open Purchases, select the item and choose “I would like a refund”
In the Steam client	Help → Steam Support
Refund confirmation	Email on submission of the request, and again once the refund has been processed
EU/UK withdrawal notice	Valve Corporation, 10400 NE 4th St., Suite 1400, Bellevue, WA 98004, United States

Steam publishes no phone number and no public support email address on its own site, and no live-chat channel could be verified on Steam’s pages. Every refund request goes through the Steam Support ticket system above. One official social account was verified on Steam’s own site: @OnDeck, the official Steam Deck account on X (twitter.com/OnDeck), named in Steam’s own news post introducing it. Steam’s other footer social links could not be verified by text fetch and are not listed here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides

• Best Buy Return Policy
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• Home Depot Return Policy
• Lowe’s Return Policy
• Kohl’s Return Policy
• Nike Return Policy

Conclusion

Steam’s refund policy is one of the most generous in digital retail — 14 days, under 2 hours of play, any reason, full refund, money back within a week. The traps are all in the edges: the 2-hour clock includes Early Access hours, DLC and in-game purchases have their own shorter rules, and video, Market trades and third-party keys are never refundable. Keep your playtime under 2 hours until you are sure, and request through Steam Support — there is no phone line to call, and the ticket system is the only route that works.

Disclaimer: Policy Return is an independent guide and is not affiliated with Valve or Steam. Return policies can change at any time; always confirm the current policy on Steam’s official website before making a return.

Checked against Steam’s published policy on 14 November 2026. Policies change; the retailer’s official page is the final word.