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September 7, 2010 10:20 PM Subscribe
Buying games on steam from other countries. Is it essential to have a credit card from the country you currently reside in?
I would like to purchase some games from steam. I am currently in Japan, but my credit card, billing address etc. are from the UK. My paypal account seems to also be UK-based.
When I try to buy something from Steam, it asks me which country I am currently in. If I select "Japan", then the transaction fails because my billing address does not match my credit card.
If I select "UK", then the transaction also fails, with the following very unspecific error:
"There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."
It seems you have to check the box saying "I currently live in the country selected above", and it also seems that there is no way to purchase something from Steam without a credit card which is registered to a Japanese address.
Can anyone help figure out how the hell I can buy stuff from Steam in this situation? I assume that using a proxy to defeat the IP checking would be too risky for credit card details.
Thanks a lot.
I would like to purchase some games from steam. I am currently in Japan, but my credit card, billing address etc. are from the UK. My paypal account seems to also be UK-based.
When I try to buy something from Steam, it asks me which country I am currently in. If I select "Japan", then the transaction fails because my billing address does not match my credit card.
If I select "UK", then the transaction also fails, with the following very unspecific error:
"There seems to have been an error initializing or updating your transaction. Please wait a minute and try again or contact support for assistance."
It seems you have to check the box saying "I currently live in the country selected above", and it also seems that there is no way to purchase something from Steam without a credit card which is registered to a Japanese address.
Can anyone help figure out how the hell I can buy stuff from Steam in this situation? I assume that using a proxy to defeat the IP checking would be too risky for credit card details.
Thanks a lot.
Best answer: I had the same problem, 3 years ago, when attempting to purchase some items with an Australian credit card while living in China. I had difficulty too and when I contacted Steam Support, learned that Steams fraud prevention was saying nay. I was asked to confirm some details and then they manuelly changes some settings so the next purcahse I made would not be flagged.
Not sure if they same thing is happening to you but, as Memo said, a quick trip to https://support.steampowered.com/ and opening a ticket should get things straighted out.
posted by flyscan at 11:33 PM on September 7, 2010
Not sure if they same thing is happening to you but, as Memo said, a quick trip to https://support.steampowered.com/ and opening a ticket should get things straighted out.
posted by flyscan at 11:33 PM on September 7, 2010
Best answer: I had the same problem when I lived in Seoul, contacted steam support and all was made right with the world.
posted by TimeDoctor at 11:40 PM on September 7, 2010
posted by TimeDoctor at 11:40 PM on September 7, 2010
Response by poster: Cheers guys, I will try that.
I didn't realise you had to sign up to the support forums separately from signing up for your Steam account, so I missed the "Ask a Question" section on there before now.
posted by theyexpectresults at 11:51 PM on September 7, 2010
I didn't realise you had to sign up to the support forums separately from signing up for your Steam account, so I missed the "Ask a Question" section on there before now.
posted by theyexpectresults at 11:51 PM on September 7, 2010
Not to threadjack but, is there a similar avenue for Xbox live? I can DL from Xbox live Arcade but not from their menu of older Xbox360 titles. Presumably Microsoft has no problems charging the former to my Bank of America checking account. (I'm in Korea.)
posted by bardic at 12:11 AM on September 8, 2010
posted by bardic at 12:11 AM on September 8, 2010
Response by poster: Resolved by contacting Steam, and they then "unlocked" my account or something so the IP restriction is gone. Thanks a lot everyone.
posted by theyexpectresults at 6:05 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by theyexpectresults at 6:05 PM on October 8, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Memo at 11:11 PM on September 7, 2010