Steam gift cards as a payment option - safe?

[smort14]

Hello everyone! I'm not a long term trader or anything like that, i just have a certain, probably pretty pricey digital good i'd like to sell, so my questions in general might be silly.

So, the problem is that in my country setting up paypal is not an easy task, and, since i want to use my money to just buy some games, I thought it'd be a better option if I just recieve a steam cash for my item (item itself have no connection to steam). Now, i'm still a bit afraid if i can be scammed, so i'd like to hear from someone who have experience in trading with steam gift cards. Is it possible for a buyer to somehow refund their gift cards, after cash already appears on my steam profile? If not from steam directly, then maybe request a chargeback through their bank? What will happen with my account if such event was to unfold then? And is there any way to secure myself from getting scammed, or is complete trust my only option?

 

[EpicNPC]

Gift cards, not just Steam, are commonly abused with chargebacks. However in most cases, once the card is used, the company will not remove the money even if the card purchase is chargebacked.

However Steam is different as it keeps a balance that remains on your account, so I'm not sure if Steam removes the payment if the card gets a chargeback. Hopefully someone else can answer that for you.

 

[Kai]

Hi @smort14, while gift cards are often a safe choice for trading, a Steam card is different. If the card was purchased with a line of credit a chargeback can be issued. At this point Steam will lock the account and go after the account holder for the funds if a settlement cannot be reached with the bank.

I would suggest using Bitcoin if you are looking for a full-proof way to avoid disputes or chargebacks.

Otherwise Western Union is a good choice in my opinion as they provide security features that help make disputing payment safer for sellers as a police report has to be filed in many cases.

Hope that helps,

 

[smort14]

Thank you for such a detailed answer! I'm glad that I found this site and asked a question first before trading. What you said about locking the account is indeed worrying, especially considering the fact that item i will sell probably costs 100$+ and my steam account contains more than 500 games, this is just too much of a risk. I will check Western Union, seems really interesting!

 

[Kai]

Not a problem, good luck with your listing.