Valve has altered the way users are able to trade games on Steam in an attempt to curb the number of fraudulent transactions. The new policy will not allow games purchased as gifts and stored in the inventory to be traded for 30 days. However, games can still be gifted away immediately if they are not added to the owner’s inventory.
Tony Palama, a software developer at Valve who goes under the pseudonym of DRUNKEN F00L made the announcement in the official trading card group on Steam. He said that the change was made to ensure users would be better protected when it came to using games as a currency for trading.
In some cases, users would have the game received from a trade revoked as a result of issues with the purchaser’s payment method. Victims of such fraudulent cases have taken to the Steam forums to voice their complaints and this change in policy is a step in the right direction.
Surprisingly, a number of users have already expressed dissatisfaction with the new policy change and have started a petition to revert the changes. Some users claim that the only party that benefits from this change is Steam itself as they won’t be held liable for any credit card chargebacks in the event of a game key being revoked.
