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Steam is great for buying games! This online marketplace has been around for a long time, and they’ve made it very easy to buy a game, download it, and start playing as fast as your internet will allow you to!
But despite the slick interface and intuitive design, there are still some times when you might run into errors.
Let’s consider this scenario. You’re buying a new game – you’ve made your decision! You’re ready to commit and you’re excited to start playing. You already have all your information in and you’re ready to click buy right away!
The new game is just a click away – but when you press buy you find yourself with a ‘pending transaction error.’
This is fairly common, and you don’t need to panic! We have created a short exploration into this issue to help you.
In the guide below we’re going to explain all of the reasons why you might be seeing this error, as well as what you can do to fix it.
Click here for a full list of our top 10 tips on how to get rid of pending transactions in steam.
1. What Is A Pending Transaction Error And How Do I Get It?
A pending transaction error occurs when you try to purchase something from Steam, but it fails before completion.
When this happens, you’ll see an error message pop up saying that there was a problem with the transaction.
If you were trying to buy a game, you’d probably want to know what happened so you could figure out if you should cancel or not. Let’s take a look at the error messages:
- Pending transaction failed due to an invalid product key.
- Invalid Product Key.
- Product key is incorrect.
- The steam account does not own the specified product.
- The item cannot be found.
- Cannot complete the operation because the item is being sold by another user.
- You do not own the specified item.
- The item is no longer available.
- There was a problem completing your request. Please try again later.
If you’re getting any of these errors, then you may have entered an invalid product key or you may simply have forgotten to enter one.
Either way, you can fix this by entering a valid product key and clicking “OK” in the dialog box. Once you’ve done that, the transaction will proceed normally.
2. Why Might I Be Getting A Pending Transaction Error?
There are many different reasons why you might encounter this error. Here are some of them:
- Your product key is wrong.
- You haven’t finished adding credit card details yet.
- You’re using an old version of Steam.
- You’re trying to buy a game that isn’t currently available.
- You’re attempting to buy more than one item at once.
- You’re purchasing items from an external storefront (like Amazon).
- You’re trying too soon after logging in.
- You’re having trouble finding the store page for the item you want to buy.
3. How Can I Tell If My Product Key Isn’t Valid?
When you first log into Steam, you’ll be asked to create a password. After you’ve set this up, you’ll also be prompted to add your payment info. This includes your name, address, phone number, email address, and credit card details.
These details are used to verify your identity and ensure that you’re who you say you are. They’re also used to process payments and keep track of your purchases.
Once you’ve added your payment info, you’ll be taken back to the main menu where you can select which games you want to play.
At this point, you’ll be able to view your current inventory, make sure you have enough money to pay for anything you want to buy and check your recent activity.
4. How Do I Know Which Of My Credit Card Details Are Invalid?
When you first log in to Steam you’ll be shown a screen asking you to confirm your payment details. This is where you’ll need to enter your full name, billing address, shipping address, phone number, and email address.
You’ll also need to provide your credit card information, including the last four digits of your credit card number and the three-digit security code on the back of your card.
5. What Happens If I Enter An Incorrect Payment Info?
In most cases, if you enter incorrect payment info, you won’t be charged until the next time you log into Steam. However, if you enter invalid payment info, you’ll get an error message telling you that your payment info has been rejected.
The reason for this is that Steam needs to verify your payment info before allowing you to buy things. It doesn’t matter whether it’s correct or not, so long as it’s something Steam recognizes.
6. Is There Anything Else I Need To Know Before Buying Something On Steam?
Yes! When you first log into Steam there’s a section called “My Account.”
From here you can access all sorts of useful features like viewing your previous orders, checking out your friends’ accounts, changing your settings, and much more.
7. What Happens If My Order Gets Rejected?
In rare cases, your order may get rejected due to fraud. If this happens, we’ll contact you via email with instructions on how to complete your purchase.
8. Will I Get Stuck With Unpaid Items?
No. Even though you don’t always see them, every transaction you make on Steam leaves behind some sort of record.
So even if you forget about an unpaid item, we’ll still know about it. We’ll use these records to help us identify any fraudulent transactions and prevent them from happening again.
Final Thoughts
So there you go. There are a lot of different problems that can get you to get stuck in Steam, but hopefully, this guide will help you avoid them!
Make sure you check all of the situations we suggested above, and you’re very likely to find the answer. If not, you’re going to want to contact the steam support team and hopefully, they’ll sort it out for you!
