Steam Refunds: How Many Hours You Get, and Every Exception to the 2-Hour Rule
By Lowstamp Editor · 2026-08-29
The short answer first: you can refund a game on Steam for any reason at all, as long as you've played it for less than 2 hours and it's been no more than 14 days since you paid. You don't need a good excuse. 'I didn't enjoy it' works, and so does leaving the reason blank. Meet both conditions and the request goes through more or less automatically.
Everything here comes from Steam's official refund policy, but Valve can change that policy whenever it likes, and it did change one part of it in 2024. Before you actually file a request, glance at the current wording on Steam's refund page.
Steam refund rules at a glance| What you bought | Refund window | Condition |
|---|
| Game | 14 days from purchase | Under 2 hours played |
|---|
| Pre-order you can't play yet | Any time before release | None |
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| Pre-order you can already play | 14 days from the release date | Time played before launch counts toward the 2 hours |
|---|
| DLC or expansion | 14 days from purchase | Under 2 hours in the base game since buying the DLC, and the DLC not consumed, modified or transferred |
|---|
| In-game item (Valve games) | 48 hours from purchase | Not used or transferred. Other studios often don't offer this |
|---|
| Steam Wallet top-up | 14 days | None of the balance spent |
|---|
| Bundle | 14 days from purchase | Under 2 hours across every game combined, and nothing transferred |
|---|
| Subscription | 48 hours after the first charge or a renewal | Not used during that billing period |
|---|
| VAC-banned game, free game, or key bought on another site | Not refundable | — |
|---|
The two limits are AND, not OR
This is where most people trip up. The 2 hours and the 14 days aren't alternatives. You need both. Bought it three days ago but put five hours in? You're outside the automatic window. Played it for only thirty minutes but bought it twenty days ago? Same story.
- Playtime: your total time in that game, added up, must be under 2 hours.
- Days since purchase: no more than 14 days since you paid.
- Only when both are true is it the no-questions-asked automatic window.
You can check your current playtime in your Steam library. Click the game and it shows something like '1.3 hours played' next to or under the title. If you're anywhere near the edge, check that number before you launch it again. The most painful version of this is sitting at 1 hour 55 minutes, deciding on one more round, and crossing the line.
What if you're past 2 hours or past 14 days?
It's not over. This is probably the single most useful thing to know here. The 2-hour and 14-day limits mark the window where approval is automatic. They're not a door that slams shut. You can still submit a request outside those limits, and a person at Steam will actually read it. Plenty of those get approved.
Requests that tend to work are the ones with a situation behind them: the game won't launch or keeps crashing on your machine, it went on a deep discount days after you paid full price, you bought it and forgot about it entirely and only just noticed. What doesn't work is finishing a 100-hour game and then asking for your money back, and doing that repeatedly can get your refund privileges restricted altogether. So the honest summary is: it costs nothing to ask, but don't treat the policy as a free trial.
The 2-hour and 14-day limits aren't a deadline. They're the window where approval is automatic. Past them, you can still ask.
Pre-orders and early access: the rules changed in 2024
It used to be that anything you pre-purchased could be refunded any time before release, no conditions attached. In April 2024 that changed. These days it's common for a game to let you start playing a few days before its official launch, and any time you put in during that early window now counts toward your 2 hours.
So the current picture looks like this. If you've paid but can't play anything yet, you can still cancel any time before release. But if early access is open and you've already been playing, crossing 2 hours takes you out of the automatic window. The one thing in your favor is that the 14-day clock doesn't start on your purchase date. It starts on the game's release date.
Say a game lets you start three days before launch and you put five hours in. If you change your mind on release day, the automatic refund is gone. Under the old rules it would have been fine. Treat an early-access window as playing a game you've already committed to buying. One carve-out: time spent in a developer's closed beta test doesn't count toward the limit.
DLC, in-game purchases and Wallet funds run on different clocks
You're not only ever buying base games. There's extra content, items bought inside a game, money topped up into your Wallet. Each of those has its own conditions.
- DLC and expansions: within 14 days of buying it, with under 2 hours in the base game since the DLC was purchased, and only if the DLC hasn't been consumed, modified or transferred.
- Items bought inside a game: for games Valve made itself, within 48 hours of purchase, as long as the item hasn't been used or given away. Other studios can switch this on for their games, but many don't, so often it simply isn't available.
- Steam Wallet top-ups: within 14 days, and only if you haven't spent a single cent of that balance. Spend any of it and the top-up can't be reversed.
- Bundles: the playtime across every game in the bundle is added together and must total under 2 hours, and none of the items can have been transferred. Refunding just one piece of a bundle generally isn't possible.
- Subscriptions: within 48 hours of the first charge, or within 48 hours of an automatic renewal, provided you haven't used the service during that billing period.
- Gifts: if the recipient hasn't accepted it yet, the sender requests the refund. Once accepted, the recipient first agrees to the refund on Steam Support, then the sender requests it, and the money goes back to whoever paid.
- Hardware like a Steam Deck: that's a physical product and falls under a separate return policy.
The DLC rule is the one people misread most. It doesn't matter that you have 300 hours in the base game. The clock that counts is how much you've played since you bought the add-on. So if you pick up an expansion for a game you've loved for years and it turns out not to be for you, don't assume your huge playtime rules you out. Ask.
Things that can never be refunded
Knowing what's off the table from the start saves you the trouble of asking.
- A game you've been VAC-banned in. A cheating ban on a title permanently removes your right to refund it.
- Free games and free weekend trials. You never paid, so there's nothing to return.
- Wallet money you've already spent, and items you've already consumed. These can't be put back.
- Keys bought outside Steam. A code purchased on some other site and redeemed on Steam isn't Steam's to refund. You're left with that seller's own policy, which is one of the bigger reasons cheap key resellers aren't worth it.
How to actually request one: about five minutes
The process is far simpler than people expect. It works the same way in the Steam app and in a web browser.
- Open Steam Support and sign in. In the Steam app you can get there from Help in the top menu.
- Go to your purchase history and pick the game. Your most recent purchases are listed first.
- Choose the option along the lines of 'I would like a refund.'
- Pick a reason from the list. Choose whichever is closest. Inside the automatic window it makes no difference to the outcome.
- Choose how you want the money back and submit. You can have it returned to your original payment method, or added to your Steam Wallet.
Once approved, the full amount is processed within a week. Actually seeing it land on your card or in your bank can take a few more days on top of that, because your bank or payment provider has to process it too. If you want the money fast, taking it as Wallet credit is the quickest route. Just remember that money can then only be spent on Steam. If more than about ten days pass with nothing showing up, go back to Steam Support and ask.
Common Steam refund questions
How many hours can you play a Steam game and still get a refund?
Under 2 hours of total playtime, and no more than 14 days since you bought it. Both have to be true for the refund to go through automatically.
Can you get a Steam refund after 2 hours?
Not automatically, but you can still send a request and a person at Steam will review it. Explaining the situation helps, for example that the game keeps crashing on your PC. Going a minute over is worth asking about. Finishing a long game and then asking usually isn't approved.
Can you get a Steam refund after 14 days?
The same applies. You're outside the automatic window, but you can still request one, and it may be approved if there's a real reason, such as a game you bought and forgot about entirely.
How long does a Steam refund take?
Once approved, Steam processes the full amount within a week. Your bank or card provider can take a few more days to show it. Taking it as Steam Wallet credit is the fastest option. If nothing arrives after about ten days, contact Steam Support.
Can you refund a pre-order on Steam?
Yes. If you can't play it yet, you can cancel any time before release. If the game lets you play before launch, that time counts toward the 2-hour limit, and the 14-day window starts on the release date rather than the purchase date.
Will refunding games often get your account restricted?
Not with normal use. Repeatedly finishing games and then refunding them can get your refund privileges limited.
How much do you get back when you refund a game bought on sale?
Exactly what you paid, not the full list price. If you buy it again later and the sale has ended, you'll pay the price at that time.
Can a Steam gift be refunded?
Yes. If the recipient hasn't accepted it yet, the sender requests the refund. If it's already in the recipient's library, the recipient first agrees to the refund on Steam Support, then the sender requests it. The money goes back to whoever paid.
The best outcome is never needing a refund
A generous refund policy is genuinely good to have, but the easiest path is still buying at a price you won't regret. What a refund really costs you isn't money. It's time and attention. Filing it, waiting on it, checking whether it hit your statement, and sometimes discovering the sale ended while you were sorting it out.
So there's one thing to check before you hit buy: whether today's price is anywhere near the lowest we've tracked for this game. Search for a game on Lowstamp and you'll see today's price next to that low, with the gap between them turned into a one-line verdict on whether now is the moment. If it isn't, star it and wait. Buy that way and the refund page tends not to come up at all.
Check the price history before you buy. If you change your mind after, it's 2 hours and 14 days.