I’ve written about the dire economic situation in Argentina on numerous occasions, to the point where readers are probably sick and tired of reading about it. As many know, I use Steam for gaming and have done so for almost twenty years. Initially, before Argentina’s economy went into freefall, I was able to use PayPal and credit/debit cards from whatever region. However, the means of payment have changed on numerous occasions over the years and at one point, all local cards could be used. But PayPal was withdrawn as a method of payment some years ago, for reasons which are beyond my understanding. Also, for some years now, local taxes of up to 120% began to surface on card payments because the government was running out of US dollars. This move ate up any geo-pricing benefit that many game providers applied to countries with low incomes. In November 2023, all Argentine and Turkish Steam accounts were converted to US dollars, PayPal was not reinstated and only local debit and credit cards can be used for purchases.
Reading between the lines, although Steam does not categorically state this, the reason for local cards only being accepted must be due to regional pricing.
Here’s a good example – the upcoming Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is priced at $13.49 in Argentina, but $26.99 elsewhere, so it only figures that purchases in this country should be limited to local cards, if I’m following the logic correctly. However, now that Argentine Steam accounts are now US dollar-based I don’t see why payments cannot be accepted from cards issued outside the country. I also don’t get why PayPal is not accepted for our particular Latam region, especially since I have a US dollar PayPal account.
I took this up with Steam support when I tried to pay for a game using a card issued outside Argentina which only produced an ‘unknown’ error. I also asked, several times I might add, why PayPal was not accepted and to describe the response from Steam as economical with actual facts and extremely condescending, would be an understatement. But then, huge corporations today are not known for their benevolence towards the clientele that actually pay their wages through hard-earned money.
As a matter of principle, I resent paying more than 100% tax in a financial transaction, which is why I will not use a local credit/debit card and so I buy Steam games sold by third parties such as Fanatical, Gamesplanet, Green Man Gaming, and others who do accept PayPal.
Furthermore, a friend attempted to send a Steam Gift Card to me using their card issued outside Argentina, and even that produced an error with no actual explanation or specific error codes given.
It’s very frustrating, but we live in hope that the economic situation in Argentina will improve under the new liberal administration in the coming months.
I mean, it can’t get any worse, can it?
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Hopefully with a change in leadership, Javier Milei can turn the mess around Marc with responsible policy and non-excessive spending. Unfortunately when a Country has dug itself into a huge hole over years there is rarely a “magic bullet” solution and it all takes time.
At least he seems like a leader who won’t be pushed around by the various interest groups and may just be able to get things done.