{
"post": {
"title": "Buying Games on Steam in Russia.",
"selftext": "My girlfriend is russian and has a russian steam account, and wants to buy a game, but when i chose all the payment options it says they are all unavailable at the time. i didnt see \"steam wallet\" in there but maybe thats because its empty, but i couldn't pay in any of the other options. I can select her as an option when i want to \"Gift\" it to her it i guess, but the game is 8£ in russia, and £20 in the uk.... seems a bit silly to gift her it when it costs nearly triple the price. Have any of you russians found an easy way to buy games on steam right now? wanted to know the best way. i see older posts that say other options but these dont work. the game is Pharoah a new era.",
"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/1bczkgv/buying_games_on_steam_in_russia/"
},
"comments": [
{
"body": "Basically, the only way to pay is to first somehow load your wallet and then use wallet balance. A common way was qiwi, but it is no longer an option.\n\nI think you should be able to transfer funds to her wallet (steam converts currency when receiving funds, except exchange rate is not good).\n\nIn Russia there are several ways to pay, I think there's WebMoney, there was some payment option through MTS and something else.\n\nBut frankly, given the amount of hassle most people simply no longer buy.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Why did qiwi get banned?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Interactions with shadow economy and illegal activity. Money laundering, etc. Auto-translation of tass article:\n\n> The reason for the revocation of the license from February 21, the Central Bank calls the bank's participation in settlements between individuals and shadow businesses - crypto exchanges, bookmakers, online casinos. In addition, Kiwi Bank circumvented the restrictions imposed by the regulator.\n> \n> The regulator stated that it had recorded cases of opening \"kiwi wallets\" using personal data of citizens without their knowledge.\n> \n> The Central Bank sent information about illegal operations and circumvention of counter-terrorism requirements to law enforcement agencies.\n> \n> The Bank of Russia stated that they do not consider Kiwi Bank to be a significant creditor of the real sector of the economy. At the time of revocation of the license, the credit institution ranked 89th in the banking system of the Russian Federation in terms of assets.\n> \n> In the summer of 2023, the regulator already had claims against Kiwi Bank - then, as stated in the credit institution, due to the Central Bank's order, it had to partially limit the withdrawal of funds by individuals from wallets to bank accounts and cash withdrawals.\n\nAlso, rather than being \"banned\" it had its banking license revoked. But that's a minor technical detail, which is not very important."
}
]
}
]
},
{
"body": "That game is available in Russia, she just needs enough money on her steam wallet. Best way to transfer money to Steam is MTS bank. You don't need to open account or anything like that."
},
{
"body": "I used intermediaries like plati.ru. Bought BG3 there.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Thanks thats really useful actually. doesnt have the game i want but will be able to use it in the future for other games. really cool"
}
]
},
{
"body": "If you can't pay her account using your vallet, you can use dozens of ways to top up steam wallet from Russia using different services (google \"пополнение стим\"). Another way is buying keys on third party site like plati(dot)market."
},
{
"body": "Well that's ua US sanctions against you, pay triple price."
},
{
"body": "Personally used ggsel and steambalance.\n\nEasy to use, but have a pretty high comission.\n\nMostly pirate the games now."
},
{
"body": "What is 20 pounds for a British resident? Liberals constantly tell us that in the West everyone is very rich compared to us eating the last hedgehog in Mordor",
"replies": [
{
"body": "money is relative, and I'm not buying she is. the comment doesn't give any answers to my post."
}
]
},
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"body": "Your post or comment in r/AskARussian was removed. This is a difficult time for many of us. r/AskARussian is a space for learning about life in Russia and Russian culture. \n\nAny questions/posts regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should all directed to the megathread. [War in Ukraine thread] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/1atwu5y/megathread_12_death_of_an_anticorruption_activist/?sort=new)\n\nWe are trying to keep the general sub from being overwhelmed with the newest trending war-related story or happenings in order to maintain a space where people can continue to have a discussion and open dialogue with redditors--including those from a nation involved in the conflict.\n\nIf that if not something you are interested in, then this community is not for you.\n\nThanks,\nr/AskARussian moderation team",
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]
},
{
"body": "The best way for you is to buy her a gift card. [https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/selectgiftcard](https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/selectgiftcard)",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Does that work again? I remember it wasn't working in 2023 when I tried it.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "если вы пытались купить гифт и оплатить российской картой то разумеется способ не работает, стим российские карты не принимает, но у британца не должно возникнуть проблем, Гейб Россию не блочил никогда и гифты прекрасно работают,",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Я пробовал это с иностранного акка и иностранной карты сделать через друга, который живёт в Европе. Ошибка оплаты и с карты и через PayPal (на всякий случай отмечу что и карта и PayPal были его, иностранные, чтоб не было опять мыслей что я российскими пытался оплатить). И напомню, что это было в 2023 году, поэтому и спросил работает ли это теперь, в 2024.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "я ничего не понял. вы пытались купить гифт на свой аккаунт (российский) по буржуйской карте? или друг находясь за бугром пытался купить вам гифт и у него ничего не получилось? если первое, то ничего удивительного, в РФ буржуйские карты не работают, раз, купить гифт на собственный акк нельзя, два, а если второе, то странно, в стиме нет и не было проблем с получением гифтов из за бугра, собственно игры не доступные в ру стиме именно гифтами и покупают. я например так ДЛЦ для киберпанка брал.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Мой друг, находясь в другой стране, на своём иностранном аккаунте Стима, зашёл вот сюда https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/selectgiftcard и попытался со своей иностранной карты на мой российский акк закинуть средства через гифт, но не смог.\n\nЕсли остались ещё непонятки, то пишите где именно - постараюсь ещё подробнее расписать.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "сейчас всё понятно, но выше вы писали что проделывали всё это сами ¯\\\\\\_(ツ)\\_/¯"
},
{
"body": "can any of you summarise that in english? does it still work?",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Last year I asked a friend from a different country to use his Steam account and his debit card to send me a gift card but it didn't work. The other user is saying that it works tho. You can try it yourself and tell us how did it go."
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
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]
}
]
},
{
"body": "Topping steam by igromagaz worked pretty well last time I used it.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "what is that? igromagaz is a website? also her payment options didnt include steam wallet, but maybe its because she had no funds."
}
]
},
{
"body": "-You should create UK account\n\n-Add her as a friend\n\n-Buy games as gift for exact friend.",
"replies": [
{
"body": "Thanks, i can gift her the game anyway, but its just more expensive, 20£ compared to about 8£ in russia. so makes sense she buys it for the cheaper price"
}
]
},
{
"body": "Just buy a key and activate it in steam. I've never had a problem with getting any game after war-operatoon started"
},
{
"body": "hi,\n\nI wann buy steam games in bulk, maybe some know here a few russian sites?"
},
{
"body": "[removed]",
"replies": [
{
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}