If you are encountering the Pending Transaction error in Steam when buying, selling, or trading Steam items, you are not alone.
Any gamer with a computer must likely be familiar with Steam. The Valve platform has revolutionized the world of PC gaming and beyond. Thanks to Steam, we can easily enjoy a complete service, with an infrastructure that simplifies the process of selecting and purchasing video games more than ever. However, sometimes unexpected errors can occur that complicate our Steam gaming experience by blocking purchases. Steam’s “Pending Transaction” error is one of them.
Why does the Steam ” Pending Transaction” error occur
The Pending Transaction on Steam can occur due to an incomplete purchase, both of the game item you are trying to buy at that time, and for previous purchase attempts. The Steam pending transaction error is not a technical problem most of the time, it is just the platform blocking a purchase attempt because another one is found “in progress” or because of problems with the payment method that you are trying to use.
At other times, the error can be caused by a technical malfunction, a network problem, or the Steam server going offline.
In this article, we will go over the ways to fix a pending transaction error in Steam.
How to Fix Pending Transaction Error in Steam
Check the status of the Steam servers
The first thing to do, to resolve the “Transaction Pending” error, is to check the status of the Steam servers, to make sure they are operational. If the platform services were temporarily offline, it is more than natural that the payment of your purchase cannot be processed correctly, causing the transaction to become pending.
You can check that Steam’s servers and services are up and running on Steam Status. On the site, you will be able to see all the information relating to the operation of the gaming platform.
Once you have ensured that Steam is running properly, with no network or server issues, you can try to complete your purchase again. If you still encounter the “transaction pending” error, you can try one of the other solutions below, having already ruled out one of the main causes.
Cancel pending transactions on Steam
If you have a pending transaction, you will not be able to make another purchase until the previous transaction is completed. So what you should do is verify your purchase history on Steam, eliminating any pending transactions.
- Open Steam and log in. Then, click on your username at the top right and select Account Details.
- On your account page, the first section you will find is “Purchase and store history”. Here, click on Show purchase history to access your order history.
- On the purchase history screen, select the transaction you want to resolve. Every pending Transaction will be reported in the Type column.
- A dedicated purchase assistance page will open. Here, click Cancel this transaction and then click Cancel my purchase.
- Now, repeat the process for the other pending purchases in your history.
- After you’re done, restart Steam and check if the problem is resolved!
Use another payment method
Once you’ve cancelled any pending transactions on your account, it’s time to try your purchase again. If you feel that the cause of the first error was due to the payment method used, such as a prepaid without enough funds or an empty PayPal account, try changing it.
If the payment method is not fully supported by Steam, it could cause such errors, leaving a transaction pending. PayPal, being an external payment gateway, can have problems interfacing properly with Steam. For this reason, the most convenient thing is to set up a card directly on your platform account, be it credit, debit or prepaid.
Disable the VPN or Proxy connection
Having verified that Steam’s services are all online and that the payment method is correct, another method to resolve the Pending Transaction error is by disabling your VPN or Proxy, in case you are using one of these tools. Steam does not particularly tolerate systems used to hide your original IP or disguise your physical location, so if it suspects your IP as “fictitious” it could block some features of the platform.
Contact Steam Support
If none of the methods listed in this guide was successful in resolving your Pending Steam Transaction? Then it’s time to contact Steam support.
The Steam support team may be able to provide more information regarding your particular case, perhaps investigating any issues related to your payment method or your connection on the platform.
