Steam Deck user stung by second-hand market after Valve refuses help

Unsurprisingly, keen avid gamers are turning to the second-hand market to safe a Steam Deck, however one horror story would possibly make you assume twice earlier than making that cut-price buy. One person discovered that Valve was lower than useful due to their Steam Deck being reported stolen, virtually a 12 months after the acquisition was made.

The Steam Deck has been on a tear over the past 12 months, and 2024 appears set to be one other nice 12 months for Valve’s transportable, in addition to PC gaming handhelds as an entire. Regardless of this, there are some harsh classes to be discovered about shopping for a Deck on the second-hand market as one purchaser has found.

Reddit person un_commoncents_ reached out to Steam help solely to be met with the refusal of entry to any guarantee providers because of the console being reported stolen.

Within the feedback on the publish, the unique poster factors out that they had been merely hoping to ship it to Valve and had been keen to pay for a restore. They had been on no account anticipating Valve to repair the Steam Deck at no cost, or that it will nonetheless be beneath any form of guarantee. Both approach, Valve appears properly inside its rights to refuse any service primarily based on the present possession standing of the Steam Deck in query.

The actual difficulty right here is that there isn’t any significant strategy to run a examine on a Steam Deck to confirm its standing. Many gadgets – together with Peloton bikes as one commenter identified – might be tracked through serial numbers. Nonetheless, if there isn’t any central portal that the general public can use to examine whether or not a tool is reputable, it’s arguably a threat not value taking. There are methods to register a tool, after which it may be reported stolen in order that one other individual doesn’t mistakenly buy it, however these are not often a free service that the general public may seek for throughout a personal sale.

Bought from eBay, the Steam Deck in query was acquired a 12 months in the past based on the unique publish, and the vendor has refused to refund the acquisition. The one motion the customer may take was to report the vendor to eBay as fraudulent. The adage stays true that if a deal appears too good to be true, it in all probability is.

Whereas it’s simple to take a look at the worth of a Steam Deck and need to safe some financial savings the place potential, this state of affairs ought to be a warning to anybody who intends to buy through an unverified second-hand market. Valve itself does promote refurbished Steam Decks, and whereas the financial savings aren’t fairly as steep, you have got the peace of thoughts that you simply’re lined within the occasion that one thing goes unsuitable… and it gained’t abruptly be claimed as stolen.

In the event you’re fortunate sufficient to have a Steam Deck, you’ll need to try our record of the best Steam Deck games so that you’re by no means in need of inspiration.