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Recently the official OnDeck Twitter account from Steam creator Valve posted a PSA (public service announcement), reminding people on being careful where they buy a Steam Deck.

On Twitter they posted this:

Hello, and happy new year! A quick note that the only official ways to purchase Steam Deck are directly from Steam (in the US, CA, EU, and UK), or from Komodo (JP, KR, TW, and HK). Steam Decks sold via any other websites or retailers are unofficial - please be careful.

Why are they posting it? Well, they of course haven't mentioned anyone or anything else directly, but it's likely in part due to the store I covered in an article and video recently that teamed up with accessory brand JSAUX. This store was selling Steam Accounts, Steam Gifts and more that are against Valve's terms and would get people banned from the platform, in addition to always claiming they have a discount on every model of Steam Deck with them being "brand new".

My video on that is still blocked on YouTube in the UK for "defamation", a mirror is on TILVids.

In the UK at least, there's actually nothing wrong with reselling. You buy something, it's yours. The key point is to be careful: if a deal looks too good, it probably is too good to be true. There's also no real reason in the UK or the US to buy one new from somewhere other than Valve.

There are plenty of places Valve are not yet supplying though, which is part of a wider issue. Hopefully this year Valve will announce more regions they will serve officially or through a partner like they do with Komodo for some parts of Asia.

Be sure to check out some of my recent videos:

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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5 comments

psy-q Jan 12, 2023
Yeah, the scalping/reselling market is rampant here with Steam Decks regularly fetching ~30-50% over Valve's price on auction sites. And it's a large-scale operation, I have a saved search on this country's largest auction site and there are dozens of Decks selling even at those crazy prices every week, always from the same two accounts.

I hope Valve get their distribution going in all markets soon. On the other hand, they have no rush to do so as they profit anyway from the resellers. They might not even have to cover any warranty repairs for Decks bought that way.


Last edited by psy-q on 12 January 2023 at 12:30 pm UTC
felipecrs Jan 12, 2023
Tons of people in Brazil are buying their Steam Decks in AliExpress. There's not much choice anyway.
eridanired123 Jan 12, 2023
Dear Valve, kindly f u, release for latam already.

=/
InhaleOblivion Jan 12, 2023
Appreciate you getting the word out. People definitely need to be aware of these scams.
Lofty Jan 13, 2023
Quoting: eridanired123Dear Valve, kindly f u, release for latam already.

=/

that's really going to work. telling someone to go F themselves because they didn't give you the thing you wanted yet.

top.strategy.
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