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 because of their Steam Deck being reported stolen, virtually a 12 months after the acquisition was made.
The Steam Deck has been on a tear during the last 12 months, and 2024 appears to be like set to be one other nice 12 months for Valve’s transportable, in addition to PC gaming handhelds as a complete. 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 assist solely to be met with the refusal of entry to any guarantee companies because of the console being reported stolen.
Within the feedback on the put up, the unique poster factors out that they have been merely hoping to ship it to Valve and have been keen to pay for a restore. They have been under no circumstances anticipating Valve to repair the Steam Deck at no cost, or that it might nonetheless be underneath any sort of guarantee. Both manner, Valve appears nicely inside its rights to refuse any service primarily based on the present possession standing of the Steam Deck in query.
The actual problem right here is that there isn’t a significant method to run a examine on a Steam Deck to confirm its standing. Many units – together with Peloton bikes as one commenter identified – may be tracked by way of serial numbers. Nonetheless, if there isn’t a 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 particular person doesn’t mistakenly buy it, however these are not often a free service that the general public may seek for throughout a non-public sale.
Bought from eBay, the Steam Deck in query was acquired a 12 months in the past in response to the unique put up, 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 have a look at the worth of a Steam Deck and wish to safe some financial savings the place doable, this state of affairs needs to be a warning to anybody who intends to buy by way of an unverified second-hand market. Valve itself does promote refurbished Steam Decks, and whereas the financial savings aren’t fairly as steep, you will have the peace of thoughts that you simply’re coated within the occasion that one thing goes incorrect… and it received’t abruptly be claimed as stolen.
If you happen to’re fortunate sufficient to have a Steam Deck, you’ll wish to take a look at our listing of the perfect Steam Deck video games so that you’re by no means wanting inspiration.
