How to Change Steam Region with a VPN

Changing your Steam region can be a little complex, but if you follow our steps closely you’ll be fine. If you can’t change your Steam region for any reason, though, here’s how to get around the most common errors:

Steam Error: “An unexpected error occurred. Your purchase has not been completed.”

If you see this error message, you are trying to use a payment method that does not match your desired Steam region. This is most common when trying to change regions to one significantly cheaper, like Argentina, where you absolutely must have a payment card from a bank within the country.

The Steam error message may not specify it, but this is what you’ll see if you use an ineligible payment method.

The solution is to try to change Steam regions to India following our guide instead, or to choose a region where you have access to a local bank card.

Steam Error: “Your Purchase could not be completed because it looks like the currency of funds in your Steam Wallet does not match the currency of this purchase”

This error message will show if you try to change Steam regions by making a purchase using funds already in your Steam Wallet.

Adding funds to your Steam Wallet can be convenient – but only after you’ve changed your region.

Using Steam wallet funds as a way to bypass the payment requirements for changing Steam regions may seem like a good idea but, sadly, it won’t work — this is the message you’ll be shown if you try it.

If you change Steam store regions by following our guide, you’ll then be able to add all the funds to your Steam Wallet that you like — but only after making your first purchase using a different payment method.

Steam Error: Why Is My Purchase Not Showing in My Library?

This is a fairly common error that can arise when purchasing games via Skrill. The transaction will have been completed on Steam and the money will have been taken from your account, but the game will still not show in your library.

If a purchase doesn’t show in your library immediately then you don’t need to wait – just message Steam support as soon as you can.

If you don’t want to wait for the product to appear, then the solution to this is to simply speak with Steam support:

1. In your web browser, go to store.steampowered.com and click Support in the top menu bar.
2. Click on Purchases, then the title you’re having a problem with.
3. Click on the title again under the header I have a problem with a product in this purchase.
4. Click It’s not in my library.
5. You’ll now be asked to fill out a message for Steam Support. Just explain that money has been taken from your Skrill account, but the game is not yet in your library.
6. Steam Support should reply promptly (usually in under an hour) and ask you for a screenshot of your Skrill account proving the funds have been taken. Once it receives this proof, the game will appear in your library.

Whether or not Steam can ban you for using a VPN depends on what you’re using the VPN for.

You will not get a Steam ban if you just have a VPN connected while playing games. VPNs are legitimate pieces of software, and just having one turned on while you use Steam does not break any of its rules or terms.

Steam mentions VPNs just once in its Subscriber Agreement:

This paragraph technically blanket-bans the use of VPNs for any reason whatsoever.

It specifies that you should not use a VPN to bypass content blocks or to purchase games at a cheaper price.

It’s important to bear this in mind when following any instructions laid out in this guide. However, during research and testing our account was not banned, nor have we seen any evidence or stories online of anyone else’s account being banned for this.

If you choose to change your Steam region with a VPN then you do so at your own risk — but we believe the risk is minimal. If you’re still unsure if you want to change your Steam region with a VPN, you could always create a new Steam account so that, should it get banned, you still have your original account and library to fall back on.

There are some important things you should know before changing your Steam account region:

There’s a lot of misinformation on other sites and forums online about how to change your Steam region and what exactly this will achieve.

We’ve spent hours researching and trying everything out for ourselves, so we can say for sure what does and doesn’t work. Here’s what changing your Steam country won’t do:

Unban Your Account

If you’ve earned a Steam account ban for whatever reason, changing your region will not unban your account. There’s nothing you can do to remove that ban, unless specified by Valve in the ban’s terms.

Unblock Steam on Your Network

If Steam is blocked or banned on the internet network you’re connected to, changing your Steam store region won’t do anything to change that.

The good news, though, is that the solution may be far simpler. If you connect to a VPN server and then attempt to install or use Steam, it may well now be unblocked.

Fix Lag or High Ping

Your Steam region mostly affects things to do with the storefront. Lag and ping times in-game aren’t affected by it.

Instead, they’re affected by other, more complex, factors. Where you are in the world, where the game’s server is, the server load, how fast your internet connection is, and how your device is connected to the internet are all factors that affect ping while gaming on Steam.

Change Your In-Game Lobby

It’s actually very rare nowadays for your server or lobby in an online game to be dictated by the region of your Steam account.

If you want to get a different or easier lobby then you should take a look inside the game’s settings menu — there’s a good chance you’ll be able to simply change it there without altering your Steam account region.

If that doesn’t work, try connecting to the region you want on your VPN and then starting the game. That might work, too, and without you having to actually change your account region.