The most common gaming purchase here, and the one with the most region traps. Worth two minutes before you buy.
Why top up a wallet rather than attach a card
A wallet code adds balance to a Steam account without ever putting a payment method on it. That is the point for a shared family account, for a child's account, for anyone who would rather not leave a card on file with a games platform, and for anyone paying in crypto in the first place.
Steam itself does not accept cryptocurrency — it did briefly, years ago, and dropped it over volatility and fees. A wallet code is the route that remains.
The region rule, which is stricter than people expect
A Steam wallet code is tied to the store region of the account redeeming it, and Steam additionally refuses to add a balance in a currency that does not match the account's.
So check the account, not yourself. We list Steam US and Steam EU separately for this reason. If your account's region is stale because you moved country, buy for the stale region — or change the account region first, which Steam allows roughly once a quarter and only from the country you are physically in.
Getting this wrong means a code Steam will not take, and a Steam wallet code cannot be region-transferred afterwards.
Any amount
$5 to $200, any figure, plus a 7% fee. Fixed $10, $20, $50 and $100 options exist as shortcuts at the same rate. Balances stack without limit, so two codes behave as one larger balance.
On small cards, note that some coins will be greyed out: the swap provider has a minimum per pair and a $5 purchase falls below it for many assets. USDT on Tron works at any size and costs cents in network fees, which is why it is the sensible choice for a small top-up.
Redeeming
In the Steam client: Games menu, "Activate a Product on Steam", enter the code. Or on the web at store.steampowered.com/account/redeemwalletcode. It becomes account balance immediately and never expires.
What Steam balance can and cannot buy
Games, DLC, in-game items, Steam Market purchases, and gifts to other users. It cannot be withdrawn to cash, cannot be transferred to another account, and cannot be refunded to a payment method — Steam refunds go back to the wallet, not out of it. So buy what you intend to spend.
Gifting
A wallet code is a bearer instrument: send the code and whoever holds it can redeem it. For a gift, confirm the recipient's account region first rather than assuming from where they live. Alternatively buy the game as a Steam gift from your own balance, which handles the region question on Steam's side instead of yours.
If the code is refused
Steam's error message tells you which problem you have. "This code is not valid in your region" is a region mismatch. "This code has already been used" means a genuinely bad code, which we replace — send us the order code and the exact wording. "Your account's currency does not match" is the currency rule above, and is also a region mismatch in practice.