Fix: Steam Pending Transaction Error [Complete Guide]

While making a transaction on Steam, if your network connection gets disrupted or experiences instability, it can sometimes trigger a pending transaction which means that Steam is unsure whether you have been charged for the transaction or not. This in turn prevents you from being able to make any other purchase until the pending one has been cleared. Therefore, in this step, we will be fixing the Steam Pending Transaction message.

What Triggers the Steam Pending Transaction Message?

After going through some basic troubleshooting recommendations, we concluded that the following were some of the most prominent reasons behind the occurrence of this issue.

• Network Issue: If while making a transaction on Steam, your internet gets disconnected or experiences packet loss/disruption, the purchasing process comes to a halt and Steam becomes unsure if you have been charged against your account or not. This triggers the Steam pending transaction error while trying to make another purchase.
• General Glitch: It is also possible that this problem occurs due to a general glitch with your Bank Account/Payment method or with Steam. Steam servers experiencing disruption can be another reason behind the occurrence of this error.

Now that you have been made familiar with most of the triggers behind this error, we can finally move on towards implementing the fixes.

Before we start:

If you have just encountered this error, the first thing you must do is to check whether the problem is at the client-side or the server-side. If the issue is at the server-side, then the solution to this problem is beyond your control and the only thing you can do is to patiently wait till the servers are working perfectly fine. Hence, to monitor your server status, visit the Downdetector website.

Fixing the Steam Pending Transaction Error:

Solution 1: Restart Steam client

1. Click on the “Steam” logo located at the top-left corner of the client’s home screen and select “Exit” to quit the client completely.

   

2. Press “Ctrl + Esc + Shift” keys simultaneously, on the keyboard to open the “Task Manager” and navigate to the “Processes” tab.
3. Now select any process that is related to the “Steam” and then click on the “End Task” button to end Steam immediately.

   

4. Now double-click on the Steam’s shortcut located at your desktop, to relaunch the client and check whether the steam pending transaction issue has been resolved.

Solution 2: Cancel all pending transactions

1. Click on your username located on the top of the Steam’s home screen and select “Account Details” from the drop-down menu.

   

2. Now select “View purchase history” option located on the right pane of the window to view the list of Steam transactions.

   

3. If you see multiple pending transactions here, click on them one by one and then choose “Cancel this transaction”.
4. Now click on “Cancel my purchase” to confirm your action and hopefully the error would be resolved on your Steam account.

Solution 3: Disable VPN

1. Press “Ctrl + Esc + Shift” keys simultaneously, on the keyboard to open the “Task Manager” and navigate to the “Processes” tab.
2. Now select any process that is related to the VPN installed on your computer and then click on the “End Task” button to end them immediately.

   

3. When the VPN and Proxies applications are disabled on your computer, relaunch Steam and see whether the steam pending transaction issue has been resolved.

Solution 4: Utilize Steam Web Client to make Transation

If you have encountered the “Pending Transaction” issue on Steam’s web client, then we recommend you to navigate to the Steam’s web client, and enter your credentials carefully to login to your account, and see if the same issue occurs there as well.

Solution 5: Contact Customer Support

If you encounter the error message even after following all the above solutions, then the only option you are left with is to contact Steam’s customer support. To do this, you just have to visit their website and submit a token explaining the issue you just encountered. Steam’s customer support is fast, so just wait patiently until they get back to you and assist you to resolve this issue.

Workaround:

In some cases, this issue arises if the payment method, you are using to make the transactions, is not supported by Steam’s platform. So, we recommend you to switch to another payment method and see if you encounter the error message again. For example, you can use your Credit/Debit card to make the payments directly through Steam instead of using a third-party platform such as PayPal or Payoneer.

Hopefully, the error might have gone by now but if you need further assistance, contact here.