Steam Points – can you buy them and how to get them in 2026

In short: Steam Points cannot be bought in Steam itself – they are awarded for purchases, at a rate of about 100 points for every dollar spent. What you can buy is wallet balance, and purchases made from it earn points. Third-party platforms "sell" points through the gift system, but this is risky. If you searched for "buy Steam points", most likely you need to top up your wallet – we explain the difference plainly below.

What Steam Points are

Steam Points are bonus profile points. They are awarded for spending in Steam: buying games, DLC, in-game items. Points cannot be exchanged for money, games or discounts – they are a currency for profile cosmetics, not for purchases.

Can you buy points directly

In Steam itself – no. The platform has no "buy points" button: they are intended as a reward for activity, not as a product. The only honest way to get points is to buy something in Steam.

Third-party platforms (FunPay, Plati and similar) do offer to "sell points" – technically, you pay the seller and they gift you rewards through the standard Steam system. This works, but it is risky and goes against the spirit of the rules – the reasons are covered below.

Where points come from

The base rate is 100 points for every dollar spent (after currency conversion). The exact number depends on the current conversion rate, and Steam shows it on the payment page before purchase.

Important: topping up the wallet does not earn points by itself. Points are awarded only when money from the wallet is spent on a game, DLC or item. The scheme is: top up the wallet → buy in Steam → receive points.

And a change that is specific to 2026: since January 14, 2026, Valve no longer awards points for community awards (for reviews, guides, screenshots). Now the only real way to get points is your own purchases.

What points are for

Points are spent on profile cosmetics: chat stickers and effects, animated avatars and frames, profile backgrounds, emoticons, seasonal badges, awards for other players. This is account decoration, not games and not discounts. Awards for other players cost roughly 300–4800 points each. If you need games or in-game currency, points will not help here – you need wallet balance.

What to look for instead of "buy points"

If you arrived with the query "buy Steam points", almost certainly the real task is to top up your Steam wallet to buy something (and points will come on their own, as a bonus).

And if the goal is a specific game, its key is often cheaper than a full wallet top-up. Any purchase in Steam still earns points, so points come as a bonus with any game you buy – the games are in the Lootaem game catalog.

Caution: "cheap Steam points" – where the risk is

Since points cannot be bought in Steam itself, platforms that "sell points" work through gifting rewards. There are three real risks here:

• 14-day delay. Under the Steam rewards policy, gifted items "mature" – you will not

get them instantly.

• The seller can revoke. After 14 days, an unscrupulous seller can take back the

reward through support and keep the money – a documented fraud scheme.

• You get less than face value. Because of how rewards work, you usually receive about

a third of the stated amount.

And the main scam marker: a request for your Steam login, password or Steam Guard code. A legitimate gift transfer requires only a link to your profile – a password is never needed. Sellers also often pass off a wallet top-up or skins as "points" – a classic bait-and-switch.

In short

Steam Points cannot be bought for money in Steam itself – they are awarded for purchases (≈100 points per $1), and they can be spent only on profile cosmetics. Since January 2026, points are awarded only for your own purchases. If the goal is to spend money in Steam – top up the wallet, and points will be credited on their own. Third-party "point sales" are risky, and a request for a password is always a scam.