How To Fix The Steam “Your Transaction Cannot Be Completed…” Error

Steam is a great way to buy games especially when they’re on sale. However, sometimes glitches occur and create an error that you can’t seem to fix. The “Your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” error is one such glitch.

In this article, we’ll show you how to get rid of this annoying error along with solutions for other common Steam Shop errors.

What Causes the Error

The main cause for this glitch is an error between your local network and the Steam Servers. Any online payment must be made with secure certificates for verification. If connection errors occur with the certificates from Steam, the payment provider and your local network may not match.

To prevent erroneous payments or fraud, Steam pauses the transaction until the errors are resolved, and no further payments can be made until it does. This is why you get the “Your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” message.

How Can I Get Rid of It?

Usually, such glitches occur due to a miscommunication between the payment provider and Steam and should resolve themselves rather quickly. If it doesn’t, then here are several steps you can take to try and fix the error:

Check to See if the Steam Server Is Down

Although very uncommon, the Steam servers may be experiencing an outage. If this is the case, no purchases will be properly updated. You can check via Downdetector to see if there’s an outage.

If Steam is down then all you have to do is wait for the servers to come back up, then restart the application. Check your cart to see if the item you paid for is still pending. If the payment has gone through, you can proceed as normal.

The Problem May Be with the Product

There is a chance that the Steam Store for the item that you’re purchasing may have an error. This can be fixed by canceling that particular purchase, then trying to buy it later. You can cancel purchases by doing the following:

1. Open the Steam App.
   
2. Click on your profile icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
   
3. From the dropdown list, choose “Account details.”
   
4. Under” Store & Purchase History” click on “View purchase history.”
   
5. You will be shown a list of all the purchases that you’ve made on this account. Check on the Type category. All paid-for items will be marked as “Purchase,” and all uncompleted transactions will be labeled as “Pending.” If the item you’ve bought has been marked as “Purchase,” then the payment should have gone through. If it’s marked as “Pending,” click on the item.
   
6. From the options below, click on “Cancel this transaction.”
7. Choose “Cancel my purchase.”
   
8. Return to the Steam Storefront. If you have other games you wish to buy then try to see if the transaction goes through.
   

Your VPN Might Be the Problem

The Steam Store offers different prices for games depending on the region, and your account will be limited to your specific region. If your Steam location and VPN location don’t match, your Steam payment method may experience an error. You can fix this by doing the following:

1. Close Steam. Make sure that it’s completely closed and not just minimized. Click on the “Show hidden icons” arrow on the right side of the taskbar. Right-click on the Steam icon then choose exit from the popup menu.
   
2. From the same hidden icons menu, right-click on your VPN.
   
3. Choose exit.
   

Alternatively, you can turn off your VPN via the end process window. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Type in “Task manager” on the search bar, or press CTRL+Alt+Delete then choose Task Manager.
   
2. From the list of processes, find the name of your VPN, then right-click on it.
   
3. From the dropdown menu, choose “End Task.”
   

Task Manager can also be used to disable your VPN from running automatically during start-up. This can be done by:

1. Opening the Task Manager by typing it into the search bar or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete then clicking on Task Manager.
   
2. On the tabs, click on “Startup.”
   
3. Locate the name of your VPN, then right-click it.
   
4. Click on “Disable” from the dropdown menu.
   

Now that your VPN has been disabled, go ahead and restart Steam. Your location and your Steam account location should now match. Proceed to your cart to see if any pending transactions have been resolved.

Your Steam App May Be Experiencing an Error

On rare occasions, your local Steam application might be experiencing an error. This may be due to an interrupted update or corrupt local files. You can fix this by clearing the Steam cache. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Steam App.
   
2. Click on “Steam” in the upper left corner of the screen.
   
3. Click on “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
   
4. On the left menu click on “Downloads.”
   
5. On the lower part of the window, click on “Clear Download Cache.”
   
6. Restart Steam and allow it to finish updating.
7. Check your cart to see if purchase errors have been resolved.
   

Try Buying the Game from the Steam Website

This might be a temporary fix, but if your Steam app isn’t working, then the Steam website might allow your account to continue with a purchase. To do this:

1. Open the Steam website.
   
2. Click on “Log in”, then enter your credentials.
   
3. If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you will be prompted to enter a verification code.
   
4. Proceed to the store page of the game you wish to buy.
   
5. Add it to your cart, then proceed with the checkout.
   

Proceed to Steam’s Help Desk

If none of the solutions offered seem to work, then you might want to consult with the Steam customer service team to see what can be done. They provide step-by-step guides to many common problems and give you the ability to contact support if it can’t be resolved automatically.

Other Common Steam Store Issues

If you’re a frequent user of the Steam platform, you might run across some of these common errors. If you do, here’s a quick way to fix them.

Steam Store Not Loading

When this happens, it’s normally because of a Steam download error. The update may be corrupted, or a file may be faulty. The quickest solution would be to flush the cache and restart the update, but how can you do so if the Steam app won’t load? Fortunately, you can do this entirely via Windows by doing the following:

1. On your search bar, type “Run.”
   
2. On the text bar type the following: steam://flushconfig
   
3. Click on “OK.”
   
4. On the popup menu, click on “OK.”
   
5. Restart Steam and see if it updates properly. You will have to re-enter your login credentials to proceed.

Missing Games

Once bought, Steam games will never disappear from your account. Even games that are no longer offered on the store will be available for download and installation if you’ve already bought them. If you can’t find a particular game on your account, try to do the following:

1. Make sure you’re viewing all games, not just installed ones. On the Library tab, on the left menu just above the search bar, is a play icon. This toggles whether you’re viewing installed games or all games.
   
2. Gift games might be on your inventory. Some games must be redeemed first before they get registered to your library. Check your inventory for your game code.
   
3. The game might have been a limited-time event. Some games offer free weekends or limited demos. These games will show up in your library during the duration of the event but will disappear once the event is over.

Never Miss Out

Steam is a great way to buy games, but sometimes errors happen that prevent you from purchasing the items that you want. Knowing how to get rid of the “Your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” is important, especially during a sale. As long as you know what to do, you’ll never miss out on a deal again.

Do you know of other ways to fix the pending transaction bug? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.