Hey Kid, wanna buy some Steam Deck?...
So you may have seen that I was able to get my hands on a Steam Deck prior to any knowledge of its imminent release date that’s still set at ‘pending’ as of writing this article. It sucks having to wait this long for a piece of hardware that many Aussie’s like myself have been salivating over for months now. Initially released in February 2022, the Steam Deck has been touted by many gaming outlets in the west as the best piece of kit to get your mitts on this year, but it’s been a sad love story for gamers down under without a chance to receive theirs. Thankfully – and mercifully – there is a way to order one directly from Valve. Many have gone through the process, yet have gone the devious route of reselling with an exorbitant premium on auction sites like eBay, doubling down on what they would have paid to import the handheld. So today, I’m going to tell you how to import your own Steam Deck into Australia without having to go through the hassle of paying a scalper some ridiculous price.
⚠ Fair Warning: I don’t take any responsibility for your experience with these instructions. This is just the method I went about using and it worked successfully without any problems on my part, so I’m just sharing knowledge.
- A Working VPN
- US Payment Method
- US to AU Mail Forwarder
- US Steam Account
- Patience
To start with, you’re going to need a VPN. There’s no way around this without fooling Valve’s checkout system, nor their initial sign-up. Personally, I use NordVPN – not a sponsor – and have been an avid patron of the service for over 4 years now, and it hasn’t let me down. Highly recommend getting yourself signed up. Always look for deals across the web for a certain percentage off their new signee’s as they tend to have great discounts and extended deals. For example NordVPN.com/criticalrole currently has a great deal where you buy a year’s subscription and receive an extra four months for free. But you can also sign-up for a limited trial and use that.
Now without an AMEX or anything that accepts international payment, you won’t be able to purchase the Deck through Valve’s storefront. It immediately detects where your bank is located and rejects the transaction. The safest way to do this is to sign up to a Global Pre-Paid debit card. Wise is definitely the way to go here with offices located in Brisbane. There is an initial sign-up fee of $10AU, however you receive a physical debit card to use anywhere you want which is pretty cool. There are some fees included in transferring funds to the account, but it’s like $2AU so I was more than happy to take the hit, but if there is any substantial funds leftover, they may charge $2AU a month. Just make sure when you’re transferring money, you calculate exactly the amount you’re going to have to place into your Wise account or Steam will decline the transaction and will hold the funds for a certain period.
There are a few Mail Forwarders that will send you your shiny new Steam Deck for a fee. I personally went with PlanetExpress as they’re widely known to have a great reputation and timely service. You can place your parcel in priority for a couple extra bucks and have extras including security tape and plastic wrap, which I personally selected for my box. Valve have a bad rep right now for placing the product’s description right on the box’s label which has been a nightmare for customers in the US, having their handheld stolen. PlanetExpress cover the original label – thankfully – and a new shipping label is safely placed on the box.
You can sign up for a free mailbox which is located in California. However, California have a sales tax after purchase, so you can sign up to PlanetExpress’ premium service where you can ship out to another state with no sales tax. This is an extra $10, and comes out cheaper than paying the extra $40US that I did without knowing prior. Just make sure once you’re done, you cancel the mailbox afterward or you’ll be charged monthly.
This is where NordVPN comes useful. You need to have your VPN active before signing up to a fresh Steam account. Be sure you’re also signed out of your main Steam account on the PC you’re using – this includes the app; hard exit the executable from your items tray. After you’ve signed out, initiate the VPN and make sure your active IP Address is US based, then visit https://store.steampowered.com/join to register your new US account. After activating it, go ahead and visit https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck to purchase your Steam Deck – again make sure the amount of money in your Wise account is enough to purchase the model you want to buy. When inputting delivery details, be sure to have them EXACTLY as listed from PlanetExpress.
You may get a suggested mailing address but don’t choose this, choose the one you wrote manually. Just be sure it’s the same as the one provided from the mail forwarder. Pay with your Wise debit card details and hopefully that all worked.
From this point it’s a waiting game while keeping a very close eye on your tracking from Valve’s offices to PlanetExpress, where you’ll receive a mail notification that they company have your package. From there, double check to see your details are all correct, fill in your customs form HONESTLY including internal battery description, choose a mailing service – I personally went with FedEx Express, don’t bother with “Delivery Duty Paid”, it’s worthless and does nothing – and then again wait for FedEx to do their thing and deliver it right to your front door.
While you wait, you can get yourself a dock from either JSAUX which a number of people recommend, or save a few bucks and grab a generic Multiport USB-C HDMI adapter off Amazon – the one linked is the one I’m using and it works perfectly. Once it arrives you can sign into your main account and use it like you would on your desktop. Happy Gaming!
