Steam just slapped me in my fat face :(

[vAGUe]

If you try sending me an offer or trade with me in real time, you can't; this is because steam temporarily restricted my account from certain features like the market and trading for renewing my password. The reason why I renewed my password was because of the errors I kept receiving for trying to log-in to my account on the Chrome browser, although it was the correct username and password, Steam would display in red text "there have been to many login failures from your network in a short time period. Please wait and try again later". This was a major problem because I wouldn't be able to trade with 3rd party websites such as scrap.tf or bp.tf, because I'd have to login first.

 

This only occurred after I logged out with my main account > logged in with a different steam account > logged out of that one > tried logging back in with my main account : I've done this multiple times in the past, but this error seemed to have happened only now. 

 

There were multiple solutions online, but I couldn't really use any. The first one was to log-in to steam using a different network: I couldn't do that since I don't have access to the main router as it is connected to my dad's computer. The second one was to wait around 30 minutes; I did that, in fact I waited for the entire day (24 hours), but still to no avail. The third one was to use a VPN: I was apprehensive about using VPNs because I read somewhere that VPNs are only ever reliable and safe if they're paid for, meaning free ones are risky to use. In my head, there was a possibility that my steam account credentials could be stolen or even key logged somehow if I use a VPN that's free. So I resorted to resetting my password completely... I honestly didn't think that it'd trade ban me for several days because I thought that trade bans only apply if you change your steam guard authenticator, apparently I was wrong. 

 

Anyway, I'd just want to point out that this entire situation is steam's fault! Had they not given me the log-in error, I'd be able to trade right now. I honestly don't know why steam wouldn't let me log-in, but I'm glad that I can now at the cost of a 5 day trade ban... It really came down to choosing the lesser of the 2 evils, the VPN or the trade ban. However I'd like to know, would it have been better for me to use a free VPN to fix the log-in problem or is resetting the password my only option, or did I have another option that I could've done to log-in. Also, I'd like to know the reliability of these free VPNs, if it's possible for your account credentials to be stolen by using a VPN?

 

p.s. I'm not a fan of posting on steam forums as people there can be annoying sometimes xd

[Pixxi0us]

You did pretty much everything you shouldnt do. Steam restricted your account for your own safety, steam doesnt know if its the real owner or a possible hijacker trying to steal the account and the fact that you changed connection, logged in in other accounts just raised even more suspicions.

[D.Alex]

First, I think it's much more convenient to always keep different Steam account in different browsers (or browser profiles).

 

Any internet connection (including free VPN) should be fine security-wise as you connect to Steam via HTTPS.

However, at some point you might be using the same IP address as someone else and potentially have issues e.g. on backpack.tf or marketplace.tf.

 

Finally, if you were still logged in Steam app then this should be the  correct way to change you password:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8668-OSLM-5149

This MP blog post says "changing your password does not give you a temporary trade suspension, as many believe".

[vAGUe]

3 hours ago, Pixxi0us said:

You did pretty much everything you shouldnt do. Steam restricted your account for your own safety, steam doesnt know if its the real owner or a possible hijacker trying to steal the account and the fact that you changed connection, logged in in other accounts just raised even more suspicions.

All I really did was reset my password, which in turn gave my the 5 day ban. The real problem isn't in the changing of accounts, but the red text which stated that I have had too many login failures on the network: That prevented me from logging in (even though I placed in the correct username and password). I also never changed connection; that was one of the possible solutions to the problem. You're right though, it's part of Steam's safety precautions to impose a trade ban, as the account may have been hijacked.

 

 

[vAGUe]

3 hours ago, D.Alex said:

First, I think it's much more convenient to always keep different Steam account in different browsers (or browser profiles).

 

Any internet connection (including free VPN) should be fine security-wise as you connect to Steam via HTTPS.

However, at some point you might be using the same IP address as someone else and potentially have issues e.g. on backpack.tf or marketplace.tf.

 

Finally, if you were still logged in Steam app then this should be the  correct way to change you password:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8668-OSLM-5149

This MP blog post says "changing your password does not give you a temporary trade suspension, as many believe".

I actually never thought of saving my steam accounts on different browser profiles; that should help in preventing the problem from reoccurring

 

Yeah, I also should've done a more in-depth research for a solution. Thanks for the help!