Fixing the “Your transaction cannot be completed” error on Steam

Steam is one of the most widely used distribution platforms for Windows games. Vavle (developer) created it in 2003 and it was initially available for MacOS, iOS, Windows and Android. With battle royale games like PUBG Mobile, Steam gained a lot of exposure. After that release, Steam gained a major boost in the sense that it now ranks among the top online game stores.

Regardless of Steam’s service, privacy policy, and other factors, Steam is the premier place to play games. Nevertheless, some Steam users have complained that the app displays an error whenever they try to purchase a game. Despite Steam’s acknowledgement, the company has yet to respond. To temporarily minimize the problem, the following is a useful guide.

How to fix Steam’s “Your transaction cannot be completed” error?

A message that says “Your transaction cannot be completed” appears when a user tries to purchase a game on Steam. The Steam app displays the error with a message saying that the item will be added to the cart for 72 hours. Therefore, we have three days to figure out how to fix this Transaction cannot be completed error.

“Your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account”
by u/BlueBanana_yt in Steam

Steam is working on the issue to fix it as soon as possible. But for a videogame enthusiast, such errors are very irritating. In light of this, we at androidgreek began our research and identified some major causes. A connection error or your previous pending transaction was the cause of this error. To fix it, follow the steps below.

Check Steam’s server status

This is the first thing you should do first. This is because if Steam’s server itself shuts down, it will not proceed and you will probably get an “Your transaction cannot be completed” error. To check Steam’s server status you can look at different websites. You can check the real-time status at downdetector.com. visit downdetector.com >> search for Steam >> Steam’s server status will display.

Drop out other Pending Transactions

It has been observed that if your Steam account has many pending transactions, such errors and malfunctions will appear. Reason being, due to an accumulation of pending transactions in your cart, the server does not permit you to purchase more. It is somewhat similar as your device can’t connect because your bluetooth paired list is full.

In such a case we remove unwanted paired devices. Likewise, here we need to cancel all other pending transactions. I know it would be somewhat tricky for a normal user. Below you will find instructions on how to do this.

• Open Steam and head to your account page.
• Click on the account details option.
• Under account details, click on view purchase history.
• Select the pending transaction that you want to cancel.
• Click on Cancel my purchase and that’s it.

Try using Steam’s website

It might be possible that Steam’s client software is malfunctioning, resulting in this error. In such a case you are recommended to try purchasing the game through Steam’s official website. Even though this fix does not make that much sense, we can at least minimize the error until an official fix comes along. So, to purchase a game on Steam’s website, follow the below steps.

• Visit Steam’s official website.
• Log into your account.
• Now search for the game that you are trying to purchase.
• Follow the on-screen instructions and make the final payment (if any).
• That’s it. Your desired game will be downloaded in a moment.

Furthermore, if you are using a VPN while doing the purchase. We recommend you disable that VPN service and retry purchasing the game. Even if you’re still having the same issue, you can at least download the game from Steam’s website until the official fix is released. So, with this guide, if you have any questions, you can ask them in the below section.

Frequently Asked Questions