Steam Points Shop: A Practical Guide to Earning and Spending

26 October 2026

Steam Points Shop Guide: What to Earn and What to Get

Quick answer: The Steam Points Shop lets you spend points on profile items, avatars, backgrounds, stickers and more. Points are earned from purchases on Steam, according to Valve's own points page. Points do not expire, and Points Shop items stay on your account.

How You Earn Points in the Steam Points Shop

Valve's system is straightforward: you get 100 Steam Points for each $1.00 USD spent on games, DLC, hardware, applications, soundtracks or in-game items. If you spend in another currency, Steam converts the amount to USD first, then gives you points for it.

Not everything counts, though. Adding money to your Steam Wallet does not earn any points, according to Valve's points FAQ. So if you're loading up Wallet funds and then buying games, only the game purchase itself counts.

Be careful with refunds. Valve says the points you gained from a purchase are deducted when you refund it. If that takes your balance below zero, Steam also removes the most recent items and Community Awards you used points for, until your balance is no longer negative.

Whenever you make a purchase, Steam logs it in your points history, which is a full record of all points you've earned and spent along with every reward you've unlocked. You can check this any time from your account.

If something looks wrong with your balance, the Steam Points help page says to read the Steam Points FAQ first, then check your points history. If you still have a problem with your points or the Steam Points Shop, you can submit a help request to Steam Support describing the issue.

One thing to know: Valve says all items from the Points Shop are associated with your account and cannot be transferred to others.

Community Awards and Points

Steam's Community Awards let you spend points to recognize reviews, guides, screenshots and other community posts. Since the Second Edition of Community Awards, awards no longer transfer points to the person who receives them, and each award costs 500 Steam Points.

You can give an award to user reviews, forum posts, guides, screenshots, artwork, Workshop items, or directly on a friend's Steam profile, and the award shows publicly on that content. Valve also says awards do not change where content appears in lists: reviews and posts are still sorted by how recent they are or by helpful votes.

What About Free Stickers During Sales?

Steam has offered free stickers during some seasonal sales. In a seasonal sale announcement, Valve notes that, as with previous seasonal sales, you can earn stickers by going through your Discovery Queue during the event.

How to Browse and Spend Your Points Step by Step

You don't need a guide to find the shop, but knowing what's in there saves you from scrolling aimlessly. Here's what to do.

Open the Points Shop on the Steam store.
Browse by category: the Steam Points Shop groups items under Interface (keyboards and startup movies), Profile (avatars, backgrounds, Community Awards, the Seasonal Badge, game profiles and showcases) and Chat (animated stickers, chat effects and emoticons).
Redeem your points for the item you want.
Check your points history afterward to see your balance and what you've spent.

So what should you actually spend on? That depends on what you care about. If you want your profile to stand out, animated avatars and profile backgrounds are the most visible upgrades. Chat stickers and emoticons add personality to conversations. Startup movies play when Steam starts on Steam Deck and in Big Picture mode.

If you're wondering what to buy with Steam Points, start with items tied to games you play: Valve lets you redeem points for a background or emoticon from games you already own. Emoticons and backgrounds that used to come only from trading cards can be redeemed directly, and you can still craft them from cards. For how card drops work, see our Steam trading card drops guide.

Do Steam Points Expire?

No. Your Steam Points do not expire, so you can spend them whenever you find something worth getting. The items you redeem stay on your account with unlimited use.

That is a change from Steam's older seasonal events, where some items expired or had a limited number of uses. Valve says all Points Shop items are now yours to keep, and the Steam Points Shop is here to stay, open all year round.

Points You Can't Earn

Points come only from money you spend on a purchase, so if you want more points, buy games you actually want. There's no shortcut beyond that.

Playing free-to-play games or free weekends, or claiming free games, doesn't cost money, so it doesn't add points. If you're picking up free weekend games, the Steam free weekend guide explains how those work.

How NoggenFogger Collects Daily Freebies for You

The team at NoggenFogger runs your Steam account on your own private server, about 23 to 24 hours a day, while your PC stays off. Part of what the server does is collect Steam's daily freebies, like the Discovery Queue, sale stickers and free Points Shop items.

Your server also builds playtime on up to 32 games at once, picks up free games and free weekends when you switch them on, and handles Twitch drops for the games you choose. It starts from $25 a month with everything included, and you pick the server country from locations worldwide.

If you want those Discovery Queue stickers and seasonal freebies collected without opening Steam yourself, your NoggenFogger server handles it daily. You get a Discord channel with nightly reports showing what it picked up.

Ready to let your account run 24 hours a day? Get started and your server is set up in a few minutes.

FAQs

For questions about how the NoggenFogger service works, see our FAQ page.

How Do I Get Steam Points Without Buying Games?

You can't. Points come from purchases on Steam, and Community Awards no longer give points to the person who receives them.

Can I Give My Points Shop Items to Someone Else?

No. Valve says all items from the Points Shop are associated with your account and cannot be transferred to others.

Do Steam Points Expire If I Don't Use Them?

They don't expire. Your balance stays until you spend it, and items you redeem stay on your account with unlimited use.

Does Adding Money to My Steam Wallet Earn Points?

No. Adding Wallet funds earns no points. You only earn points when you spend those funds on games, DLC, hardware or in-game items.

What Happens to My Points If I Refund a Game?

The points from that purchase are deducted from your account. If that takes your balance below zero, Valve removes the most recent items and Community Awards you used points for until the balance is no longer negative.

What Are the Best Things to Buy in the Steam Points Shop?

Animated avatars and profile backgrounds are the most visible. Chat stickers and emoticons add personality. Game profiles for games you play tend to feel the most personal. Every item stays on your account for unlimited use.

Are Points Shop Items Permanent?

Yes. Every item you get from the Steam Points Shop stays on your account with unlimited use. You won't lose them over time or after a sale ends.