[Disclaimer: This is an unofficial summary and analysis by a community member based on observed changes and data. I am not affiliated with Valve or Steam Support.]

This post aims to clarify all the changes made to the Steam Community Market around December 5, 2025. There has been significant confusion between intentional policy adjustments (as confirmed by Steam Support and will not be reverted) and an unintentional technical bug (which has been fixed and sellers compensated).

TL;DR: Steam made three intentional policy changes (new global minimum fee, higher currency units for 12 regions, and a fee rounding change for those regions — which Steam Support confirms are **permanent**). Separately, there was an unintentional technical bug (a faulty exchange rate for those same 12 regions from Dec 5-9), which has been fixed and sellers compensated.

These are deliberate changes to market rules by Steam.

1. Global Minimum Fee Increase
   The minimum charge for both the "Steam Transaction Fee" (5%) and the "Game Fee" (10%) has been raised to $0.01 each for all currencies. Since they are calculated separately, sellers now pay a minimum total fee of $0.02 per sale.
   Refer: Steam Fee
   
   • Impact Example (Chinese Yuan - CNY):
     
   • Minimum Listing Price: Was 0.03 CNY, now 0.21 CNY.
     
   • Revenue Change: For a 0.21 CNY item, seller revenue dropped from ~0.19 CNY to 0.07 CNY. Revenue only matches or exceeds the old model when the item price reaches about 1.61 CNY.
2. Increased Minimum Currency Unit for Specific Regions
   The smallest possible price increment has been raised for 12 currencies.
   Full List of Adjusted Currencies:
   
   Adjusted to a unit of 1: JPY, IDR, UAH, CLP, COP, TWD, KZT, UYU Adjusted to a unit of 5: CRC Adjusted to a unit of 10: KRW Adjusted to a unit of 500: VND All other currencies remain at a unit of 0.01.
   • Impact Example (Ukrainian Hryvnia - UAH):
     
   • Minimum Listing Price: Now 3 UAH.
     
   • Revenue Change: For a 3 UAH item, seller revenue dropped from ~2.61 UAH to 1 UAH.
3. Changed Fee Rounding Rule for the Above 12 Currencies
   
   • Background: For a desired seller revenue `P`, the fees are theoretically 0.1*P (Game Fee) and 0.05*P (Steam Fee). These often need rounding. The sum of these three parts (Seller Revenue `P` + Game Fee + Steam Fee) is the final price that the buyer sees.
     
   • The Change:
     
   • For regions NOT on the list above (e.g., USD, EUR, CNY): Fractions beyond the minimum unit are always rounded DOWN (truncated).
     
   • For the 12 adjusted currencies: Fractions beyond the new, higher minimum unit are now rounded (half-up).
     
   • Impact Example:
   USD Region (Rounding DOWN, rule unchanged): - Target Revenue: $0.39 - Steam Fee (0.0195) -> Rounded DOWN to $0.01 - Game Fee (0.039) -> Rounded DOWN to $0.03 - Total Fee: $0.04 | Buyer Pays: $0.43 UAH Region (Rounding rule CHANGED): - Target Revenue: 25 UAH - Steam Fee (1.25) -> Rounded DOWN to 1 UAH - Game Fee (2.5) -> Rounded UP to 3 UAH [This is the change!] - Total Fee: 4 UAH | Buyer Pays: 29 UAH
   This can create unexpected "jumps" in the final price and seller profit at specific price points in these 12 regions.

This was a genuine error that occurred alongside the policy changes.

The Bug: Faulty Exchange Rate Algorithm
* What happened: Between December 5 and December 9, when a seller made a sale to a buyer from any of the 12 regions listed above, a critical error occurred. The system used the correct exchange rate to generate the email receipt but a different, incorrect (lower) rate to process the actual money transfer.
* Direct Consequence: Sellers received less money in their wallet than was stated in the email receipt and less than they were owed. Buyers in those regions paid slightly less than the intended market price.
* Current Status - FIXED & COMPENSATED: This bug was silently fixed on December 9. More importantly, Valve has compensated affected sellers for the missing amounts. This action is the definitive proof that this was a technical error, not an intended policy.

Originally posted by Myself:

The combination of these complex policy changes and a coinciding technical bug made the situation very confusing. The compensation confirms that the exchange rate issue was a legitimate error.

• Policy Adjustments (Fees, Minimum Units, Rounding): These are permanent changes. You must account for them in your future listing strategies, especially for low-priced items.
  
• Technical Bug (Exchange Rate): This was a temporary error from Dec 5-9, now resolved. If you sold items to buyers in the 12 listed regions during that period, you should have already received an automatic compensation for the difference.

I hope this detailed breakdown helps the community understand what changed and why.