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How to Fix Error “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” On Steam?

How to Fix Error “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” On Steam?


From servers and connection issues to pending transactions and device settings, there can be many reasons why you cannot make a transaction on steam. In this article, we will tell you why you are constantly getting the error where it shows that you are not able to make a transaction because you have another pending transaction on your account. Moreover, we will give you the various fixes for it too!

your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account

We make lots of transactions online. Right from groceries to subscriptions, we transact everything online. Amid this trend, getting transactional errors has become quite common. Users should no more worry about it since most of them are easily fixable. 

Steam is a unique cloud-based platform to store and access your games stress-free. However, while making an online transaction for it, you may encounter an issue like,  “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” This issue is not complicated and can be resolved. Thanks to steam, that allows an item to be kept in the cart for up to 72 hours. This will give you time to diagnose and fix.

To resolve, we may need to know what causes this message on the screen. In this post, I will tell you some common reasons behind this issue and methods to fix it. 


Reasons For “Your Transaction Cannot Be Completed Because You Have Another Pending Transaction On Your Account” Issue.


Errors seldom don’t have one reason all the time to occur. For the issue, “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account”, following can be relative reasons:

Servers and connection errors

Connection error may form a preliminary reason for any transaction and application failure. To ensure this, you first need to check whether you have a perfect internet connection to avoid steam error initializing or updating transaction. 

Moreover, server problems can be another fundamental reason for transactional issues. Sometimes, Steam servers may take time to respond to your transaction due to heavy traffic. 

Pending transactions

The error itself says that it occurred due to a pending transaction. There may be any past transaction that may not be completed. You can fix this by resolving previous transactions. You can also cancel past transactions if any. 

Constraining Device settings

The PC that you are using may have some settings enabled that constrain your transactions in steam. Some of these include VPN settings, data saver settings, and many more. You can instantly identify and turn them off to see if your steam error initializing or updating transaction is resolved.


Methods To Solve “Your Transaction Cannot Be Completed Because You Have Another Pending Transaction On Your Account” Issue


Knowing the probable reasons for the steam error initializing or updating transaction, we can now look into methods to fix this issue. 

Cancelling the previous transaction in steam

Since the error itself says that there is a pending transaction, start trying by cancelling the past transactions, if any. Here’s how you can cancel the past pending transactions:

Step 1: Launch Steam and select account

Step 2: In the list that appears, click on the Account details option

Step 3: Now, click on View Purchase History to see all your past history of purchase.

Step 4: You will see the list of all past transactions in a list. See if any of them is pending and click on it.

Step 5: Now, Select the Cancel this Transaction option

Step 6: Finally, Click on Cancel My Purchase

These steps are to be followed in the Steam application. You can also do so by logging in to the steam official steam website. 

Trying using Steam Website

Doing payments from any of the client’s websites may sometimes lead to “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” issue. Thus doing the same transaction on the Steam official website can often make the transaction go smoothly.

You need to open the Steam Website on your website and make the same transaction. See if your issue is resolved.

Use Another Payment Method

Sometimes issues may arise due to the transaction method. Why don’t you try another payment method to see if the issue is resolved? Not all games and platforms support every payment method. Thus, this issue generally arises from the vendor side. See if the transaction gets successful using another method. Add a new credit or debit card to use another third-party payment method to see if “there seems to be an error initializing or updating your transaction” issue is cleared.

Check if Steam is Down

Sometimes, due to heavy traffic, the servers get down occasionally. Check if the steam server is down; if yes, wait for a few minutes to reinitiate the transaction. Thanks to the maintenance departments that make the situation normal soon. 

Here’s how you can check if the steam server is down:

Step 1: Open The Downdetector website, which helps detect the server status.

Step 2: Select the country from where you belong in the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Now, enter Steam in the search box and hit enter.

Step 4: The steam site is opened on the same page below with details pertaining to server disruptions, if any. 

If you see any disruption in the server, wait for some time to get it alright.

Disable all Constraining settings

Devices today come with a number of handy features. As a part of it, they provide convenient options to save on battery and data. These options include VPN and data saver options. These settings may constrain steam software from an efficient operation and thus raise issues like, “there seems to be an error initializing or updating your transaction.” Turn off VPN and data saving option to see if the issue is resolved. 

Concluding Thoughts

Transactional errors are no more taxing since most of these have easy solutions. Selfsame is the case with, “your transaction cannot be completed because you have another pending transaction on your account” error too. Knowing the appropriate reason and making necessary fixes will bring you out. Now, you know the reasons and fixes of “steam error initializing or updating transactions” error. Check out the perfect fix for your issue, apply it and continue relishing your best-loved games.

About the author

Srishti Marwah

A Journalist by degree and a writer by heart, writing is an emotion and a stress buster for me! As a writer, I'm on a mission to make reading more rejuvenating for all the readers out there! Crafting my thoughts and presenting them to the world is what I love the most!

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