Questions, answered straight.

No. VAC bans come from anti-cheat detection inside running games - modified files, injected modules, memory tampering. Idling only changes which game Steam considers "playing"; it never touches the game, anti-cheat, or memory. Steam's own VAC FAQ has stated this for 11+ years: "You will not be banned for just idling."

Not in our experience. We use Steam's official client protocol - the same one your Steam desktop client uses - not a scraped HTTP layer. Hundreds of accounts have been running 24/7 on our infrastructure for over a year with zero bans. If Valve ever signaled this was a problem, we'd shut down before risking customer accounts.

To sign in to Steam the first time. We encrypt it at rest with a key only the server holds (not derived from your password). Once Steam gives us a session token, that's what we use day-to-day - the password is only re-read if Steam invalidates the session. If you'd rather not share it, use QR login: scan a code in the Steam Mobile app and Steam mints a token without us ever seeing your password.

Everything goes - credentials, session tokens, Steam-account rows, idle history. Immediate, no soft-delete. We don't retain anything for "analytics."

Yes. Steam treats it identically to actually playing. Hours show on your profile, count toward badges, and trigger card drops.

Not simultaneously. Steam allows one active session per account. If you launch a game on your own PC, our session gets evicted and the account shows offline in the dashboard until you stop playing. It picks back up automatically.

Each account cycles through your selected games, about 5 minutes per game by default. Every game in the list accumulates real playtime - not just the first one. Steam caps simultaneous games at 32 per account, which is why higher tiers max out there.

Roughly one card every 1-2 hours of playtime, per game, until that game's drop pool is exhausted (usually 5-10 cards). After the pool is empty, Steam stops dropping until you buy and complete a badge. Card Farmer (any paid plan) handles this automatically: it picks your highest-yield game and rotates when drops run out.

No. We can only idle games already in your Steam library. Steam doesn't credit playtime for games you haven't purchased.

Most F2P games don't drop cards unless you've paid into them (TF2 Premium, CS2 Prime, Dota Plus, etc.). Card Farmer detects when a game is showing "drops remaining" but no drops actually arrive, and blacklists it for that account.

Included on every paid plan. Watches your card drops, prices the remaining cards on each account, and idles whichever game has the highest expected $/hour. When drops run dry it switches automatically. You don't pick games - it does.

Lowest sell prices over-state actual value. A card listed at $0.50 with zero buyers isn't worth $0.50 - it's worth whatever the highest buy-order is right now (often $0.04). Card Farmer prices off the Steam Community Market itemordershistogram endpoint - the same data you'd see if you opened a card's market page yourself.

Honest answer: it depends on your library, hours idled, and Steam Market prices that day. A typical Pro user with 10-12 accounts running 24/7 farms around $8-15/month in card value at current prices. Don't expect to retire - it pays for the subscription and gives you a bit of pocket money.

Yes. Go to /dashboard/plans and click Cancel. You keep your current tier until the end of the billing period, then drop to Free. No fee, no friction.

If you signed up before the 2026 plan rework, you're grandfathered - your old cap stays forever, even on the new pricing. You'll see your real cap in /dashboard/accounts. Signed up after? You get the listed cap for your tier.

Stripe handles refunds for accidental charges within 7 days - open the billing portal from /dashboard/plans. For anything else, message us on Discord and we'll sort it. Lifetime: we'll refund proportionally if you change your mind in the first 30 days.

We'd give 6 months' notice and pro-rate refunds for active subscriptions and Lifetime buyers (proportional to how long you've used it). We have no plans to shut down - the service is profitable - but it's a fair question for anyone selling "lifetime" anything.

Three usual culprits. (1) You opened that account on your own Steam - our session gets evicted. (2) The Steam Mobile Authenticator shared_secret changed or you removed 2FA. (3) Steam sent a "new sign-in" email asking you to approve the login. Check the status pip on the account card - it'll usually say which.

Almost always a network blip at our VPS provider - they happen 1-3 times a week, usually around midnight CEST. The system auto-reconnects with jittered timing (so we don't all hammer Steam at once) and auto-revives any account that hit the disconnect breaker. You shouldn't have to do anything; it heals in ~45 minutes.

Discord is fastest - the link is in the nav and footer. Lifetime includes priority email support. Either way, include your username (not your Steam username, your SteamBoost one) so we can find your account quickly.