Steam holds notorious, price-slashing sales through out the seasons. Its been long rumored that the annual Steam Summer Sale would start in June  instead of July this year. The rumors were true!

The sale starts today, June 19th and runs through June 30th. You can expect the general price slashing and wallet crying discounts you’ve come to know. Both new games and classics will be on sale. This year, Valve is even offering a discount on games not released yet. You can pre-purchase Dead Rising 3 right now for a cool savings of 25% off.

Steam sales can often be a lot to understand and get through especially if you’re new to Steam sales. Often times people miss deals and don’t get the most out of their money. Here are few tips and tricks to surviving a Steam sale from a veteran.

How Steam sales work:

General discounts- These are general across the board discounts. These games are usually at a discount but not at the biggest discount they might possibly be at later.

Daily Deals- These deals are daily. They generally last every 48 hours though.

Flash Sales- These deals last usually 8 hours. These deals are fast so check back every so often. Every flash sale introduces around 4 new games.

Community Picks- These deals are voted on by the community. Make sure you vote because you’ll get special trading cards every 3 votes. Community Picks last about a day.

Trading Cards–  Collect, trade, and craft 10 Summer Adventure cards that can only be earned during the sale. You can earn in-game items, community rewards, and points for your team by crafting badges throughout the sale.

When to buy– Daily deals and flash sales are when you want to buy a game. These offer the deepest discounts possible. Dont buy games that are general discounts until the last day. Always wait for a daily deal or flash deal. If it never makes either, then buy it on the last day.  If you happen to miss a deal don’t worry because most games will get an encore discount.  Usually the last few days of the sale will offer a lot of encore deals to end the event.

General tips and tricks:

1. Do not buy games that you’re not going to play. Simple as that. Steam sales are often notorious for hooking you on a sweet deal only for you to bite and never play the game. Buy games you know for sure you want, and are going to play now or relatively soon.
2. Set a budget. Nothing hurts more than running out of money or spending all of your money in your Steam wallet to then have a game you’ve been waiting on get a huge discount.
3.  Download the mobile Steam app. You’ll have instant access where you can buy the games if you happen to be away from home.
4. Add any games you want to your wishlist. You’ll be able to get instant notifications via email when a game you want goes on sale.
5. Use trackers to track all of the sales. You can find various ones across the internet. One popular one is Steamdb. Also make sure to check region restrictions and DRM issues before you buy. Here is a good place to check on region restrictions.
6.  Often times entire bundles or entire franchises/publisher bundles will be on sale. Sometimes these arent listed so double check. Buying the game separate may not always be cheaper. If you already own one game and buy the bundle it will not further discount it. DLC will often be on sale too.
7. Read the reviews. I cant stress how important this is. It may be tempting to get a game with that huge discount but don’t let impulses control you. You don’t want to buy games that are not worthwhile. Also in rare cases some games don’t work properly and don’t have continued dev support (one example is Jade Empire).
8. Keep your receipts. The flood of traffic on Steam and all of the purchases during a sale can sometimes cause errors. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
9. Remember that sometimes Steam doesn’t always have the best deals. Usually the sales Steam holds will beat any other competitors. However, sometimes you can find GOG, Greenman Gaming, Amazon or any other similar digital download marketplace can offer cheaper deals. If you can live without a certain game for awhile also remember that Steam will have a winter sale that can sometimes be better.
10. And lastly, but more obvious, download your games as soon as you get them. You’ll save a vast amount of time instead of waiting until you buy everything.