Can't buy a 4 pack on Steam because I already own the game

[Motoki]

With the game being deal of the day today I went to buy a 4 pack on Steam for 4 friends only to find that Steam won't let me buy the 4 pack as a gift because I already own the game.

Please tell them to fix this. I would like to buy a 4 pack before the sale goes off.

[keith.lamothe]

Sorry, we've asked Valve about this before (and I've run into it personally when trying to buy 4-packs of other games) but they replied that it is intentional that you cannot buy a multi-pack if you already own the game.  You could have one of the friends you intend to give it to buy the 4-pack and pay them back, but that's all I can offer in the way of advice

[x4000]

Thanks for the note on that -- I've just sent a query over to Valve about it, and I'll let you know what they say.  I see that it works to buy just the single copy of the game as a gift if you already have it, but the bundle works as you describe for me also.  Thanks for the catch!

EDIT: Ninja'd by Keith.  Yeah, I thought we had spoken to them about that before, but I couldn't remember for sure and couldn't find it in my email history.  Well, I've sent them another note about it to plant the bug in their ear one more time, anyhow.

[x4000]

Yep, unfortunately that's still the case.  The response from Valve:

One of the 4 pack copies is not tradable and must be redeemed on the purchasers account. As an alternative he can buy individual gift copies.

Getting one of the friends to buy it and then paying him/her back, as Keith suggested, is also a good idea.  A bit frustrating this is how it works, but it's not unique to AVWW anyhow.