PayPal once again "accidentally" leaked the start date of this year's Steam Sale, which will reportedly happen starting Dec. 18. The leaked information about the alleged Steam winter sale came from PayPal Japan, and it was posted by a Reddit user named Quantumbinman last week.  This follows the incident last month when the online payment service also leaked the fall Steam sale in order to promote their services in relation to the online discounted deals offered by game developer Valve Corporation. 

Although the reports are still unconfirmed and Valve is still silent about its validity, the leaked information titled "12/18" ignited the speculations that the winter sale period will actually begin on Dec. 18. Because of the leak, enthusiastic gamers are already planning their purchase for the upcoming Steam Sale. This seasonal sale period is known as a great venue to buy different game titles at more affordable prices. Some of the expected titles that will be featured in this year's Steam winter sale include "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive" as well as "Trials Fusion." 

Meanwhile, the annual Steam Holiday Auction that will supposedly run from Dec. 15 up to Dec. 18 was temporarily stopped earlier by Valve because of the recently discovered exploit that lets users copy billions of Steam Gems that can be used to bid on video game titles during the auction. 

Steam posted an update in its website last weekend, saying: "Sorry, but there have been some issues with Gems and the Steam Holiday Auction has been temporarily closed. The elves are working frantically to get the issues sorted out, and the auction will start again as soon as they're done." 

Fortunately, Steam's "elves" managed to take care of the problem, and the issues have been fixed in time for the auction. 

The annual Steam Holiday auction starts on Monday, Dec. 15, at exactly 7:45 a.m., and it will conclude on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 10 a.m.