HappyStix's Beginners Guide to Trading

HappySticks™

HappySticks™

TD Admin
Low Budget
Can you pin this please?

The intentions of this guide are to go over the basic principles of the Steam Trading functionality inside and outside of Team Fortress 2. Within the guide itself you will find many step by step instruction on how to perform a trade, send trade offers, and more.

How do I trade?

In order to initiate a trade you need to be logged into the Steam Community and connected to Steam Friends.
1. Open your Friends list, located in the lower right hand corner of the Steam client
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2. Click on the small arrow next to the friend you wish to invite to Trade and click on Invite to Trade
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Alternatively, if you are chatting with your friend you can start a trade from the chat window by clicking on the large arrow and selecting Invite to Trade:
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3. Once accepted the trade window will appear where you can view your items, games, and coupons available to trade.
4. Select the appropriate backpack you wish to view from the dropdown menu on the left
5. Click and drag the item, game, or coupon you wish to trade from your backpack to your trade window. If you wish to remove an item, game, or coupon simply drag it back to your backpack from the trade window.
6. Click on Ready to Trade and wait for the other party to click on Ready to Trade.
7. Verify the contents of the trade are correct by hovering your mouse over each item and reading the item details.
8. Click on Make Trade - Once you click this button the trade cannot be undone!
9. The trade will finish processing and you will receive a confirmation window with what items, games, or coupons you received in the trade

Why can't I make a trade?

Important:
Steam Support cannot modify trading or Steam Community Marketplace restrictions, regardless of the circumstances under which your account became restricted.

There are different reasons why you may be unable to trade or use the Market. They may include any of the following:
- Current Trade of Community Ban
- Newly Reset Password
- Purchase Limitations
- Newly Added Payment Method
- Steam Guard Not Enabled
- Newly Authorized Device
Please see the following Trading and Market Restrictions article for more information.

What is a trade offer?

A lot of the time, you will be interested in trading someone on your friends list but they are offline or away. You can send them a trade offer through Steam. A trade offer is a prepackaged trade that you can send to a friend. You pick the items you're willing to give up from your inventory and what you would like to receive in return from your friend, and then send it off. Your friend can then choose to accept, decline or make a counter offer.

How do I send a trade offer?

You can create and send a trade offer from two places, the Trade Offers page off your Inventory and from a friend’s Inventory.
From the trade offers page select “New trade offer…”, select a friend from the pop up list, select items from both your and their inventory to trade, add an optional message, confirm the items and make the offer. Your friend will be notified of the trade offer in the green notification drop down at the top right of Steam.

How do I view my trade offers?

When you receive a trade offer you’ll get a notification in the green notification drop down at the top right of Steam. You can view pending offers and offer history from the Trade Offers page in your Inventory.

How do I change or counter an offer?

You can change or counter any offer you have received. Open the offer and select “Change offer”, then change the trade however you like, confirm the items, and “Send Counter Offer.” The counter offer will be sent back as a new trade offer.

How do I cancel an offer I've sent?

You can cancel a pending offer you've sent from the Sent Offers area of the Trade Offers page.

How do I view my trade history?

You can view your trade history from the Trade Offers page or from the “More” drop down in your Inventory.

What is a scammer?

A scammer is anyone that uses deception, thievery, lies, or anything that is underhanded to take advantage of or steal from another trader.

How can I report a scammer?

Scammers can be reported at a anti-fradulent database commonly known as SteamRep. It is very important to read their Investigation Policy in order to get a good understanding of scam reports that they investigate.

Will Steam restore scammed items?

No. During the trade process, Steam asks you to confirm your trade multiple times. It is your responsibility to review the items that you are trading. You first confirm the trade by checking the box that states, "Check this box when ready to trade". Once checked, you cannot add any items to the trade. If you remove an item you will have to re-check the box to confirm that you are ready. Once both users in the trade have checked this box, the final confirmation button will turn green. Both users must click this button to complete the trade. A log of the trade is also kept in a separate chat box within the trade window.

How can I avoid being scammed?

Do not rush the trade. A common tactic by scammers is to force you to trade quickly so they can change items/gifts in the trade without you noticing. Take your time during the trade to avoid getting scammed.

Mouse over every item to ensure that the item/gift's properties are correct. Information about the item/gift will be stated here including the quality, name, description and any effects.

Pay attention to the trade log while making the trade. All changes, additions, removals and actions will be recorded in this box. You may also use it to communicate with the trader.

Do not trade items outside of the trade window. If another user requests that you do, they will likely scam you. Always insist to trade within the trade window in Steam. Wallet credit and money cannot be traded or added to the trade window.

Ensure that you are trading with the correct user. Scammers may try to impersonate your friends and other trusted traders. It is your responsibility to know who you are trading with.

Sources
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2178-QGJV-0708
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9958-MJDG-3003
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6748-ETSG-5417
http://forums.steamrep.com/pages/faq/
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140281143
 
HappySticks™

HappySticks™

TD Admin
Team Fortress 2

Item Prices
If you'd like to know the current, community-voted price of the items you own you can visit a website called backpack.tf. These prices are not set in stone, but they are useful as a guideline price for buying and selling. These are referred to as Spreadsheet Prices.

Keep in mind item prices are subjective and you can buy or sell items as high or as low as you would like. The key to successful trading is making a profit; try to buy low, and sell high.

Item Qualities
Every single item in Team Fortress 2 has some sort of quality to it. They can further be broken down into a series of categories, each represented by its own color. This information is important to understand before you begin trading, as some qualities are worth a lot more than others.

Normal
Represented by a grey color and reserved for stock weapons.

Unique
Represented in a yellow color, all randomly dropped items, achievement items and lastly store purchases are represented in this color.

Vintage
Most commonly represented by a by color, items of this category were obtained from the Mann-Conomy update.

Genuine
Represented by a green color, they are obtained through order bonuses on Steam.

Strange
Represented by an orange color, items of this quality track kills.

Unusual
Represented by a dark purple color, these are very valuable. They can be found in Mann Co. supply crates and have unique added particle effects.

Haunted
Represented by a turquoise color, these are found during Halloween events and typically can only be used during a full-moon.

Collectors
Represented by a dark red color, these items are obtained by combining large quantities of the same item.

Self-Made
Represented by a light green color, these items are reserved for original creators and typically sparkle in-game.

Community
Represented by a light-green color, these items were given to those that made significant contributions to Steam.

Valve
Represented by a light-pink, they are given to Valve employees and have crazy stats.
Team Fortress 2 Terminology

Keys
When somebody says they are looking for offers in keys they are referring to the Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys which can be purchased from the Mann Co Store[store.teamfortress.com] or the Steam Community Market. Keys are used as a form of currency in the game and are used by people to unbox Mann Co Supply Crates in hopes of finding an exceedingly rare unusual hat.

Earbuds
Considered as the top-tier currency in TF2. Earbuds, or Buds for short is an item which was initially given to people who played TF2 on a Mac during the first month of the OSX release. The item looks like a pair of earbuds you get when you buy an iPod and they have a musical note effect attached to them. These items are very valuable and are worth a lot of Keys and Metal. Most Unusual hats are valued by how many Buds they are worth.

Bill's Hat
Bill's Hat, or Bill's for short is an item that was given to players who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2. It's also considered as a form of currency in the game and is quite valuable.

Metal
Another form of "currency" within TF2. Metal is created by crafting two weapons belonging to the same class together. This can be done by going to Items from the Menu and then Crafting. On the crafting menu click on Smelt Class Weapon. Place two items you want to use in to the window and then click Craft! Keep in mind the two items will be consumed when you do this, and once you click Craft there is no going back. This will produce something called a Scrap Metal, often referred to as scrap to traders.

From the Crafting menu you can then click Combine Scrap Metal. Three scrap metal will create a Reclaimed Metal, often referred to as a rec to traders. One rec is equal to six weapons.

Once you have three Reclaimed Metal you can then click Combine Reclaimed Metal from the crafting menu to create a Refined Metal, also known as a ref to traders. This is the highest tier of metal. Traders will often advertise that they are selling their item for 1.33 or 1.66, this means that they are selling their item for 1 Refined and 1 Reclaimed, or 1 Refined and 2 Reclaimed.

Scrap Banker
In trading servers you'll often find somebody who is advertising themselves as a scrap banker. These people will typically accept any two combination of craftable weapons, regardless of the class and will give you a Scrap Metal in return. These people will later try and sell the items for a profit. They are useful if you don't have the right combination of weapons to craft your own metal.

Scrap Banker
These people will typically accept any two combination of craftable weapons, regardless of the class and will give you a Scrap Metal in return.

Low-ball
If somebody says that your offer is Low-ball, it means the price you offered is deceptively or unrealistically low compared to the item's community value. Always check the current item price before you increase your offer to make sure you're getting a good deal.

High-ball
If your offer is regarded as a High-ball, it means that your offer is excessively high compared to the current community value of the item. This term can also be applied to people selling an item at a price which greatly exceeds the current community value.

Sweets
If somebody asks you to add Sweets to a trade, it means they want you to throw in a few extra items to sweeten the deal. This is more commonly used in high value item trading.

Overpay
Often some traders will give people the option of overpaying in items. Overpaying means you pay more than the item's value in items, instead of currency items such as Buds, or Metal.

Dirty
If an item is referred to as Dirty, it means that it is not directly tradable or it has been purchased from the Mann Co Store which makes it non-craftable (With the exception of usable items such as Keys). Items with the "Gifted from" text on them are also considered dirty items as it is not removable like Name and Description tags.

Abbreviations

W / H
W Stands for want, and H stands for Have. To give you an example of this you might see "[H] Bill's Hat [W] 9 Keys". This means they have a Bill's Hat and they want 9 Keys for it.

BO
This stands for Buy Out.

WTB / WTS / WTT
WTB stands for "Want to Buy". WTS stands for "Want to Sell" and WTT stands for "Want to Trade".

LF
Stands for "Looking For".

BP
BP stands for Backpack.

S. / V. / G. / U.
S. means they are selling a Strange variant, V. means Vintage, G. means Genuine and U. means Unusual.

PC
PC stands for Price Check or current community value of the item.

Source
http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki
 
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