How to trade in Team Fortress 2

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Crazy
Posts: 189
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2012 4:02 am

How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Crazy »

Hello and welcome to Team Fortress 2. Like most people, The TF2 Community is about 60% just trade. This guide will help you to get to know the prices, items, and learn to not get scammed.

Introduction
Starting a account for trading.
- Make sure your account is premium in TF2 by buying a single item in the in game store (It is suggested to buy something cheap such as a nametag or a key.) NEVER buy weapons or hats. Weapons become not usable in crafting AKA Dirty, and hats are overpriced. Also make sure Steam Guard is on for 15 days or it will not allow you to trade.

2. Learning the different types of trading.
- Scrap banking is an act where scrap banker changes metal for weapons. Scrap banker will (usually) change one scrap for 2 weapons.
- Reverse scrap banking is where a player sells 2 weapons for a scrap.
- 1:1 trading is where a player exchanges a single item with another player for another item of similar worth.
- Cash trading involves exchanging items for monetary compensation outside of the Steam trade. This form of trading should always be done with a trusted middleman if done at all as this practice is very risky.

Know your items and prices
Weapons - Weapons are acquired from drops. They're usually half a scrap fr scrapbankers. Though, most people sell them for a scrap each.

Craft Hats - They're a common type of hat that are worth 1.33 or below.

Metal is a common currency for trading for items. There are three types of metal (Excluding the Haunted Scrap Metal) available in TF2. Each type of metal has a different Value.
- Scrap Metal = .11 (Takes 2 same class weapons in order to craft a Scrap)
- Reclaimed Metal = .33 (Takes 3 Scraps to make a Reclaimed. .11 X 3 = .33)
- Refined Metal = 1.00 (Takes 3 Reclaimed to craft a Refined. .33 X 3 = 1.00)

Keys - Keys are the most common currency when buying/trading for higher value hats. Keys vary in price depending to the seller or when they are bumped up in price. Today, the key prices are 6.00+.

Earbuds - Earbuds were a promotional item for mac users when TF2 for mac came out. They're usually a currency for unusual hats. They are sitting at a price from 16-17 keys.

Real World Money - This is a dangerous form of trade. It requires the seller to trade the item to the buyer. The buyer pays buy Paypal (Most common way.) This has many ways to be scammed.

In general, the value of items is defined by their rarity, that is, the difficulty and/or expense in acquiring them by a player. By extension, item rarity is usually tied to an item's Quality. Hence, Unique weapons, the most usual drops in the game, have the lowest value of all items, due to them being the most usual drops, as well as being craftable. Mann Co. Supply Crates are also common drops and as such also considered of low value. Vintage items are considered more expensive, due to their originally higher crafting value, and their general unavailability at present. Strange items have a higher value than Uniques since they can only be obtained from Supply Crates, but their price varies wildly depending on each item's specific probability of being obtained from a Crate, as well as the availability of the crate they can be obtained from. Genuine item values are often higher than the aforementioned, due to the related expense of obtaining them as promotional items, and the limited timeframe to obtain them this way.
Haunted items are also considered to have a higher value, due to their dropping window being limited to Halloween events and maps. Festive weapons have a similar seasonal limitation, but are considered to be of a much higher value, due to the strict timeframe allowed for obtaining them from special Christmas Event crates (the crates themselves being destroyed after the end of the event), their relative probability of being obtained from crates, and their cosmetic decorations. Festive weapons of a Strange quality have an even higher value due to their even lower probability of being obtained.
Items of any quality are considered to be "dirty" when they contain additional descriptive text ("gifted by ___", craft #, etc.), or when they have certain trading limitations, such as needing gift-wrap, or being uncraftable. Dirty items are considered to be of lesser value than "clean" items devoid of any of these attributes.
Items with attributes added by Tools, such as color from Paint Cans, or Strange Parts, usually have the value of such items added to the total value of the item up for trade.

Unusual Items

Unusual items are considered to be the most valuable and expensive items for trade in the game by a wide margin. As such, they are considered to be in their own separate tier of high prices (usually given in terms of Earbuds or in keys to a lesser extent). In addition to the visual appeal of the Unusual Effects these items sport, their 1% probability of being acquired from Crates makes them extremely hard to come by, and makes their base trading price extremely high. However, within its own realm of Unusual prices, the value of an Unusual item may vary wildly according to visual or thematic appeal, rarity, and general desirability.

Trading Tips
To know how much metal is being asked for an item, keep in mind the specific values for each type of metal: 1 Scrap Metal is 0.11 refined (or simply ref), 1 Reclaimed Metal (or rec) is 0.33 ref and 1 Refined Metal is 1 ref. Adding these values by increments will give you the exact value of metal that a trader is asking for, and lets you know which and how many items of metal are being asked of you.

Check the person's Steam profile to see if the person is on trade probation by Valve, or has a reputation for being a scammer.

Pay attention to the quality of the items being offered.

Always review the items being traded before finishing the trade.

Trades should be conducted without any pressure; don't give into another player's pressure if they're urging you into a trade you do not want to be in.

If you feel that you are offering too much, ask a friend or another player. There are many "price guides" available online that estimate the value of items being traded (though these are often subjective).

Inventory items appear in the order in which they are arranged in your backpack. Be sure to preview items by hovering over them in the inventory or trading boxes to make sure you are adding the correct one(s).

Always respect the player you are trading with. Being polite, courteous and honest are very important aspects of trading, and are reflected on in real life trading too. Common courtesy is an important aspect.

Be aware of renamed items, as a scammer can rename a common item to appear as a rare item. For example, a Vintage Pyro's Beanie can be renamed to appear as an Unusual Pyro's Beanie. However, the hat will retain its blue lettering. The chat box will show notifications about renamed items to help avoid confusion.

Check if the items you receive in the trade are craftable. After the October 13, 2011 Patch, weapons bought from the store are uncraftable, but can be traded. Recently, through the November 29, 2012 Patch, cosmetic items bought from the store are craftable.

Make sure the items you are receiving are not duplicated.

If you are trading for a strange weapon, its current kill count will be reset to 0.

While trading, verify the trader's last alias (This user has also played as) at his profile. Scamming players often use many different aliases, so they can't be recognized after the trade.

Some trading communities have adopted a verify system that can be very useful to the traders. If your trading spot has it, be aware of it.

Resources
- Trading Window Demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT3j8pb_ ... r_embedded

- Backpack.tf
http://backpack.tf/

- TF2 Outpost
http://www.tf2outpost.com/

- TF2 Warehouse
http://www.tf2wh.com/

- Scrap.tf
http://scrap.tf/

Please feel free to add more.

Have fun trading!!
Crazy
Last edited by Crazy on Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:30 am, edited 4 times in total.
Minnesota
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:04 am
Location: Minnesota

Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Minnesota »

Never played TF2, but nice guide it looks like it could be very useful. :)
Last edited by Minnesota on Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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SaxAlot
Posts: 174
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by SaxAlot »

Awesome :thumbup: Should update since hats/miscs from the store aren't dirty anymore :P
Last edited by SaxAlot on Mon May 13, 2013 5:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
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~SaxAlot~
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Sankoose120
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Sankoose120 »

bump as it is a gewd guide
Last edited by Sankoose120 on Sat Aug 17, 2013 10:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
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IAmJim
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by IAmJim »

Sankoose120 wrote:bump as it is a gewd guide
Guides in no way need to be bumped. There isn't even a second page of threads.
Last edited by IAmJim on Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:03 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Sankoose120
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Sankoose120 »

IAmJim wrote:
Sankoose120 wrote:bump as it is a gewd guide
Guides in no way need to be bumped. There isn't even a second page of threads.
I didnt re bump it again that was crazy. I posted this a while ago.
Last edited by Sankoose120 on Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:28 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Sankoose120
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Sankoose120 »

This needs an update aswell. Hats are 1.22 and buds are 22 keys. Keys are also around 5.88 now.
Last edited by Sankoose120 on Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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IAmJim
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Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by IAmJim »

Sankoose120 wrote:
IAmJim wrote:
Sankoose120 wrote:bump as it is a gewd guide
Guides in no way need to be bumped. There isn't even a second page of threads.
I didnt re bump it again that was crazy. I posted this a while ago.
so crazy signed into your account and posted 3 hours ago to bump his guide
Last edited by IAmJim on Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:33 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Sankoose120
Posts: 687
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:52 pm
Location: Scotland Like a baus

Re: How to trade in Team Fortress 2

Post by Sankoose120 »

IAmJim wrote:
Sankoose120 wrote:
IAmJim wrote:
Sankoose120 wrote:bump as it is a gewd guide
Guides in no way need to be bumped. There isn't even a second page of threads.
I didnt re bump it again that was crazy. I posted this a while ago.
so crazy signed into your account and posted 3 hours ago to bump his guide
No he clicked the bump thread link at the bottom of the page
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