Trading

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Steam trading.png

Trading is an in-game system that allows players to swap items with other players. Introduced in the Mann-Conomy Update, the system allows players to swap weapons, hats, misc items, and tools with other players. Players who have free accounts are limited to receiving items, and cannot give items to other players until they upgrade to premium status.

Mechanics

The trading screen, with an example trade in progress.
  • Up to eight items from a user's backpack can be traded from one player to another in a single transaction. The user's trading boxes are on the upper right side of the screen. The user may select and drag items from their backpack, which is displayed on the left, into the trading boxes. The trading boxes at the lower right display the other user's trade offer. The trading window also shows the color of the item's rarity as a background and outline.
  • Both users can communicate and determine the trade using the private chat box visible under the backpack. The box will also notify the quality and the default name of the item.
  • After reviewing the items offered in the trade, both users must click the "Ready to Trade" check-box. If the offer is changed by either player, the players will be required to click "Ready to Trade" again. Once both users are ready to trade, they can then click "Trade Now" to complete the trade.

Audio cues

There are several small sound files that play to alert the traders to certain events:

Steam Trading

A screenshot of Steam Trading

Steam Trading is a feature that was introduced on August 9, 2011 as an open beta, and came out of beta September 6, 2011. With Steam Trading a user is able to trade their in-game items for other in-game items and gift copies of Steam games with other users. A trade can be initiated with anyone in a Group Chat or on your Friends List. Users that opted into the Steam Trade Beta were also given the ability to Tag people on their Friends List and organize them into Common Groups. [1]

Features

Although at first the Steam Trading program shows 8 slots to trade, when the 3rd slot on the last line is filled, more slots appear. This allows for up to 256 items to be traded at once, virtually removing the need for successive trading.

Items can also be searched for using the search tool, making trades quicker and easier to conduct. Additionally, the communication feature from the in-game trading system is included, so that traders can communicate both through regular chat messages through Steam, or through chat in the Steam Trade window.

Once a trade is made, items received are placed into your Backpack and Steam Inventory, ready for immediate use.

Items from other games can be used by clicking the inventory drop down menu, and then choosing a supported game's inventory, such as Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights, or Steam gifts.

Trading tips

Note: Keep the following tips in mind for an enjoyable trading experience.
  • Pay attention to the background color of the items being traded, signifying Rarity.
  • Always re-check items being traded before finalizing the trade.
  • Trades should be conducted without any pressure. Don't give into another player's pressure if they're pushing you into a trade you're not comfortable with.
  • If you feel that you are paying too much, ask a friend or another player.
  • Many trade servers also offer "price guides" as well.
  • Keeping your backpack organized will allow you to easily show a trading partner the items they're looking for.
  • Respect goes a long way in a trade.
  • Always remember that patience is the key. There will usually be somebody who will want to take your trade.
  • Avoid trades in-game involving more than 8 items, split up into separate trades; Use Steam trading instead. For example, if you were selling an item for 19 Refined Metal, a scammer could give you 8 Refined Metal for the item in the first trade and then run away with your item.
  • Be aware of renamed items as a scammer could rename a common item as a rare item. Look out for notices in the private trade chat window that tell you if a certain item has been remnamed with a Name Tag; renamed items always have quotation marks surrounding the name.

Tradability

Permanent

<br\> All items in the game are tradable with the exception of the items above and achievement milestone weapons. If Metal is crafted with any achievement weapon, it becomes untradable. Anything crafted with the use of untradable items also becomes untradable. However, most of the above items are gift-wrappable, providing a way to bypass the untradability.

All items purchased from the Mann Co. Store cannot be traded or used in crafting. Self-Made, Community, and Valve are also untradable and uncraftable.

Temporary

Tools that are bought in the Mann Co. Store, like Paint Cans, Mann Co. Supply Crate Keys, Gift Wrap, and Backpack Expanders, are untradable for a period of two days. Afterwards, they become tradable like other normal items.

Additionally, items that are awarded in Genuine quality for pre-ordering a game on Steam are untradable, but generally become tradable when the game is released.

Update history

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)
  • Added trading system.

October 6, 2010 Patch

  • The Trading dialog now starts with the chat window having focus.
  • Gifted items are now craftable and tradable.
  • Community, Self-Made, and Valve items are not tradable or usable in crafting.

October 20, 2010 Patch

  • Added some anti-scam advice to the chat window.
  • Increased trading slots to 8 slots per person.
  • Added item rarity colors.
  • Added the item’s original name to the item description.
  • Made most tools tradable.
  • Fixed Ellis' Cap and the Frying Pan not being tradable

October 27, 2010 Patch (Scream Fortress Update)

  • Gentle Manne's Service Medal is now tradable.

January 3, 2011 Patch

  • The Earbuds and Gentle Manne's Service Medal are now gift wrappable.

January 19, 2011 Patch

  • Added a note in the trading dialog to let you know when your trading partner is typing.

February 7, 2011 Patch

  • Updated the RIFT pre-order items to be not-tradable until the RIFT pre-order period is over

February 24, 2011 Patch (Community Map Pack Update)

  • [Undocumented] Fixed trades only displaying one of the items traded to the server.

March 1, 2011 Patch

  • Updated the Sharpened Volcano Fragment and the Sun-on-a-Stick so they can be traded.

March 15, 2011 Patch

  • Updated The Shogun Pack items to be tradeable.

March 21, 2011 Patch

  • Hero's Hachimaki now tradable.

May 5, 2011 Patch (Replay Update)

  • [Undocumented] The Hetman's Headpiece, the Janissary Ketche,The Dead Cone, and The Brain Bucket were made craftable, tradable, and could be found in drops.

May 19, 2011 Patch

June 14, 2011 Patch

August 9, 2011 Patch

August 23, 2011 Patch

August 30, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Item server update made the tournament medals untradable.

September 15, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Made the El Jefe tradeable.

September 20, 2011 Patch

Notes

  • When first released with the Mann-Conomy Update, the trading system had 4 slots for players to trade with. This was changed to 8 slots in the October 20, 2010 Patch.
  • If you have been scammed, you can file a Steam support ticket and explain the situation. It helps to provide evidence of the scam, such as conversation logs or screenshots/videos of the scammed transaction. Valve has clearly stated, however, that they will not do anything to recover your items if you are a victim of a phishing scam.
  • It's possible to continue playing and leave the trading screen in the background by pressing the 'Esc' key. Pressing 'Esc' again returns to the trading screen.
  • A player wishing to block all trade requests can do so using the game options.
  • There is a 30 second waiting period between unsuccessful trade requests.
  • After trades, the transaction details show up on the server messages.
  • If a player sends multiple trade requests to another player who denies them, there is a 2 minute waiting period between each trading request to prevent spamming.

Demonstration

See also

References

External links