Trading

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Trading is an in-game system allowing players to swap weapons, hats and misc items allowing players to obtain items that they desire. Some items, such as store-bought items are 'untradable', meaning that they must remain on the original account that obtained them. Surprisingly, Promotional items such as Bill's Hat, the Lugermorph, the Big Kill, Max's Severed Head, the Lumbricus Lid and some Alien Swarm Parasites can be traded.

As of now, it is possible to trade with players on a players friends list and with other players in their current server. If one player has another player's Steam Community ID, then there is also an option to trade directly with that player. This makes it easy to trade with someone who isn't in the same server that you are. However, you cannot trade (or send items) if the other player is off-line.

Upon a player's first trade, he or she will receive a random item along with the items traded.

There is an option not to receive trade requests.

Trading Tips

• Never buy items from another player; only purchase items from the Mann Co. Store.
• Don't let other people open your Mann Co. Supply Crate for you. Once the crate has been successfully traded to a user they may log off (and by so doing steal the crate) or, alternatively, the user may provide you with an item of little value and then log off.
• Don't let other people paint items for you. As mentioned above, users may simply take your item(s) and then sever all contact with you.
• Don't trade for more items than will fit in a single trade window (the maximum is four items per trade). In addition, if you want the items for their metal value, ask for them to be converted into metal beforehand.
• Do not be fooled by renamed items, for example fake community items. Note that:
  • Community weapons and unusual weapons have "Special attributes" in their description.
  • Community weapons have green names and are level 50; a few are level 100.
  • Vintage weapons/hats have blue names.
  • Unusual hats have purple names.
  • Renamed weapons will always have quotes (e.g. "Item") in their names.
• If the player tries to guilt you into giving them more items, they're likely scamming you.
• If you agree to a trade and the player tells you he received the same / a better offer from someone else and asks for you to "sweeten the deal" with more items, he or she is likely lying.
• Never trade a high-value item for another item before first checking how easily crafted the desired item is. Usually, trading for the spare parts and combining them is a much better idea, as with the Polycount weapons.
• Be wary of offers that are too good to be true from strangers; a legitimate offer should be an item exchange of approximately equal value.
• Always check the items again if the offer has been changed, or you think the offer has been changed. Some scammers will swap an item at the last second and hope you click accept without seeing the change.
• If your common sense is tingling, don't ignore it.

Valuable items

• Hats are currently very valuable trade items. You may be able to trade duplicates for desired items without the need to craft.

Untradable items

Due to the possibility of selling items outside of the Mann Co. Store for real world money, some items are not tradeable

• Items bought from the Mann Co. Store are not tradeable.
• Gifts bought from the Mann Co. Store are not tradeable.
• Gifts received from the Secret Saxton and Pile o' Gifts are not tradeable.
• Gentle Manne's Service Medal
• Golden Wrench
• Ghastly Gibus
• Bronze Dueling Badge
• Silver Dueling Badge
• Gold Dueling Badge
• Platinum Dueling Badge
• Cheater's Lament
• Grizzled Veteran
• Mercenary
• Polycount Pin
• Primeval Warrior
• Soldier of Fortune
• Mann Co. Supply Crate Key
• Ellis' Cap
• Frying Pan
• Some Alien Swarm Parasites