Talk:Trading

Trading offline

It should be known that you can't trade with players who are offline. Daminshi

--I've added this to the article.

I've tried using a dummy steam account to rack up and trade items to my main profile, but it won't work unless I have 2 accounts open through 2 computers or environments. Daminshi

Appearently the Scout's Bombing Run is a contender for most valuable item in trading. DO NOT CRAFT THE BOMBING RUN. You can probably trade it for whatever you want.

-- Hats in general are valuable trade items. Because desires change rapidly, it would be best if we have a citation or source for this before we post it to the page... we don't want to start false trading riots now, do we? :)

-- VintagePC 23:57, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Cheater's Lament

I'm one of the auld-skool idlers (I never regretted it) and I did get the Cheater's Lament soon after the update. However, I didn't get it after trading, I got it after my... first death, was it? I hadn't traded anything at that point, much less even clicked on the "trade" button. I didn't buy anything, and I had idled the night before so I'd already hit the drop cap. I think the Cheater's Lament drops the first time your drop queue is checked for a new item after the update. On death, or on trade, whichever comes first. Of course, this is just unsupported testimony at this point, so I won't edit the page yet. Can someone else corroborate this please? Scorch 18:08, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Same here. Didn't trade for it, I just received it on my first death when I started playing. Szthesquid 18:09, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Added note about this. VintagePC 23:55, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Trading Screen Picture?

Would adding one be helpful, or just redundant? TheMedik 21:16, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

I've noticed over the last few days that there are repeated new image uploads for this page -- most notably, new images for the "A successful trade" box. The original image was perfectly sufficient, there's no need to add your own image when it's already there. --Szthesquid 14:52, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The image was saved as a lossy jpeg with some (although not much) artifacting. The current image should be just fine. ~ lhavelund ^{(talk ▪ contrib)} 14:55, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification, although it would've been nice to see that explanation in the edit notes. --Szthesquid 14:56, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I was perusing the category of images needing improvement, and just set my sights on that one. I didn't think much of clarifying it in the edit description ;) ~ lhavelund ^{(talk ▪ contrib)} 14:57, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Playing while trading

Not many people know this, but it's possible to continue playing while trading by pressing escape. Pressing escape again will bring you back to the trading screen. Desertfighter 19:38, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip. Pass it on. Daminshi

Item Value

We need to discuss what a item is worth to better inform people. Here's a list from most common to most rare and what's in demand right now.

• Tokens [Nobody wants tokens. It requires you to sacrifice more weapons then it does to make Metal. Takes too much work.]
• Normal weapons [Drops all the time]
• Vintage weapons [Pretty common... for now. Otherwise, pretty useless.]
• Scrap Metal [Requires 2 normal weapons. A equivalent trade.]
• Crates [Dropped a lot. They require $2.50 to acquire a key to open. Valve is using gambling to get us to pay them.]
• Reclaimed Metal [3 normal weapons and a hard to find weapon is good for this one.]
• Nametag [Don't know why people want them. It's $1 to change a weapons name. Getting it for free is a different matter.]
• Paint [Same thing with the nametag.]
• Dueling Mini-Game [A item that can be purchased in the store, but buying enough to get Platinum if you win them all is $146.52... Goddamn it, Valve. (Highly sought after.)]
• Refined Metal [Requires lots of weapons. Best saved till you have 3 for a random hat and trade it for the one you want.]
• Ellis Cap [Not sought after right now, but might become more valuable in the future.]
• All regular hats [Takes lots of patience and finding the right person to trade with.]
• PolyCount Hats [Weapons and hats can be dropped or crafted, but they're highly sought after because of the bonus.]
• PolyCount sets [Hard to get right now.]
• ManCo Cap [A reskin of Ellis cap. A lot of people were disgusted and never wanted anything to do in the store when it first came. It will become valuable for its rarity.]
• Bill's Hat [Left 4 Dead 2 Pre-purchase]
• Lumbricus Lid [Worms pre-purchase]
• OSX Earbuds [Weekend special. Log into a Mac and get them for free in 3 day period.]
• Sam and Max items [Pre-purchase]

Impossible but wanted anyway

• WAR winners [3] [I know no one wants them, but a lot of people hated that Garry's mod photoshop pic that won 2nd place.]
• Golden Wrench [80] [I wanted this thing but TF2 wasn't working that weekend.  :( Had to reinstall Windows 7.]
• PolyCount Pin [65] [If I only knew how use Maya...]
• Gentle Manns Service Medal [11,111] [Bullshit how it was from a code in the web page and was only on when everyone in the U.S. was at work or school.]

This list might be very dependent on who is trading and for what, but it's a reasonable guess. Daminshi

 Disagree, value is highly subjective. I'd delete crates if I wouldn't find people that will gladly give me weapons for them. For me vintage is only a silly label, for others it's worth a reclaimed metal. You call the name tag worthless, I'd be willing to trade some stuff for it (and people are willing to pay). Add to that that much of this is speculation (will vintage ever become really valuable or will people that care for it get it long before it gets rare?) and the article could never do this any justice without being so vague as to have any value left. --CruelCow 02:28, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

 What: No. -The Neotank ( | Talk) 02:31, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

 No: Value of items depends from person to person, like Crow said. Can't exactly pin solid numbers on something dynamic.

 OpposeThe wiki is not the place to track and detail an economy. Although I would be interested in the economy of TF2 items, as a separate site I think it'd be quite a good resource for traders. -RJ 02:37, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Trading Tips

Some of these seem like opinions more than anything else to me. Some rather bizarre opinions at that. In particular:

1. Never agree to offers where additional items are added to "sweeten the deal".

Why would you not agree to a trade you are considering if the person then offers you more? I've traded 2 hats and thrown in paint and stuff for 1 hat if the person had something I really wanted. I could understand a warning about some "demanding" more items in a trade after it was agreed upon or something, but otherwise I don't get this one.

1. Never trade a high-value item for another before first checking availability and crafting blueprints. Usually, trading for the spare parts and combining them is a much better idea.

I don't get this one either. Trading for the spare parts for hats rarely works since the only hats you can craft specifically without gambling on the outcome are the polycount hats and the bonk helm? Just me? Crap 13:11, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

The first one has been deleted. I just rewrote the second one, so hopefully it makes sense now. --CruelCow 13:14, 17 October 2010 (UTC)