Trading
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Trading is an in-game system that lets players swap items with other players. Introduced with the Mann-Conomy Update, this system allows players to swap weapons, hats, misc items, tools and more with other players. Later on, Valve also added the ability to trade items from different games to each other.
Contents
Steam Trading
Steam Trading is a feature that was introduced on August 9, 2011 as an open beta. Steam 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] The beta updates were added to the public Steam client on September 6, 2011. With Steam Trading, players are able to trade their in-game items for other in-game items and/or gift copies of Steam games. Trade requests can be sent through Steam chat windows or via the Steam Friends List window.
Features
- At first, the Steam Trading window shows only 8 slots to trade, when the 3rd slot on the last line is filled, more slots will appear. This allows for up to 256 items to be traded at once, eliminating the need for successive trading.
- Items can also be searched for by using the search tool, making trades quicker and easier to conduct. As with the in-game trading menu, a chat box is also available and items are color-coded according to rarity.
- Once a trade is made, any received items are placed into the user's in-game Backpack and Steam Inventory, ready to be used.
- Items from other games can also be traded by clicking the inventory drop down menu and choosing a supported game's inventory. The current inventories available are Portal 2, Team Fortress 2, Spiral Knights and Steam gifts (games bought but not yet redeemed).
Trading inside TF2
Trading in-game opens up a Steam Trade window in the overlay, which can be toggled to return to the game and vice versa. After a trade is complete, any items a player receives are posted to the server's messages if they are in a server.
F2P players can not trade TF2 items with a few exceptions, such as tools like the Name Tag and the Description Tag they may have found, and any items traded to them by premium users.
An option to filter trade requests is in the game's Advanced Options menu. This option can be set to Anyone, Friends Only, Friends and In-Game Players and No-one.
Trading tips
Note: Keep the following tips in mind while trading.
- 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. Many trade servers also offer "price guides" to give an idea on 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.
- Be aware of renamed items, as a scammer could rename a common item as a rare item ( a Unique Pyro's Beanie made to look like an Unusual Pyro's Beanie for example). The chat box will show notifications about renamed items to help avoid confusion and scams.
- Check if the items you receive in the trade are craftable. After the October 13, 2011 Patch, items bought from the store are uncraftable, but can be traded.
- Check to see if the item in a trade is a duplicate. To check, you should go to an online Backpack viewer and view the person whom you are trading with's inventory. Click on the item you are being offered. If more than one person has the item that means it is a duplicate
Tradability
Permanent
- All items in the game are tradable with the exception of the items above and achievement milestone weapons. If metal is crafted using any achievement weapon, it becomes untradable. Anything crafted using untradable items also becomes untradable. However, most of the above items are gift-wrappable, providing a way to trade normally un-tradable items.
Temporary
- With the Manniversary Update, all items purchased from the Mann Co. Store will become tradable after two days, as long as the Steam account has made another purchase at least 30 days prior.
- Additionally, items that are awarded in Genuine quality upon pre-ordering a game on Steam are initially untradable, but generally become tradable once the game is released.
Update history
September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)
- Added trading system.
- 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.
- 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.
- The Earbuds and Gentle Manne's Service Medal are now gift wrappable.
- Added a note in the trading dialog to let you know when your trading partner is typing.
- 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.
- Updated the Sharpened Volcano Fragment and the Sun-on-a-Stick so they can be traded.
- Updated The Shogun Pack items to be tradeable.
- 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 tradable.
- Made the Three-Rune Blade, Hero's Tail, and Sign of the Wolf's School tradable.
- Made the Conjurer's Cowl and Maul tradable.
- Made the The Original, The Dragonborn Helmet, The Anger, The Pip-Boy, and The Wingstick tradeable.
- Made the Manno-Technology Bundle tradable.
- [Undocumented] Item server update made the tournament medals untradable.
- [Undocumented] Made the El Jefe tradable.
- Fixed "Not Usable in Crafting" text not appearing under certain conditions on item tooltips in the trading UI.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed untradable items to be traded with Steam trading.
- Made the Cold War Luchador, Mark of the Saint, and Apoco-Fists tradable.
- [Undocumented] Fixed a Steam Trading bug that allowed items to be duplicated.
December 15, 2011 Patch (Australian Christmas 2011)
- [Undocumented] Players with free accounts can now trade items that have been traded to them.
- Made the Warsworn Helmet, Bolgan, Bolgan Family Crest, Merc Medal, Battle Bob, and Bushman's Boonie tradable.
- Updated the in-game trading system to use the Steam trading menus.
- Fixed Steam inventory/trading not showing the correct item level for some items.
- Fixed Steam inventory/trading sort order not matching the in-game backpack.
- Updated the in-game trading system to use the Steam trading menus.
Notes
- When trading was first introduced with the Mann-Conomy Update, the trading system had 4 slots for players to trade with. After complaints from users, 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.
- There is a 30 second waiting period between unsuccessful trade requests.
- If a player sends multiple trade requests to another player who declines them, there is a 2 minute waiting period between each trading request to prevent spamming.
Bugs
- If a player is kicked from a server while waiting for a trade request, the timer at the home screen will show over 10,000 seconds.
- Trading does not work for Team Fortress 2 Beta after the update added a Steam Window as the trading medium.
Demonstration
See also
