They just include 3 random trading cards for the game they are from.
You can get them randomly if you already got all trading card drops from a game.
Every time someone crafts a badge for a game a booster pack is created and gets randomly assigned to a user who is eligible for it. The higher your Steam level and the more games you own that are eligible for booster pack drops, the higher the chance to get one.
Thats all.
You also can create booster packs in exchange for gems but only for games you own.

so they're useless? thanks for the heads up

If you don't need it, you can always sell it or drop it off to my inbox ;)

Originally posted by deez_nuts:

so they're useless? thanks for the heads up

I mean, if you don't want them.... there are ways to get rid of them.

They can be used to level up.

Pretty sure after almost 3 years the OP figured out what Booster Packs are...

Can i sell cards from booster pack that i got on market?

if it has a sale value when you click on it.... you can sell it...

So can I get actually money off of these things because honestly I literally have no reason to care otherwise.

Originally posted by dog_force21:

So can I get actually money off of these things because honestly I literally have no reason to care otherwise.

You can get steam wallet funds which you can use like normal currency to buy stuff on Steam. You can't cash them out though.

Originally posted by dog_force21:

So can I get actually money off of these things because honestly I literally have no reason to care otherwise.

In the majority of cases, you'd be far better off turning Gems into Sacks of Gems and selling them on Community Market than to create booster packs just to sell them. However, if you get all card drops, there's a small chance that you get a free booster pack for the game, though they usually have very low value.

From my observation, the only time it's useful to create a booster pack is if the cards are not marketable.

Can I actually buy a game on steam with booster packs?

Originally posted by Stargazer:

Can I actually buy a game on steam with booster packs?

Depends ... you gotta sell enough trading cards on the market to raise your store credit.

Originally posted by marny:

so they're useless? thanks for the heads up

Other than their intended purpose? Sure, like most things in life are.

Originally posted by Stargazer:

Can I actually buy a game on steam with booster packs?

If you sell enough booster packs (and other items) on Steam Market, sure. Do note that most boosters aren't worth much and if you open the booster, you MIGHT get a Foil card that is more valuable than the Booster itself. Change is around 1% per card drop though.

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.