The extreme basics...
Most of you will be aware of the following information but I'd still like to list it for those who don't. The following items are considered "currency" in trading. They are all general demand items that most people will happily trade for.

The random weapon:

TF2's smallest unit of currency. Equal to half a scrap metal.

Metal:

The most commonly traded TF2 commodity. Available in three tiers. Scrap, reclaimed, and refined.

1 Refined = 3 reclaimed/18 weapons
1 Reclaimed = 3 scrap/6 weapons
1 scrap = 2 weapons

Note that metal has a static market price outside of cash transactions because of it's defined crafting recipes.

The Craftable Hat.:
These are very low demand hats that are considered too difficult to sell as something someone would wear. They are sold primarily as crafting components (any two craftable hats may be crafted into a single random hat). Craftable hats NEVER sell for more than 1.3 refined. Why? Because 3 refined can be used to achieve the same effect in crafting that two craftable hats can. Remember, these are highly undesirable hats only. There are plenty of hats that sell for far more than 1.3 refined.

Keys:

The second most traded TF2 item. Market price on them fluctuates very often based on general supply. It is usually safe to assume that keys fall into the price range of 2 to 2.6 refined.
Bills Hat:
A promotional item from the game Left 4 Dead. There are a static number of these hats in game and are used as the lowest form of trade fodder in unusual purchases. The only way to get one is through trading. Cost fluctuates often but usually stays within the range of 8 keys.

Earbuds:

Promotional item given to TF2 players who logged in on a mac during certain dates. Only obtainable through trading. Mid tier trade fodder for unusual purchases. The highest tier items in game are always measured by how many earbuds they are worth. Extremely high demand item. Can sell for dozens of keys.

Higher tier trade fodder:

If you can afford it you don't need this guide.


Now that you know the general pricing of basic trade fodder you probably want to get out and make some trades, but before you can do that you need to learn some...

You know. Manners... How to talk to people without seeming like the angry profit troll SPUF makes the community out to be. I hope most of you can skip this section but there are plenty of traders who still feel acting like an internet tough guy gets you lots of good trades.

BE POLITE!:

The quickest way to ensure you don't get that awesome hat you want is to insult the other person. NEVER laugh at an offer, negotiate with them. Inform them that you aren't interested in what they put out. Karma is a very real thing in this game, and it will come back to bite you (more on that later).

Be direct:

When opening a trade or making an offer, plainly state what it is you want and how much you are willing to pay. The "let me lowball over and over again until I get to a price you like" game rarely works.

Give the other player options:

Let them see all of your available trade material. Allow them to choose something they like instead of throwing up something you're just trying to get rid of. It's always a good idea to take a peak at the other players stats as well. Knowing what classes they play most often allows you to show them the things they'll be most interested in.

Never pressure someone into trading:

People who are desperate to make a trade, come off as scammers most of the time. If someone feels uneasy about a trade don't force them into a corner or try to talk them into doing it. You can find that hat elsewhere. Again...Karma...

Now comes the useful information. Here are the websites I recommend using to make searching for those hard to find items & selling your own a bit easier.

Outpost.[www.tf2outpost.com]

Trade Post.[www.tf2tp.com]

Spreadsheet.[backpack.tf]

The first two are basically search engines for finding people selling specific hats but I will get to that later.

The most important thing to remember is...

The spreadsheet should only be used as a general guidline for price checking. It is maintained by only a handful of high tier traders so the prices can be (and frequently are) inaccurate. Most item prices, no matter who has price checked the item for you are based completely on rumour and past trades, but when dealing with "professional traders" this is the system they use so you will have to do so as well. It is also a good idea to NEVER mention any price checks you got were from the spreadsheet when dealing with "pro traders" as most will simply laugh and close the trade.

Reputation:

If you plan on doing any high tier trading or any trades that require any amount of trust (trading games for example) you will need to have feedback recorded from some of your past dealings in most cases. The first trading website I posted has a system for this built in however if you don't plan on using that using the comments section of your profile is usually good enough for most traders. This is why I was mentioning karma in the etiquette section.

Bad attitude = bad rep
Bad rep =/= good trades

Also make sure to check the reputation of anyone you plan on making any high tier transaction from. TF2 has a dark side to trading unfortunately. Scamming, theft, fraud, and counterfit items are an unfortunate aspect you need to be aware of. As a general rule, if a trade seems too good to be true, it usually is.

Trade sites & Forums:

I both recommend using & avoiding these places. They are full of "pro traders" and most of them won't make a trade unless there's profit in it for them.

If you are selling something:
If it's an item with a well defined price that isn't negotiable (keys/metal/promos) and you are looking for something with a well defined price as well, then go for it. These sites are perfect for trades like that.

If you are buying something:
Again, items with well defined non negotiable prices are what these sites are best to buy from. Low tier hats and weapons are great to get from these sites as well. You will pay a very small amount more than you would if you found someone with the item in a trade server, but that's the price of convenience.

So what is the best place to make the best trades? Normal games. Just play the game. Make trading a passive activity. Bind a key to a chat command letting people know what you want to trade for and what items you have for sale. You can often find plenty of people doing the same in most games. Make trade threads and let people come to you. Trading doesn't have to be the time consuming hobby that replaces normal play like so many people think.

Have a plan and set goals:

It's usually a terrible idea to hop on a trade server and buy whatever hats may come your way. Make a wishlist of the items you want. Keep it simple and realistic within your trading ability. Work your way up from the cheapest items to the more expensive ones. Try your best to avoid trading for anything you don't want unless the item is in high demand or it falls into the "currency" category. Ending up with a hat you didn't want in the first place and now can't sell can be one of the most frustrating trading experiences out there. Always have an end goal in sight. New items will come along all the time so get in the habit of identifying what you want and the best way to go about getting it. Soon you'll find trading simple, quick, and something you only have to do a few minutes of from time to time. And remember...


Let's look at two example scenarios.

• Trader A is selling a pair of earbuds. He paid standard market price for them and wants to make a large profit with this expensive item. After weeks of waiting for someone to com a long he finally makes a profitable trade and comes out 4 keys richer than his initial investment.
  .
  .
  
• Trader B is Selling a Pair of earbuds. He accepts slightly under market price to ensure a quick sale. The earbuds are sold within minutes of him listing the trade. He now has 24 keys to trade with and over the following weeks makes very small profit on each key trade.

See what happened? While Trader A spent those weeks making zero trades to get 4 extra keys, Trader B was making dozens of trades over the same period of time and getting smaller profits from each one. Frequent trading with low profit margins will always beat making one large trade every month or so.



As I've already stated, prices are highly debatable. All prices are based on arbitrary price checks, rumours & past trades. If all you want is to get ahead then you will find yourself making very few trades. Even if your end goal is something very expensive and necessitates profit to have, you will get there eventually. High tier trading takes a good deal of patience, and the "profitable trades" are usually from people that come to you, not the ones you seek out.

Some good example wishlists:

• One hat for each class
  
• 3 strange weapons for your favorite class
  
• One complete polycount set (Saharan spy for example)

If you have a sparse backpack and not much to work with putting a tiny bit of cash into the game can give you a great head start. Just four keys when traded properly can get you a few nice hats for your favorite class and nearly every weapon you'll plan on using. Without those 4 keys it could take you months to afford that much just though item drops. So if you want a head start it's money well spent.

Trading steam games can be a great way to get a good deal of TF2 items quickly, but for the beginning trader I recommend only doing this if you know of someone actively looking for a specific game. While buying steam games on sale and trading them after the sale ends can be a great way to make some nice profit I don't recommend trying this until you are very comfortable in trading. Games purchased without a buyer in mind can take a very long time to sell.

To get a basic grasp on how trading works when dealing with items outside TF2 you need to understand...

The Black Market:

First I need to say that newer players should NOT ATTEMPT TRADES INVOLVING PAYPAL!. A large majority of these are scams and it's best to just avoid them altogether. Keep your trades within TF2 or steam. Since steam games have defined cash values though we need to use the black markets pricing guide to find out how much our TF2 items are in monetary terms.

Now these prices fluctuate very often depending on what's going on in the market but I can provide basic guidelines.

Refined Metal & Keys:

Refined will never be worth more than one american dollar & and keys will never be worth more than two and a half american dollars in this market. Why? Because the official TF2 store sells keys for $2.50, so no one can sell keys through paypal for more than this as paying more to make a shadier trade is flat out insane.

Ask around to check up on the current cash value of metal and keys. Outpost is probably the best place to do so. Using that information you can just translate TF2 items metal value into a cash amount. Reverse this to find out how much metal a game would be worth.

For example:

Say you want to get a bill's hat by trading someone a few games they want. Now let's assume that a bill's hat is selling for 9 keys. Then take the market price for keys at the time, let's say $1.55 black market price.

9 keys at $1.55 would come to $13.95 USD, but like I mentioned earlier no price is set in stone. Many people who buy games in exchange for TF2 items will ask for a small percentage extra since cash is coming into play.

Trade fodder:
The most important thing to always have when getting into the world of trading is material you are willing to trade. I've found myself in a few situations where all I've had was "My collection". The items I enjoyed using and wearing were all I had on me and as a result I missed out on some very nice trades. Never be afraid to trade something that you use and enjoy. If there is any chance you can get another one, you will get another one.

Now aside from the normal random weapons & occasional hat you'll find, if you plan on doing any heavy trading you will need some kind of stock.

Tier 1 stock:

Metal, metal, and tons of weapons. Always bet on metal. It's the cheapest high demand item and there are very few people who won't trade for it. Scrap banking can be the easiest income for the beginning trader.

• Sell scrap metal for two random weapons each.
  
• Sell random weapons for one scrap each.
  
• Repeat forever.

Tier 2 stock:

Keys, hats, taunts, & tags. Keys will be a steady source of income once you're comfortable enough to start buying and selling them in bulk. As for hats, try to avoid "craftable only" hats unless you are getting a very nice offer for them. Learn what hats are high in demand and try to stick to those. Tags, paints and gift wrap can be a great source of income as well for those "random encounter" type trades as most people who don't bother with serious trading don't encounter these types of items very often. Taunts are always in demand and are usually a very easy sell, pick them up any chance you get.

Tier 3 stock:

Promos & the "OMG NEW" items. Promos are probably the easiest items in game to sell, specifically earbuds and bill's hats. It can be very hard to turn any kind of profit on them as they usually have well defined values but is definitely not impossible. As for "OMG NEW" type items this should be fairly self explanatory. New items are almost always VERY limited and highly in demand. Not turning huge profit on these items is nearly impossible. Simple craftable hats can sell for low tier unusuals on the launch day, just don't put too much stock in genuine promos, their value depreciates VERY quickly.

Tier 4 stock:

The unusual, the glitched, and the super rare. This will need a separate guide, but if you've hit this tier you shouldn't need one.

Here's a quick list of some of the different types of traders you'll come across and how you should aproach each of them.

The Profiteer:

Every trade he makes is in his favor and he likes it that way. Commonly found all over trading websites and forums they know all the ins and outs of trading. Terms like "lowball, cancer hat, and quicksell" are plastered all over his trades. I recommend flat out avoiding this type of trader altogether until you are more comfortable in your trading habits, but if you must engage with them make sure you don't come across as a trading noob as they will generally try to exploit that.

The Nooblet:

Fresh off the boat and F2P! Someone gave him a crate and he's desperate to get a hat for it. I recommend you link him to this guide and give him that uncraftable weapon you came across somehow.

The Collector:

His backpack is full of off leveled weapons, a single hat of every color, and 300 ghastly gibbusses each renamed after cast and crew members of Alf. I recommend trying to keep these guys in your friends list. They are always looking for random things most people would overlook and tend to outsource their trading a bit. Having a collector buddy can get you some amazing trades down the road.

The Foreign 12 Year Old:

"I SELL BALLS HUT 20 KEES!" The language barrier is bigger than the great wall of china and negotiating is impossible. He doesn't want profit he wants EVERYTHING. Much like the profiteer it's best to avoid these traders unless you have some third party way of communicating (like being able to offer visually through TF2TP) and are 100% positive the trade you're about to make is fair.

The Foreign 16 Year Old:

The language barrier is still there (usually not nearly as prominent) but the trade sharking isn't. Trade markets in different nations can vary greatly other than your own so occassionaly these guys will give you (what you consider) amazing deals. Negotiate as best as you can on a case by case basis.

The Picky Trader:

He wants an uncraftable Stout Shako painted orange and named Gerald and nothing else. Don't bother negotiating, that's the next item to hit his backpack and nothing short of the hand of god will stop that. Much like the collector you can get a very good deal here as long as you can meet his obscure needs. Work fast with this one because chances are he has 8 other people scrambling to get some orange paint at the same time you are.

The Average joe:

He doesn't use those fancy trade sites or even step foot in a trade server. He may have a simple trade chat command or just send a random request when he sees something shiny. Average Joes tend to not "price" items like other traders. They have items they don't want and are looking for items they do want, couldn't be simpler. Often found in random games, the average joe is often the easiest trader to negotiate with.

The Unusual Collector:

Unusual collectors are also profiteers %90 of the time. Most would charge you a scrap to just hear your offer on something that doesn't cost a months salary. If your offer doesn't have keys or metal or something shiny and new just keep walking.

The BFF:

Friends are the best customers. They know you, they trust you, they come to you for advice. If you ever need to make a trade go to your friends list first. Chances are it will always be the easiest way to make the trade you're looking for.

The Big Spender:

They've spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on TF2. Big spenders usually fall into one of two categories.

The Impulse Buyer:

If he wants a TF2 item he buys it. His backpack has dozens of uncraftable items & trading is something that he doesn't do unless absolutely necessary. Impulse buyers tend to only trade for items they can't purchase. If you can get hold of items these guys can't get on their own it can mean some very nice trades for you, especially considering impulse buyers have no qualms about buying keys.

The Black Market Broker:

His reputation thread is a hundred pages long and he likes cash. The broker will usually only sell you something through paypal and tends to be a profiteer. New traders should AVOID THE BROKER.

I would say this is the most important part of this guide. There is a very large circle of shady characters within the trading community who have no issues with stealing, hacking, or whatever else they can think of to get items, and in certain circumstances, there is nothing you can do to get your items back.


When starting off try and keep your trades within TF2. Items for items and nothing else. With proper price checking, attention to detail, and a little research it is very unlikely you will ever find yourself the victim of a scam.

As for hacking, new traders shouldn't be too worried about this happening as you'll likely have very little worth stealing in such a forceful manner, but it's better to be safe than sorry so make sure you have steam guard turned on and never give out your steam password or sign into any other programs asking for steam account and passwords other than steam itself.

Some websites do use steams OpenID to let you tie your account to that sites service (tf2outpost for example) just research the site to be sure its safe, or better yet open the site in your steam browser. If it's legit it will automatically sign you in, if not, somebody wants your password.

Every time you plan on making a trade with someone take these simple steps.

CHECK THEIR REP:

Take a peek at their comments section. Most people have some kind of rep there. Sourceop and TF2outpost and great places to check as well. If you see ANY kind of bad reputation end the trade there and then. Even frivolous and unfounded rep comments show that the trader has done something to provoke someone into leaving that negative rep. Let them know the reason you won't trade with them is because of that negative rep, it's a small step that helps us to clean up the image the trading community has.

CHECK SCREENSHOTS:

So many scammers tend to leave screenshots of trades where they have completely ripped someone off right on their profile. It is more of a rare thing to see now but I come across pictures of trades weighing so heavily in one persons favor that I have walked away on many occassions.

Check their steam stats:

You want to look for someone who owns at least a decent amount of games, has a decent amount of time logged in tf2 (I usually aim for 450+ hours) and has been on steam at least a few months.

Scammers usually have dozens of alternate accounts that they use for making their shadier trades and they never put the money in them to make them appear legitimate. A steam account with 200 hours logged in TF2 and no other games is almost always a scam account.

Check SteamRep:

http://www.steamrep.com

Bookmark it, use it, love it.
Steamrep is more aimed at people looking to make very large trades but it's a great resource. Just enter the persons steam page url and search. It will tell you if they are marked as a scammer and how many scammers they have in their friends list.

Know that it isn't unusual for people to have a couple of scammer friends without even realizing it, especially if they have a very large friend list.

Phishing Scams:

These type of scams involve gaining access to your steam account. Never sign into steam on websites that seem suspicious. Steam will NEVER ask for your email password. There are no sites that will give you free steam games if you give them your information. Most phishing attempts are fairly obvious, but always be cautious with links found in steam and trading forums and links sent by strangers over steam.

Gift wrap grab:

I've fallen for this one myself once. Luckily gift wrap is becoming much less needed so this one has begun to fall off a bit.

The set up starts with someone offering you an amazing untradable hat at an extremely cheap price, the catch is you'll need to supply gift wrap to receive it but as soon as you give them the wrap you will never see them again. ALWAYS ask for collateral when making deals using gift wrap.

To make a gift wrap trade properly:

• trade the person who needs the gift wrap for its current market price in metal as collateral (Let's say 2 ref)
  
• Then trade them back the 2 refined and whatever else they wanted for the wrapped gift.
  
• ALWAYS mouse over the gift to ensure they have wrapped the exact item you asked for.

The Bait & Switch:

Thanks to steam trading being so incredibly laggy so this usually fails but I've found this to be the most common scam people attempt.

The set up starts with someone offering you something incredibly valuable along with a bunch of other random items for an extremely cheap price but as soon as the trade is finished you find all you received were the random items.

What happens is once all the items are in the trade window the scammer will try to distract you for a moment, usually by asking a question to get you to look at your keyboard. As soon as you arent looking they will swap that valuable item with something extremely cheap (often something that looks similar to the item).

Some commonly switched items:

• Gentlemens Gatsby for a Bill's hat
  
• White paint for a Max head
  
• Quality swapping (replacing an unusual with a vintage for example)
  
• Paint swapping (Receiving a color 216 painted item instead of white for example)
  
• Level swapping (Receiving a normal leveled item when you believe you're gett a level 100)

(Yes some of these are incredibly stupid, but people think they can get away with it.)

People trying this type of scam will usually try to rush you into trading by putting some form of time limit on the trade (saying they have to leave in 5 minutes for example).

To avoid the bait and switch, just demand patience, review the trade once both players have clicked ready, and WATCH CAREFULLY. Mouse over every item and be absolutely sure you are a bout to receive exactly what you're supposed to.

The Partner in Crime:

I really hope no one has actually fallen for this one but I had to list it simply because of how ridiculous it is.

The partner in crime starts with someone openly admitting they're a scammer and asking for your username and password. They offer to "hack" into your steam account and steal all your items, then after steam support has restored your items they promise to give you back half of what they stole so you both receive profit.

To avoid this type of scam have an IQ above 17.

Paypal Scams:

As I said before new traders should just avoid paypal trades completely. There is no way to ensure a paypal trade won't end up being being a scam.

If you're selling a TF2 item for paypal cash:

• They can forge a screenshot showing payment was sent and claim it hasn't processed yet
  
• They can actually make the payment and dispute the charge later consequence free.
  
• They can leverage a rep thread to get you to send the item first and never pay.
  
• Payment can be sent from a stolen credit card and automatically charge back later from the actual owner.

If you're buying an item using paypal.

• They can run with the money and not send the item.
  
• They can claim the payment was never sent.
  
• They can move the cash to a "safe account" and leave without giving you the item.

I wish I could go more into depth on how to properly make paypal trades as its becoming more common for high tier trading, but since it's so easy to get scammed this way I avoid it entirely and highly suggest new traders do so as well until they are VERY comfortable trading.

Steam Game Scams:

These are very rare because they require credit card fraud to pull off, so don't worry too much over revoked games.

In fact I would say these aren't exactly scams but more often unlikely circumstances. A steam game "scam" is when you receive a steam game from a trade only to find it revoked by steam days later because the payment for that game has been charged back.

Luckily this is one of the very few scams that steam is required to return lost items in. Just keep in mind when trading for games that you may have some minor issues down the road.

Shill Trading:

This type of scam is usually very difficult to spot and almost always involves two scammers working in tandem.

A shill trade is set up on a trade forum such as outpost using a somewhat unique item (Say a craft #13 stalhelm) then the second scammer will set up another trade thread elsewhere asking for the shill item at an extraordinary price (Buying a craft numbered stalhelm #15 or less for an unusual for example).

This tricks someone into overpaying for that #13 stalhelm from the first trader and thinking they can retrade it to the second trader for huge profit.

There's no real easy way to avoid this type of scam but it is fairly uncommon. Just double check prices and be cautious.

Let me say once again that the spreadsheet should be used as a general guideline for ballpark estimates of prices only. Price checking is something you will need to learn to actively do yourself.

To get an accurate price check follow these simple steps:

• Search for people buying and selling the item in question. I usually use at least two websites for this.
  
• Take 5-10 of the buyout prices of people selling the item in question and get the average price of those ten trades. This will give you the selling price.
  
• Take 5-10 of the prices of people buying the item (if you use outpost looking at the offers of people selling the item will give you a great idea) and get the average price of those 10 trades and offers. This will give you the buying price.
  
• Somewhere between the buying and selling price of the item you will have the actual price.

Get used to checking your own prices as soon as possible because I can't stress enough how unreliable the spreadsheet is.

The absolute best advice I can give you for unusual trading is TO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH UNUSUAL TRADING! Most of the time it's a miserable experience. The absolute worst traders I have come into contact with have been through high tier and unusual trades. If you decide that you absolutely have to have sparkly particles above that hat I can give some guidlines.

It isn't about what you buy. It's about HOW you buy.:

The price of an unusual will largely depend on how specific you are with what you want. Do you want just any unusual at a decent price? That isn't very hard to achieve.

How about a decent unusual for a specific class? Also highly likely at a fair price.

What about a hat with a specific effect for a single class? Expect to overpay by a small amount but nothing that will destroy your wallet.

How about that dream unusual? Your favorite hat with your favorite effect? You will most likely end up overpaying by A LOT for that hat.

See the progression? The more specific you are with a high tier wishlist the harder it will be to get a fair price. The reason is that you limit the amount of people you can trade with every time you take a step down to a more specific item. A single hat with a single effect that you're looking for may only be owned by 12-20 people and out of that group even less of those will be willing to trade it.

Now of course it isn't impossible to get a very specific unusual at a decent price but it is extremely difficult and unlikely. When you aren't picky with what you wan't to get for those earbuds EVERYONE is a potential customer.




Particle effects carry more value than most hats.:

In most cases an unusual's value is determined first by it's effect then by the actual hat. There are exceptions for very high tier hats like the Tossle cap and Team Captain but MOST follow this rule.

Effects are valued in groupings now more than tiers as they used to be.

• Nut's & Bolts
  
• Confetti
  
• Bubbles
  
• Steaming
  
• Smoking
  
• Orbiting Planets

• TF logo
  
• Circling Peace Sign
  
• Massed Flies
  
• Orbiting Fire
  
• Blizzardy Storm

• Circling Hearts
  
• Vivid Plasma
  
• Searing Plasma
  
• Haunted Ghosts
  
• Stormy Storm

• Green & Purple energy
  
• Scorching flames
  
• Burning Flames
  
• Sunbeams

(NOTE: I have not included halloween effects in this list as I have no familiarity with them or their values. They are simply too rare to properly guage.)

The price ranges within those groups do have exceptions of course but in general those are the ballpark values of average unusuals.

Earbuds and promos are worth more than they're worth.:

I know that may not make much sense but it's something you need to learn early on in the high tier world. Buds may as well be actual cash. They are extremely easy to sell and make potential sellers way more likely to trade with you (even at a loss). Always factor in the "labor cost" of an offer. How long is it going to take the other person to resell an offer if they are just taking it for it's value? An earbuds worth of craft hats may be worth an earbud, but not really when you factor in how long it will take to trade those hats for metal, the metal for keys, and then the keys for the earbuds.


Different classes have different demand.:

Should be fairly obvious. Some classes people want to show off more than others, here's a quick rundown from highest demand to lowest.

Soldier:

The generic combat class, should be fairly obvious why he's at the top. Soldier can be useful in nearly all situations and they are a competitive class. All of the Soldier's hats are generally very high tier as well.

Medic:

Again we have a competitive class, and most people don't notice an amazing medic so they try to do more to stand out making demand for medic unusuals huge.

Scout:

Many people consider scout to be their favorite class and of course with scout being a competitive class we have inflated value. No scout hats are considered a hard sale, even the really bad ones.

Demoman:

Competitive class of course and like the soldier a strong combat class useful in nearly all situations. Lower tier hats for him however can be difficult sales.

Pyro:

Pyro's are a hard class to be stealthy with so attention drawing unusuals aren't a downside here. Pyros also have some of the most distinctive cosmetic options available.

Sniper:

One of the most popular classes for new players and extremely skilled pros. A good deal of sniper hat can be extremely difficult to sell however.

Also keep in mind with sniper hats lower tier subtle effects like flies will sell for the same amount as burning flames as stealth is a very important aspect of the class. Sniper hats with massed flies can easily sell for $500 to $1500.

Engineer:

Engineer hats are almost always a very difficult sale. There are very few people that mainly play him and most of his hats are considered ugly.

Spy:

Spy hats are generally extremely difficult to sell not because spy is a bad or little played class but because most of the time you can't see the effects. Disguising removes the particle effect and many take time to "start up" so even in kill cams it won't be seen.

Heavy:

Another class that doesn't see much play from most people and he is at the absolute bottom of the food chain. Heavies are already gigantice headshot magnets and flashy unusuals only amplify that. Many burning flames heavy hats can barely sell for 3 buds (though there are exceptions).

I could go much deeper into Unusual trading but it takes experience and that's something I can't really give in this guide. The best I can offer are a few tips on dealing with unusual traders.

• If you are trying negotiate a price and the other person is being even somewhat unreasonable, it's generally best to just move along. Many of the high tier traders will undervalue your items because they will most likely want to turn around and retrade them instead of keeping them for personal use.
  
  
• Convert your items to currency whenever possible, even at a slight loss. Remember buds are worth more than they're worth, and currency gives you a lot more breathing room to haggle.
  
  
• There are always at least half a dozen people selling the unusual you have your eye on. Check TF2 Unusual to find everyone that owns them so you can have multiple options for sellers.
  
  
• Unusuals depreciate in value at an alarming pace. If you have one you don't plan on keeping, sell it ASAP.
  
  
• If you find yourself unable to sell something do not be afraid to lower the price by small increments. You'll make more profit playing around with lower tier trade material than an unusual sitting on outpost for 3 months unsold.
  
  
• Try to pair currency with difficult to sell items in purchases. Buying a two bud hat? Offer one bud in difficult to sell items and one pure bud. It gives you a bit of leverage to get rid of items that take too long to sell individually.

Terminology.:

You're going to start hearing these terms a lot and probably grow to hate them but understanding the reasoning behind trades using them makes it a bit easier.

• Quicksell:
  A quicksell is just what is sounds like. Someone looking to sell an item quickly at a lowered price. Usually this is a complete bluff to make a trade seem like a good deal. If you see someone state they are buying quicksale unusuals, move along. It isn't worth your time.
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• Cancer Hat:
  A "Cancer Hat" is much like the craftable hat of the unusual world. A terrible hat with a terrible effect. The term "unsellable" fits these much better. Usually group 1 effects but can apply to even group 2-4 effects. These hats can, and usually do, sell for less than 1 bud as they are generally something no one would want to wear aside from a status symbol.
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• Themed:
  Themed unusuals are hats with effects that "match" the hat or class. For example flames on pyro hats, stormy hard counter, massed flies handyman's handle, etc. Themed hats usually have a higher price tag but there are a few cheap ones.
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• Forced Theme:
  Labeling a hat as themed when it really isn't. Often done with clever names and obscure references. For example an orbiting planet's Ol' Snaggletooth named "Planet of the Lizardmen". This is always done to artificially inflate the price so try to avoid these.
  
  If you're ever unsure if a hat is truly themed or not just ask around. If people don't instantly recognize something as being themed it generally isn't.
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• C/O & B/O:
  Short for "current offer" and "buyout". Current offer should be fairly obvious, the current top offer the seller is considering taking. These are often posted purely to encourage others to outbid them and even more often entirely fake. Do not trust a current offer if you can't see it's source. Buyouts are the price listed for an instant no haggle sale and are usually very overpriced or simply to discourage lowballing.

Coming Soon

Patience is the ultimate trade material.:


Never rush anything. Wait to buy the newest items. Don't sell on the first offer you get. Don't buy from the first seller you find. Explore all options. The first isn't always best.

The trading community is very diverse.:

You will face off with sharks, scammers, trolls, and some of the most terrible steam members there are. IGNORE THEM! You will also make plenty of new friends. Don't assume every trade will be the same, no two are alike. Whenever you make easily negotiated trades with sensible people, keep them in your friends list.

Don't get greedy.:

It will ruin your reputation and you will have a very hard time making trades. Terrible traders are well known in these circles, especially the rich ones. Don't buy more than you can use. You will hit a point one day where you have everything in game you like if you get a good feel for trading. It's ok to stop and pick it up again when updates bring something new worth having. No one likes a hoarder.

Don't stop playing the game.:

Many new traders hit a point where they leave the standard game to lurk about in trade servers. Good deals are incredibly rare here and no one really cares how shiny your hat is, they care about how shiny theirs is. As I stated earlier the best trades happen in standard games. Don't forget why you started TF2 because it sure as hell wasn't dressing up the soldier.

Be the kind of trader you want to trade with.:

Lowballers and sharks are aggravating but don't let them ruin you. Don't get into the habit of "defensive trading" like many people do. No one wants to see the terms "No lowballing, quicksell only, etc" in a trade description. When you're better than the sharks, you attract others who are as well.

Remember what cosmetics are.:

Cosmetic. Non essential. Don't stress too much if you have trouble finding a certain item. Anything necessary to gameplay is cheap. How the other players in a server look isn't important to you and they feel the same way. Keep that in mind. Seeing a huntsman reflect headshot will never stop being more impressive than seeing someone with a burning team captain.

Just relisting the sites you'll want to be using here for easier bookmarking.

• Oupost[www.tf2outpost.com]
  
• Trade Post[tf2tp.com]
  
• TF2 Wiki
  
• Steam Rep[www.steamrep.com]
  
• TF2 Unusual[tf2unusual.com]
  
• http://Scrap.tf (Automated scrap banker)
  
• TF2 Stats[stats.tf]
  
• http://backpack.tf/ (spreadsheet) USE WITH CAUTION Prices here are often wrong. Use for ballpark estimates only.
  
  

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this guide I welcome them as well as any questions. If you would like to read my other guides they can be found in the links below.


Gear up! (A guide to optimal MvM loadouts)Stop thinking like a Medic! (A guide to using the Quick-Fix)Basically Idle (A guide to contributing as little as possible)Botkillin's a good job mate. (A guide to playing Sniper in Mann Vs. Machine)Sprint N' Splode (A guide to better Demoknighting)