- Joined
- Jun 15, 2012
- Messages
- 46
Hey everyone. I have recently started heavily visiting trading servers and now realize just how big of a problem scamming is in TF2. In fact, just recently my friend lost an unusual to a scam. For those of you who are new to trading, that is just about the worst thing that can happen to a trader. I'm making this post in hopes that I can prevent even one innocent trader from falling victim to a scam.
Here are my top tips to prevent being scammed:
1. SPREADSHEET SPREADSHEET SPREADSHEET!
- ALWAYS ALWAYS visit a trusted TF2 pricing spreadsheet before making ANY trade. This will help you to make sure you either aren't losing a lot of value in your items, OR the other way around. My recommendation is the one and only http://tf2spreadsheet.blogspot.com/ It can be a little confusing at first but once you understand it its as simple as a quick glance. If you need any help learning how to use this feel free to add me on steam!
2. Follow your gut!
- If you have a weird feeling that something isn't right, trust that feeling. Most of the time that feeling will be correct. If someone is very hasty to accept an offer that you made, or driving very strongly to get a deal on one of your items, get a second opinion from someone else on the item's value.
3. Try out a trading site!
- My recommendation would the the TF2 outpost link is as follows: http://www.tf2outpost.com/ . Using these sites makes it fast and easy to find items you are looking for and sell items that you have. It also lowers the chance that you will be trading to a scammer but don't take that for granted. Of course, the first place you should try is eGO's own forums! You can find great deals and lots of items for sale.
4. What to do when you get an "unusual" item.
- Yes this is it, the big mac daddy of TF2 trading, the unusual. Many a new trader have surely lost these most precious of items to the hands of the scoundrels that are scammers. These items can ONLY be found from unboxing a crate and are EXTREMELY rare and valuable. The FIRST thing you want to do if you find an unusual is *this applies to trading servers only* LEAVE THE SERVER. People are going to immediately swarm you and try to get it cheap hoping that you are unaware of it's value. Even if they were to make a seemingly good offer, it might just be that your unusual is even rarer than most. Always go straight to a few of your trusted trading buddies and see how much they think its worth. (Please don't come to me as I would have NO idea)
5. Don't get greedy.
- If some amazing deal comes along to you, where someone is unaware of the price, don't be sneaky and take it from them. TELL THEM THE TRUTH! There is this very mean lady named KARMA that will find you if you do something bad. Trust me.
6. NEVER TRADE FOR/WITH REAL MONEY!
- This is a general rule, if an item CANNOT go in the steam trade window, don't trade for it. Chances are you will not end up getting it. If a person tells you that they will put an item in the window AFTER you trade them something THAT IS THE BIGGEST SCAM ALERT EVER! DO NOT FALL FOR IT! No matter how valuable the promised item is.
7. If its possible, record your trading.
- Whenever it's possible, record any trade you do, you can always delete it later if the trade is legit, but you can never get that evidence if something goes wrong and you aren't recording. If you have a feeling that something's fishy, immediately go into dev console (~ in game) and type status. A list of names and steam id's will come up, get the id of the person with whom you are trading! They can change their name and pic but not that!
8. Always be polite.
- This has less to do with preventing getting scammed, and more to do with common courtesy when trading. Whenever you trade always start off with a friendly "hello" or "how are you doing"! I tried a couple of times not starting with that line, and it DID IN FACT! make the person less willing to let go of items for a better price!
That's all I have for you guys right now! If I think of anything that I could add here I will do so. I'll also be checking back often on this post to answer any questions you may have. If you have any ideas what could be added to this post please say something in a comment!!!! I love to hear new ideas! This is goodbye! I wish the best of luck on all of you when trading and urge you to ALWAYS BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!
Here are my top tips to prevent being scammed:
1. SPREADSHEET SPREADSHEET SPREADSHEET!
- ALWAYS ALWAYS visit a trusted TF2 pricing spreadsheet before making ANY trade. This will help you to make sure you either aren't losing a lot of value in your items, OR the other way around. My recommendation is the one and only http://tf2spreadsheet.blogspot.com/ It can be a little confusing at first but once you understand it its as simple as a quick glance. If you need any help learning how to use this feel free to add me on steam!
2. Follow your gut!
- If you have a weird feeling that something isn't right, trust that feeling. Most of the time that feeling will be correct. If someone is very hasty to accept an offer that you made, or driving very strongly to get a deal on one of your items, get a second opinion from someone else on the item's value.
3. Try out a trading site!
- My recommendation would the the TF2 outpost link is as follows: http://www.tf2outpost.com/ . Using these sites makes it fast and easy to find items you are looking for and sell items that you have. It also lowers the chance that you will be trading to a scammer but don't take that for granted. Of course, the first place you should try is eGO's own forums! You can find great deals and lots of items for sale.
4. What to do when you get an "unusual" item.
- Yes this is it, the big mac daddy of TF2 trading, the unusual. Many a new trader have surely lost these most precious of items to the hands of the scoundrels that are scammers. These items can ONLY be found from unboxing a crate and are EXTREMELY rare and valuable. The FIRST thing you want to do if you find an unusual is *this applies to trading servers only* LEAVE THE SERVER. People are going to immediately swarm you and try to get it cheap hoping that you are unaware of it's value. Even if they were to make a seemingly good offer, it might just be that your unusual is even rarer than most. Always go straight to a few of your trusted trading buddies and see how much they think its worth. (Please don't come to me as I would have NO idea)
5. Don't get greedy.
- If some amazing deal comes along to you, where someone is unaware of the price, don't be sneaky and take it from them. TELL THEM THE TRUTH! There is this very mean lady named KARMA that will find you if you do something bad. Trust me.
6. NEVER TRADE FOR/WITH REAL MONEY!
- This is a general rule, if an item CANNOT go in the steam trade window, don't trade for it. Chances are you will not end up getting it. If a person tells you that they will put an item in the window AFTER you trade them something THAT IS THE BIGGEST SCAM ALERT EVER! DO NOT FALL FOR IT! No matter how valuable the promised item is.
7. If its possible, record your trading.
- Whenever it's possible, record any trade you do, you can always delete it later if the trade is legit, but you can never get that evidence if something goes wrong and you aren't recording. If you have a feeling that something's fishy, immediately go into dev console (~ in game) and type status. A list of names and steam id's will come up, get the id of the person with whom you are trading! They can change their name and pic but not that!
8. Always be polite.
- This has less to do with preventing getting scammed, and more to do with common courtesy when trading. Whenever you trade always start off with a friendly "hello" or "how are you doing"! I tried a couple of times not starting with that line, and it DID IN FACT! make the person less willing to let go of items for a better price!
That's all I have for you guys right now! If I think of anything that I could add here I will do so. I'll also be checking back often on this post to answer any questions you may have. If you have any ideas what could be added to this post please say something in a comment!!!! I love to hear new ideas! This is goodbye! I wish the best of luck on all of you when trading and urge you to ALWAYS BEWARE OF SCAMMERS!
