Hello all my name is Ice Cube the Wizard and today I will be teaching you about a thing called Team Fortress 2 Trading.In this guide I will show you everything from what is trading and how to trade to how to avoid scammers.

So since you are reading this im assuming that by now you should have probably amassed a few weapons in your backpack and you are asking yourself "Hmm that randomguy123 has a nice Black Box I wish I could have one".Well son, there is a way to get it right now.Trading.


Initiating or starting a trade is very easy and can be done in a few steps:


1. If you are in a server press escape and click on the button titled "Items" like I show in picture #1

2. Now you should see the picture of each class and under then you should see 4 pictures with text under them that says " Backpack","Crafting","Man Co. Catalog" and the one we need "Trading" so go on and click on it.

3. So now you see 3 buttons infront of you "Friends List","Current Server" and "Steam Profile".If you are on a server and wish to trade with someone on the same server you press the "Current Server" options or if you wish to trade with a friend that has added you via steam then you press the "Friends" option.Pretty straight forward,isnt it?

4. Now you select the person you wish to trade from the list of names.If he/she accepts the trade invitation a trade window should pop up.I will explain what you should do in the next section.



TL;DR: Items button--->Trading--->Current Server/Friends List

So now the trade window should pop up.It kinda looks complex but I will break it down for you guys.



1. The Items Box: It is located on the left part of the trade window and it shows your the TRADEABLE items that you have.

2. The Chatbox: Preatty self-explanatory you use it to chat with the other player.

3. The Offerings Box: Its the Box where you drag items from the Items Box that you wish to trade with the other player.Its a rectangle divided into 8 squares.


Soo this pretty much covers the Trading window and what it contains.In the next section I will explain to you the "polite" way to ask for items.

So kiddie you think you have mastered how to start a trade and understand the Trade Window?Well thats not enough.You need to have good communication and haggling skills to be able to perform a proper trade.This is how you should usually start a trade:

1. When the trade window is loaded you should usually greet the other trader with a "Hello","Sup","Whazzup","Hows it Going",etc...

2. Next you should politely ask the other trader if he/she wants to trade the item you want,like so:
Excuse me,may I ask you if you are willing to sell your [Insert Item name here].If they say yes then go to step 3 but if they say no then just politely say "Thanks anyways,goodbye" and cancel the trade.

3.So they said yes,now you should ask then which item they would like to receieve from you for their
item.Like so: "So what would you like me to give for your weapon/hat/paint/etc"

4. Usually they will say what they want.If you have the item they want and you dont need it just put it into the offerings window then just check the "Ready to trade" box and wait for the other player to do the same.Then you both press the BIG GREEN READY TO TRADE BUTTON!Congratulations you completed your 1st trade.

5.Sometimes they will tell you they want a scrap for their weapon or a reclaimed or even refined if its
a rarer weapon.Some people will also use the term "keys","buds" and "bills".Let me explain with a quick "table":

Some people may not want your weapons and hats but they ask for Scraps,Reclaimed,Refined,Keys,etc.Let me explain what each of these are by some kind of table that I tried to make:


1 scrap = 2 weapons (a scrap can be crafted using 2 weapons used by the same class)
1 reclaimed = 3 scraps = 6 weapons (a reclaimed can be crafted by combining 3 scraps )
1 refined = 3 reclaimed = 18 weapons (a reclaimed can be crafted by combining 3 reclaimed metal)
1 key = 2.66-3 refined (keys are one of the most used methods of trading for items in Team Fortress 2 besides Metal and "promos" )
1 Bills Hat = 8-10 keys (depending on the paint of the hat.Bills is the 1st tier of "promo" items)
1 Earbud = 27 keys (another sough after item. It belongs into the 2nd tier of "promo" items)
1 Max's Severed Head = 2x buds (A creepy severed bunny head hat that people use as currency for some odd reason )


For more item values please consult the http://backpack.tf/ website

So you traded and traded and have all the weapons you wanted but then you see a guy with a unusual hat or smeone with a genuine sun on a stick and you dont know what each of those prefixes mean,well like always im here to explain:

Normal ( Gray Color) - Only Stock weapons and certain "glitched" items have this color.

Unique (Yellow Color) - This is the default quality of items found in Team Fortress 2.

Vintage (Dark Blue Color) - A quality introduced to make some items look more appealing in trading.Items become vintage after being in your backpack a long time.Vintage items like hats are worth more than the unique version of the said hat or item.

Genuine (Dark Green Color) - Genuine items are obtained by buying certain games which have "promotional" items in them.After the game is released players can usually craft and find the unique version of the items.

Strange (Orange Color) - The Strange quality is given to weapons that were uncrated from Man. Co. Supply Crates with Man. Co. Supply Crate Keys.These weapons count the number of kills the player makes with them.

Unusual (Purple Color) - The most rarest of the item qualities.Unusual items cab be found by uncrating Man. Co. Supply Crates but they are REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY rare so congratulations if you unbox one on your 1st try,it took me 20 crates for my 1st one just sayin.The unusual quality is only available on certain hats,misc items and on the Unusual Horseless Headless Horsemans Headtaker weapon.Unusual hats and misc have certain particle effects attached to them like Orbiting Fire,A circling TF2 logo,Burning Flames,Bubbles,etc.

Haunted (Light Green Color) - Haunted items are certain halloween themed items obtained during halloween.

There are also some other qualities but items with those are not tradeable so I will not mention them.

Scammers and Sharks...the worst kind of people.Scammers will usually try to scam you out of your items by any means necessary that includes:

1. using phishing links to false sites in the hope to steal your account info and steal your items(Happened to me once)NEVER CLICK ON LINKS FROM STRANGERS!!!

2. Giving you certain programs that can "generate" free hats/metal/unusuals.NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING FROM PEOPLE YOU DONT TRUST!!!

3. Paypal - some more experienced scammers use Paypal as their method of choice to scam.It usually consists of them telling you that they will give you money via Paypal if you go first and give them the items.

NOTE: You can trade via Paypal and most people arent scammers..but if you do get scammed this way Steam Support WILL NOT return your items!!

Handy Tip: When trading via Paypal ALWAYS check if the other person is a scammer via Steamrep[steamrep.com] and ask them for their SourceOP rep thread! Profile rep is not good enough.

Some Team Fortress 2 traders and players decided to make trading websites so that more people can trade their items. I will 100% recommend these sites for you as they make finding the items you want alot easier.Here are some of these websites:

TF2 Outpost[[url=www.tf2outpost.com]

TF2 Trading Post[www.tf2tp.com]

Team Fortress 2 Warehouse[www.tf2wh.com]

tf2bazaar[bazaar.tf]

Well ladies and gentlemen this pretty much covers my guide. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
Any positive feedback,like and favorite would be highly appreciated! I also apologise if this guide looks a little weird or cluttered it is my 1st time making one.