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Monday, October 1, 2012

State o' the TF2 market - October 1st edition

Fall has (at least for the past 2 years) brought a different wave to TF2 trading.  Back to school for many traders so trading is lighter during the week and spikes on the weekends.  Any update from Valve, however, always changes this and users will open up their backpacks or start crafting whenever there are new items.

The early-summer Pyromania event was a very busy time.  Although the items prices have come back to earth - this "Meet the" update proved popular.  Valve always mixes things up and the 'pyrovision' twist kept it interesting.

The Mann vs. Machine update from the summer has since passed and most of these items have stabilized in prices.  Gold Botkiller items continue to drift downwards but at a slower pace now and may find their bottoms soon and start to drift up - we'll watch and see.  From a gaming perspective, the new mode was a welcome addition to the TF2 brand.

Fall items from the Fall key event fell in value quickly probably due to a lot of crates being opened and there not really being a "marquee" item from the crates that everyone typically wants.  Track Terrorizer is the closest to this but it has since come back to the key to key + half range.

Halloween items will come into play soon.  Some items have been trading higher, with the Spine-Chilling Skull 2010 and Voodoo Juju being the biggest gainers.  Some of the Haunted items from 2011 have seen an uptick as well.  We will adjust these prices as we see trades coming in but keep in mind asking prices will spike and desperate buyers may skew the market up.

The winter 2011/2012 items have since seen a jump.  All-father and especially Kringle Collection have both enjoyed gains - lucky you if you have a clean version of either.  We'll follow the other holiday items as well to see if any come into play.

Also remember that our trade analysis software is running 24/7 and as the Halloween event approaches we will step up the sheet updates to more than the standard once-per-day (our human contributors unfortunately can't run all day and night).  Our giveaways will also follow suit and we will have a bunch of new freebies for our loyal audience.  Until then, keys will continue to be our go-to freebie.

Big site upgrade coming soon.  Lots going on behind the scene with relation to that - more information will come later.  Feel free to contact us with suggestions, ideas, corrections.

35 comments:

  1. Couldn't find the Vita-saw in the spreadsheet. Could you add it?

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    Replies
    1. that defeats the purpose of the sheet

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    2. 1 scrap. Pretty sure about it.

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    3. We typically don't add weapons that trade for a scrap or less. I am aware that some collectors value a dirty vitasaw at higher prices. However - this is flawed seeing as Valve could sell the vitasaw in the store again anytime and anyone could have a dirty one.

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  2. Wow. I got a bit of an education there. I didn't know that the All Father and the Kringle Collection were in high demand. Do those items still drop now, even during non-Christmas time?

    Also, I didn't know you guys used software to analyze trading prices. I always assumed you had a horde of monkey reporting prices.

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    Replies
    1. I was thinking of Bats that watch us all trade and stuff, but monkeys are good too.

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    2. Monkeys, bats...they each have advantages.

      The kringle and all-father are both drops and are craftable. The software came into play this summer and the timing worked out well since I stopped trading.

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    3. OR *GASP* BAT-MONKEYS!
      YOU EVIL EVIL MAN!
      HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO THE POOR BATS/MONKEYS?
      I'D RATHER SHOWER IN JARATE MORE THEN I WOULD SHOWER IN YOU!

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  3. Replies
    1. The word on the street is the anticipation of crate #50. Same thing occurred as crate 30 was about to retire and afterwards.

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  4. As a suggestion, I think you should put a picture of each item on the spreadsheet.

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    Replies
    1. Good idea, one that will be included in the upgrade.

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    2. Something like the backpack icon?

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    3. We have a backpack tool in the works.

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    4. Speaking of backpacks, can you use a Backpack Expander if you're F2P?

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    5. You can expand it by becoming premium and then you can use the backpack expander I think.

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  5. Any sense from the community whether Christmas crates will re produce Strange Festive weapons that have already been produced? And further any guesses which Strange Festive weapons will be produced this season??

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    Replies
    1. Not sure on this one. However, Valve does improve upon the past successes so some version of the strange festives will probably reappear. No idea which items will be included but my guess would be the remaining stock weapons they didn't do the first time around.

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    2. Sometimes I wish they do that with achievement weapons. I would really like a festive FaN or a festive ambassador/dead ringer.

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  6. Could you add a Gain\Loss Indcater or somthing like that?

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    Replies
    1. Good idea, yes we are going to incorporate a way to see gainers and losers.

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  7. If you somehow incorporate a backpack loader (which you load your backpack) you should have a backpack worth along side.

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    Replies
    1. A good idea we've kicked around. One that has a high priority.

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  8. I've noticed that many, and I mean many of the Genuine prices are very wrong. Especially older ones, and newer ones tend to be forgotten after release. Could you guys try to update older Genuine items more often? I find myself doing my own pricechecks and using other sites to gauge a good price to buy at. (I'm a Genuine collector, and almost done with my collection).

    For example:

    Genuine Dread Knot and Genuine Geisha Boy are listed at 2-3 Refined, however 3 days ago I bought both of them for 3 refined metal..

    Awesomenaut promos: I bought 1 week after the tradability of them at 1.33 each.

    Sleeping Dogs weapons - I bought the flying guillotine - 1.66, huo - 1 ref, and the neon at 1 ref.

    Genuine Company Man - listed as 2-2.33 saw it go for 1.44 yesterday.

    Genuine Baloonicorn listed at 10 keys, can be easily bought under 8 keys.

    Now I'm not saying that all of these are crazy overpriced, but the prices need to be adjusted on almost everything. The examples I stated are also not the definitive prices, many people still buy/sell at spread prices but when you can get these items, way less than Spreadsheet from Warehouse than the price needs to be changed. I think the work you guys do is very worthwhile, especially for the novice trader, but I wish that more of the items were on an updated basis.

    Best wishes.

    - An Avid Trader

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the note, avid trader. We agree on several of your price suggestions and have made changes to the sheet. We will continue to monitor the older genuine items more closely (they don't trade often however). Some of your suggestions I believe you are getting sellers who are trying to "get out" rather than getting the maximum they can. That's part of trading. We try to list an average price, rather than the price some traders manage to get from quicksales.

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    2. Q: Has there ever been a list compiled of the trading sites or market places yous guys are monitoring and if not why? It seems to me that the word average is used a lot and for very good reason so I wonder what the magnitude of your research is.

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    3. We use all available, so that means op, tp, wh, most trading sites, trading forums.

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    4. Most important are actual trades and those are gathered by our contributors witnessing trades, agreement on offers, and our proprietary software.

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  9. and no one is referring to the increasing rise of the earbuds..... its ridiculous in half a year or so they will be worth 30 keys or more!

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    Replies
    1. Buds are listed as what they sell for. They can go up, and they can go down. Either way we'll be all over it and report it to you.

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  10. I have recently decided to start my collection over again and have subsequently tried to sellout. I have used this spreadsheet faithfully from the onset and over the past few yrs have really had to put up with some staunch people out there in regards to the "spreadsheet". It more often then not comes from the older traders/players who for some reason detest the spreadsheet. Half of them use it to sell but say they don't use it to buy hahaha which is just a head shaker...kids. My long drawn out point being, Have you's ever considered some form of pr campaign to win the support of the before mentioned crowd? Perhaps Valve could be involved and you guys could produce a hat of something not unlike the Kritz hat?? I love ya's and swear by this list for the hundreds if not 100 plus trades I've made and I'd back this up anywhere.

    Cheers
    Snooch

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    Replies
    1. Noone who trades likes to admit they rely on anything or anyone for prices. They like to be the ones who know everything. The reality is that is impossible since there are just too many items and variations to know all.

      Nothing like pr or your other ideas are off the table, however we view our best advertising as satisfied visitors. If someone who uses our site saves a refined or a key on a trade because they use us as a resource, then that satisfies us. Better yet if they tell a friend.

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