Is there anything I can do if I get ripped off?

Question

I recently got scammed in a trade in Team Fortress 2. I know the person who did it. Is there any way for me to get my items back? Or will I have to live with the shame of my ignorance forever?

Asked by User XXCCCLXIII

Answer

No, unless you convince them to "do the right thing," you're stuck. Valve's policy on Steam Trading is very clear on this:

Steam will not return any items or gifts that you feel have been traded unfairly. There are no exceptions to this policy. All trades are final. If you were scammed, you may report this scam to Steam Support so that action may be taken against the scammer.

The article goes on to state that making sure you are comfortable with the terms of a trade during the trading process is fully your responsibility.

Answered by agent86

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Is it possible to initiate Steam trading without adding people as friends?

Question

One of the main points of friction between me and the TF2 trading scene is that it appears you need to add random people as friends to do trading with them.

Is this true? How can I do Steam Trading with people that aren't in my friend list?

Asked by badp

Answer

There are two ways you can initiate an out-of-game trade with Steam. You have to either be friends with them or be in the same group as them.

In both cases, the process is roughly the same. For someone you are not friends with but are in a group with, open the friends list, go to the groups tab and find the group you share.

If you are already friends with someone, you can simply use the friends tab.

Then, locate the person you want to trade with, click the triangle next to their name and click Invite to Trade.

Finally, you can now also start Steam trades merely by virtue of being connected to the same TF2 server. The old eight-slot in-game TF2 trading system has been retired, and thus the Objects → Trading → This server screen now invokes Steam Trading.

Answered by Arda Xi

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Is it possible to receive a gift on Steam and put it in your inventory if you already own it?

Question

I own Portal.

As part of the sale that's going on, there is a lot of trading going on. I am trying to get a few things together to make a trade with another person.

A person sent me Portal via email. When I click on the link, where it would normally prompt me for what to do with the gift (library or inventory) I just go to my inventory page but nothing has changed.

The email it was sent to is the same as the address on the steam account.

Is this possible? I see nothing about it on the Steam forums. Anyone ever do this?

Answer

Currently, it isn't possible to add gifts sent to the recipient's e-mail address to the inventory if they're already owned. Sending gifts has recently been integrated into the Steam inventory, so this might be a bug that'll be sorted out at some point.

If you add the person as a friend, you still won't be able to send the item via send gift.

Trading it directly is the only option right now.

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Is it possible to trade a Steam key / humble bundles?

Question

With the fourth Humble Indie Bundle I received second copy of the third pack that I already own. Is there any way to add the key or the games to my account as something gift/trade-able? Duplicate games don't seem to be rendered giftable (I already owned e.g. Super Meat Boy) so I don't want to risk spending the key by activating the third bundle a second time and simply wasting the key.

Answer

Per the Steam article on the subject

Extra copies are not given in most cases.

Only titles purchased in special promotions as outlined below are eligible for giftable extra copies

There has also been some discussion in gaming chat about the ethics of giving away extra humble bundle keys, as the site says the keys are for your sole use.

The original discussion was here. Ullallulloo emailed Humble Bundle support and asked for us. He posted the reply in chat here. Here's what it said:

"Our Steam keys do not generate giftable copies on Steam. Please consider your bundle a "unit" and not to share copies of the games or Steam keys from it.

If you'd like to give a copy of the games away, we have a system in place that allows you to buy a gift key from www.humblebundle.com so your friends can have access to direct downloads as well as any Steam or other keys we have included.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Thank you for your support"

For non-Humble Bundle trading, I would suggest the meta post related to game trading.

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Do Steam coupons stack?

Question

With all the coupons Steam has at the moment, do they stack?

_{And I don't mean 2x 50% = free, I mean mathematically correct as in 100% - (100% - 50%)² = 100% - 25% = 75% total discount.}

Answer

No, it's one coupon per item, and most don't apply until after the sale is over. The ones that do apply now are "golden" and say otherwise.

However, if an item goes on sale and you have a coupon that is valid during those dates, you can stack these two discounts, assuming it's not explicitly forbidden by the terms of the sale.

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