How will Escrow affect trading?

[Knight]

I'm not too sure about this whole escrow thing, according to the Scrap.tf poll only about 33% of that community can't use the Steam Mobile Auth, but everyone is talking like this will end Team Fortress 2 and steam trading altogether. I need honest opinions on how this will affect the trading scene between all games, or even just tf2. 

 

Thank you for your time!

[Дебра]

only about 33%

thats a rather big only

[Knight]

thats a rather big only

 

That's true, apologies.

[Senpai Absol~]

thats a rather big only

that 33% includes me

:cccc

[Q22]

Me 2 m8

[Nobu]

Well first of all it's going to affect everyone who don't have a smart phone or have a smart phone but it is not compatible with the app. ( battery life problem, random app crashing, can't confirm trade, etc )

 

You have to understand that not everyone owns a smart phone and they should be given an alternative option instead of forcing this mobile authentication down everyone's throat. Valve could simply implement Escrow and at the same time, provide an alternative option for those who don't want it and warn them that if they were to get hacked / hijacked, they will not be covered by Steam Support. 

[Knight]

...they should be given an alternative option instead of forcing this mobile authentication down everyone's throat. Valve could simply implement Escrow and at the same time, provide an alternative option for those who don't want it and warn them that if they were to get hacked / hijacked, they will not be covered by Steam Support. 

 

But would Valve actually listen this time? They reacted to the community's reaction to paid mods by removing it, but would they listen to us when it comes to this? Rumor's state that the petition against it on ipetition was removed at valve's request, and when actions like that are taken I don't know if they're aware of the impact that this will have on them or just don't care.

[Kuuko]

I gotta be honest, the app slowpokes at times. the mail is way faster. but thats the only problem I have with escrow

Steam must realize that not everybody has a smarthphone but well everybody at this rate should have one. unless you live under a rock or are extremely poor

Or are a teenager with no smarthphone who shouldnt be trading wasting their parents dosh

[Nobu]

But would Valve actually listen this time? They reacted to the community's reaction to paid mods by removing it, but would they listen to us when it comes to this? Rumor's state that the petition against it on ipetition was removed at valve's request, and when actions like that are taken I don't know if they're aware of the impact that this will have on them or just don't care.

I doubt it. In the short term I can see this Escrow system affecting a lot of users but eventually, everyone will give in and use it anyway.

[Knight]

I doubt it. In the short term I can see this Escrow system affecting a lot of users but eventually, everyone will give in and use it anyway.

 

I see, so at this point it would be wise to cash out? And if so, via market or paypal?

[SapienS]

Its a fair play from valve to try to recover the control on their items.
But its so annoying, i need to look into my phone even when i login from my steam clien SO BS

To answer to your question, for sure will be impact everyone who do trading will slow down their business but not to the point to kill it ^^

[Mike Hawk]

[Senpai Absol~]

I see, so at this point it would be wise to cash out? And if so, via market or paypal?

I'm cashing out now

Via opskins tho to paypal

That's for csgo though.

[Regenbogenbjörn ⇄]

that 33% includes me

:cccc

and me...

[scout608]

truthfully, i doubt it's gonna have a huge impact (even on people without smartphones) unless you're into quickly flipping items or you're a big account with multiple smaller ones

[ptrckr]

I wonder if I can still get items when I have to wait 3-7 days until the seller gets their keys if other people with a Smartphone will just be able to trade instant.

Also I'm a person if I want an item I want it now, if I can't get it directly I don't want it at all.

 

My cellphone is from 2008ish, I don't like smartphones. ._.

Thank you Valve, don't understand yet why Escrow is better then Mail Conformation though.

[LolitsBob]

The feel when don't own any kind of smart phone so I mean less to Valve.

 

Also to answer the original post to a lot of people it will indeed kill trading and more importantly a large portion of community members not just in TF2 but CS:GO and Dota? Not sure about Dota but I know for a fact about TF2 and CS:GO.

But that's just my opinion on the subject.

[λngelღмander]

Escrow is better than email confirmation because it:

 

• Cannot be compromised without physically interacting with the victim (I suppose that MAY not be true, but it would take a hacker with a lot of knowhow, as I certainly don't know how to spoof a person's phone)
• Is available to most people, any other method of confirmation that did not involve the computer itself (which is compromised when a person is phished) would most likely be less available to the general public

Escrow is a one off solution to valve's massive scamming problem. It won't stop scamming, because when people are scammed, they are DECEIVED, and this extends to any confirmation they may have to go through. However, it will stop PHISHING, which is a huge issue. It might not strike us seasoned traders as anything to be concerned about, but with literally more than half of all friend requests are from bots specifically designed to compromise your account and steal your items, there is a huge problem. Valve just wants to stop this rampant phishing, which is making it seem like the worst place to go to buy games and make friends. It's not really safe to trade when there are thousands of people with at least ten thousand accounts actively trying to phish you. 

Valve cares more about PR than it does about some active traders who do not have phones. I think that something will change once this goes live, perhaps it will become optional, but the fact is that valve is doing this in response to a long time problem.

 

They could less painfully have solved this by hiring dedicated scam fighting employees and basically having a real steamrep, with access to all chats and inventory histories, (which could permanently end scamming), but this is the cheapest and most effective way. Through this method, only someone who didn't have a phone and was incredibly inattentive could be phished.

 

 

It won't be the end of trading, but it's very annoying and demonstrates how greedy valve is. 

[BankingBot]

It remains a big issue for bots, because bot owners still has to type in the code on their mobile when they want to confirm a trade. How is scrap.tf gonna deal with 1000 codes...

[TheMCBros99]

The 33% doesn't include me but I still think its wrong

[Nobu]

I see, so at this point it would be wise to cash out? And if so, via market or paypal?

The way I see it, if people really enjoy trading, they would stay and scrap.tf has found a solution for their bots so it wouldn't affect them. If you enjoy the game then stay, if you don't and you want to cash out then go for it man.

[Knight]

The way I see it, if people really enjoy trading, they would stay and scrap.tf has found a solution for their bots so it wouldn't affect them. If you enjoy the game then stay, if you don't and you want to cash out then go for it man.

Well I mean I do very much enjoy this game, but without trading it just isnt the same, yknow what I mean? I think I'll stay on the scene for a little bit after the 9th and see how it goes, and if it all goes to hell then I'll cash out and run.

[Knight]

Escrow is better than email confirmation because it:

 

• Cannot be compromised without physically interacting with the victim (I suppose that MAY not be true, but it would take a hacker with a lot of knowhow, as I certainly don't know how to spoof a person's phone)
• Is available to most people, any other method of confirmation that did not involve the computer itself (which is compromised when a person is phished) would most likely be less available to the general public

Escrow is a one off solution to valve's massive scamming problem. It won't stop scamming, because when people are scammed, they are DECEIVED, and this extends to any confirmation they may have to go through. However, it will stop PHISHING, which is a huge issue. It might not strike us seasoned traders as anything to be concerned about, but with literally more than half of all friend requests are from bots specifically designed to compromise your account and steal your items, there is a huge problem. Valve just wants to stop this rampant phishing, which is making it seem like the worst place to go to buy games and make friends. It's not really safe to trade when there are thousands of people with at least ten thousand accounts actively trying to phish you. 

Valve cares more about PR than it does about some active traders who do not have phones. I think that something will change once this goes live, perhaps it will become optional, but the fact is that valve is doing this in response to a long time problem.

 

They could less painfully have solved this by hiring dedicated scam fighting employees and basically having a real steamrep, with access to all chats and inventory histories, (which could permanently end scamming), but this is the cheapest and most effective way. Through this method, only someone who didn't have a phone and was incredibly inattentive could be phished.

 

 

It won't be the end of trading, but it's very annoying and demonstrates how greedy valve is. 

 

This actually explains to me why Valve is even doing this, but it doesn't really excuse how poor of a decision it was. With any luck, either 1, this whole thing becomes optional, or 2, the community finds a way around it like how Jessecar and Pomme de Terre are. Here's to the survival of the community! (hopefully)

[Vrakos Anthrakir]

-snip-

You have to understand that not everyone owns a smart phone and they should be given an alternative option instead of forcing this mobile authentication down everyone's throat. Valve could simply implement Escrow and at the same time, provide an alternative option for those who don't want it and warn them that if they were to get hacked / hijacked, they will not be covered by Steam Support. 

so if you don't have a steam app compatible smart phone, you get no steam support coverage when you get hacked/hijacked ? 

[Sniper Noob]

so if you don't have a steam app compatible smart phone, you get no steam support coverage when you get hacked/hijacked ? 

 

Yup. Just like when you disable email confirmations. If you want to take the risk, then that's your (and mine, I disabled email confirmations) choice. I don't really see the problem honestly.

 

Obviously this wouldn't be ideal, but it's better than what we're getting.