I really need some trading advice

[Kostek]

Lately I have been struggling to get offers on any of my hats.

 

I own 36 unusuals most commonly ranging from 12-70  keys. I bump my trades every half an hour on both outpost on backpack.tf. I have not had a single offer today. These past few months have been the same

 

I really don't know what to do. I feel as if trading just isn't worth my time at the moment. Selling unusuals has been harder than ever these past few weeks

 

Any thoughts?

[Don Quixote]

I'm going to make the obvious and not particularly desired post of "Lower your prices".

[Kostek]

I'm going to make the obvious and not particularly desired post of "Lower your prices".

I do occasionaly  discount my unusuals to 15% or 20% if i'm having a bad day. But that doesn't really work either :/

[Kuuko-San]

Get outpost premium, best purchase you'll get.

 

As for the trades, your notes are a bit eh, and your responses are a bit curt at times. But I see offers?

[Mengh.]

1. Advertise as much as possible, upon different trading websites and more.
2. Be open to ANY offers (you don't have to accept them. Just say stuff like "Could you maybe increase your offer?" or "I'm sorry but that's a bit too low".

Those are the main things I'd say for the time being.

 

For the typical buyer, you need to aid them with your description, not send them on a goose chase.

 

General trade description that aids the eye

 [1] A sentence, perhaps funny, cheesy or just Hey! ...

[2] List your prices. Don't just tell them "Backpack.tf prices". Most people don't want to waste time - they want stuff up front, especially pricing. 

[3] Other information e.g "Thank you! Send a trade offer. Negotiations allowed" etc.

[4-Optional] In-game screenshots of each unusual. More visuals = More attraction.

 

Example (made in 3 mins)

[Kostek]

Get outpost premium, best purchase you'll get.

 

As for the trades, your notes are a bit eh, and your responses are a bit curt at times. But I see offers?

I really think I could do better. I mean, 36 unusuals and 4 offers in a day is pretty bad. I don't think outpost premium could solve any of my problems. I already bump my trades every half an hour for most of the day. Still no offers. It could help a bit but it really isn't worth my money

[Kostek]

 

1. Advertise as much as possible, upon different trading websites and more.
2. Be open to ANY offers (you don't have to accept them. Just say stuff like "Could you maybe increase your offer?" or "I'm sorry but that's a bit too low".

Those are the main things I'd say for the time being.

 

For the typical buyer, you need to aid them with your description, not send them on a goose chase.

 

General trade description that aids the eye

 [1] A sentence, perhaps funny, cheesy or just Hey! ...

[2] List your prices. Don't just tell them "Backpack.tf prices". Most people don't want to waste time - they want stuff up front, especially pricing. 

[3] Other information e.g "Thank you! Send a trade offer. Negotiations allowed" etc.

[4-Optional] In-game screenshots of each unusual. More visuals = More attraction.

 

Example (made in 3 mins)

Tha

 

Thanks. This is actually some pretty good advice. Im going to re make all my notes now.

[The Oddball]

http://www.tf2outpost.com/trade/27819395

pls rework my notes kthx

[Gren]

In my experience, any notes on your trade that are limiting the amount of offers you'll receive are bad.  Specifically, I'm talking about: 

 

I don't want to: 

- Trade two of my unusuals for one

- Trade for lower value hat

 

Why wouldn't you want to do a 2:1?  So you wouldn't trade 2 of your....ahem...."lesser quality" hats for 1 good one? Obviously that would be a good trade, I don't understand your logic here.  

 

The second point is obvious and doesn't need to be mentioned.  As a matter of fact, mentioning it makes you sound like a bit of a prick. 

 

I think trades need to include the price of your hats and a trade offer link, and also some indication that you're not a dick (an easy one here is to indicate that you're fine with people adding you.  Everytime I see "DON'T ADD ME" I think this guy sounds like a dick.)

[Shpeed]

I find it that putting stupid witty remarks as the first sentence of your notes seems to work well

[Zapperzz]

 

 

You're a dank memer, #52 #420

[Kostek]

You're a dank memer, #52 #420

If only that was my actual trade xD

[Foamy the Fearsome]

Im probably not the average trader, but for my mid-tier unusuals I usually make trade notes like these


Whilst not really a main priority, I feel like it helps to sort your unusuals in a sensible way (i.e make a trade for similar effect/generation unusuals, similar tier unusuals etc. together, instead of randomly dropping a bunch of hats out there.) Whenever I see a bunch of 8 random unusuals, for some reason Im not attracted to check out the post, unless I happen to be interested in multiple hats that person is selling. I often have more success in getting offers when I list unusuals separately, or when I list them as mentioned above.

I also make my notes depend on how easy I'll be in selling them. The example above is made for hats that dont have many on the market, but Im not specificly attached to, so im willing to sell them below other sellers.

As for the colors I use: honestly, it actually only matters what the top of the trade looks like. Once people are attracted to the trade they'll click to see the details; how colorful etc. the details are does not really matter. (I just like colorful trades.)

But then again, my activity varies greatly over time, and I dont get a million offers a day either, but I generally manage to sell/exchange my hats in a reasonable time per hat.

in case you like more examples, this is my outpost:
http://www.tf2outpost.com/trades

I dont know if this helps any and Im aware Im not as high tier a trader as some of the others that commented, but I hope its useful

[Kevin the Chicken God]

-snip-

so, I'm going to provide almost entirely opposite advice than you foamy, but this should help show that there is no one 'correct' way of selling hats

 

 

 

On outpost I find listing all of your appealing hats on one trade helpful, unless the hat is for collector's, then it can probably have it's own trade. So like you'd put a PE backbiters or something in an 8 hat trade because it's something that's appealing and affordable, but you'd list an amarathine shaman on a different trade because only certain people will be interested. Having multiple hats on one trade also helps people offer for a few of your hats, since they can access them right there. Also adding desirable items with undesirable items on the same trade could help, like aussies with low tiers.

 

As far as trade notes go, I've never noticed a difference. I've gone from trades like: http://www.tf2outpost.com/trade/26750589#latestto http://www.tf2outpost.com/trade/27802459#latest and haven't noticed a significant increase in offers. I know that from my experience offering color/organization of trade notes don't make a huge difference, but content does. Reasonable prices and leaving out unnecessary info is important. People don't want to offer on your hat if you're like 'I want 30 keys above bp.tf price!', excluding higher tier hats where it isn't a huge deal. People on outpost already have enough trouble reading, I wouldn't necessarily make it harder on them .

 

The best way to sell unusuals is to offer them around. It's a game of chance to get a good offer on your outpost trade, whereas actively offering them gives you good odds of selling. Also, probably the most helpful tip I can provide that hasn't been given in previous posts, check people's trades selling the same hat. You might be content taking something someone else didn't. This is by far how I sell the majority of my unusuals.

 

I hope this helped