The problem with scrap.tf
Entry posted by cares
4,018 views
Let me get this straight first off. I'm an avid user of scrap.tf, but I do really appreciate the services they offer. Offloading 12 weapons for some metal or buying a game for cheap (because let's face it, dispenser is awful now) are really nice. But that's really all I use.
The thought behind scrap.tf's pricing is based off of the convenience. They buy for low prices (quickbuying) and then sell for market price (well, if their prices are updated...) In a time where there are many competing user-run bots, Automatic and MyBot, this starts to fall apart. Take a look at gift wrap:
Why are the bots full? Let's take a look at backpack.tf Classifieds
4 bot listings at a much lower price with arguably more convenience (no having to wait for queues). Which brings us to the primary problem here.
scrap.tf is incredibly lazy/slow regarding price updates. This affects their own wallets more than anything. Most items on their item banking page are either out of stock or at their item limit.
How do you expect people to use your service if there is either no incentive to sell (higher buy listings on trade.tf, usually simply bad sell prices) or no incentive to buy (cheaper listings elsewhere, crazy buy prices.) The seemingly greedy "I don't pay for paint but you do" doesn't help them either. scrap.tf's pricing moderators appear to be incredibly disconnected from the market.
Even outside item banking, the prices just seem off. As of writing, scrap.tf is buying craft hats for 1.11 and selling them for 1.44. And still their bots are completely full, 800 hats each. The problem isn't the buying price here, it's the selling price. No one is willing to buy hats for 1.44 when they clearly can be bought for less.
The introduction of trading cards met similar critique, as TF2 traders are not willing to pay market price for cards. scrap.tf ignored this seemingly obvious and well-known fact and went ahead with SCM prices. Now their bot is always full of cards and always out of refined. The bot doesn't work, in that it's never capable of buying cards and always capable of selling them, however at prices no one is willing to buy them at.
In fact, the problem is so prominent that in nearly every section it can be found.
Adding new features to your site doesn't fix the core problem: your rates are off. Strange Banking has this problem with parts, Killstreak Banking has this problem with high tier but generally unwanted kits (Professional kits for rarely used items), and so do the before mentioned banking types. The site has a lot of potential, but the moderators seem to disagree.
Speaks for itself. Vacation or not, during such exciting times for TF2, you should have active staff. Huge waste of opportunity.
3 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now