A Mystery: Steam Market and Tour of Duty Tickets.

[Dummy991]

I noticed something a long time ago, but have only come to the conclusion that there is something I cannot fathom happening right now.

 

On the Steam Community Market, Mann Co Tour of Duty Tickets are selling for $1.07 as of the time of posting. The prices have ranged from $0.73 to $1.13 since June 19, with $0.73 being a freak deviation and the price almost always being above $1. Now pair this information with the fact you get Mann Co Tour of Duty Tickets for $0.99 in the in-game store. People are buying tickets for inflated prices on the Steam Community Market.

 

"Maybe it's the trade delay?" Nay, it is not the trade delay, for both the in-game store and the market make you wait days.

 

"Maybe they don't know what they're doing?" That's a lot of clueless people. Of the buy orders as of this post, 301 of them are above the in-game store price. How long have they been waiting? Why haven't they just gone to the source? You'd think the inconvenience would make them seek new information in hopes of a better way. They could just google it. They would want to google it. Do they not know what google is?

 

"Maybe they're a special quali-" No, they're just regular tour of duty tickets.

 

Now obviously from a seller's point of view, if people are willing to pay you to give them a product they could get cheaper elsewhere, you let them obviously. I'm not questioning those listing at absurd prices, I'm questioning the people on the demand side actually enabling these people to get a profit, "Why?"

 

Alright, now tell me the common sense answer that I've been missing this whole time, because I honestly can't think of anything that would make this sensible.

[Kevin the Chicken God]

dont really have an explanation, but the same stuff goes on with CSGO keys where they sell 15-30 cents more than you can buy for from the store, my best guess is that they're high enough demand to sell instantly so people want the 2.50 out of them for tax and people will buy who dont own the game, but not owning the game doesnt really apply for tf2

[Scott Bakula]

It's a combination of sales tax and currency conversions that make it where for people in certain countries, buying it from the SCM is cheaper than buying it from the store even though it appears otherwise to an American observer.

[DanielDee]

4 hours ago, Scott Bakula said:

It's a combination of sales tax and currency conversions that make it where for people in certain countries, buying it from the SCM is cheaper than buying it from the store even though it appears otherwise to an American observer.

Spot on answer.