Help on Trading without Steam Mobile Authenticator

[This Particular User]

Hello.

 

I used to do a lot of trading about three or four years ago before Valve made the Steam Mobile Authenticator app a thing. When they did do that, I kind of had to stop trading flat out because I didn't have a smartphone. I still don't have a smartphone because my family is very poor, but I want to trade again. I was wondering if anyone here thinks it would be a good idea to trade even with the seven day waiting period or if I should just not bother until I can get the means to get a smartphone or if there's even some other option that I could take to make trading easier.

 

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm a dumb person. Thank you for reading if you did though.

[Scott Bakula]

There is the Desktop authenticator, but you'll still need to use a smartphone for the initial setup.

 

One thing to note though, is that you do not need a top of the line smartphone or an expensive plan for mobile authentication. I myself just use a $10 Tracfone smartphone which only costs 7 bucks a month for service.

[This Particular User]

1 minute ago, Scott Bakula said:

There is the Desktop authenticator, but you'll still need to use a smartphone for the initial setup.

 

One thing to note though, is that you do not need a top of the line smartphone or an expensive plan for mobile authentication. I myself just use a $10 Tracfone smartphone which only costs 7 bucks a month for service.

If I don't get a "good" smartphone soonish, I might just end up getting a cheap one (which is what my friends also suggest). Could I still trade with the seven day restriction and warn people about it until then, or would it not be worth the trouble/wait (I don't mind waiting per se, but I'm talking more on other people's ends)?

[Thenoob808]

kind of not worth the wait time because its actually a 15-day trade hold that steam does to "ensure your safety from hackers"

[This Particular User]

Oh. Even better. Looks like I'll just have to wait until I can get a smartphone pretty much. Ohhh well.

[rawrxdallday]

yea sorry bout that

[dead mow cinco]

all you need is a number phone -> bluestack (download steam app and setup steam guard) -> SDA (import session from android device)

[This Particular User]

36 minutes ago, dead mow cinco said:

all you need is a number phone -> bluestack (download steam app and setup steam guard) -> SDA (import session from android device)

I was considering that to be honest. But I've heard there are some potential safety issues with doing that and I didn't know if that would work with Steam anymore...plus, I dunno how legal that is and getting a super cheap phone for now would probably be less of a hassle at this point, so pbbbbbt.

[moonlight25]

You can purchase a one time use number or simcard online/in a store for around $2 & then just use a desktop authenticator or possibly download a virtual phone app like bluestacks and download the actual mobile authenticator there.

[ThePickleCat]

I *think* you only need to have a phone that can recieve an SMS(text message), then you can use that code to link it to the desktop authenticator.

Would recommend finding the desktop auth geel and jesse made.

I also think if you go to scrap.tf and try to make a trade while you have trade hold, it will link you to a website that gives you step by step instructions.

[This Particular User]

What I'll probably do is just end up buying a cheap phone. If that takes too long for some ungodly reason, then I'll probably do one of the suggestions here. Thank you for the responses though. I'm going to close this now cause I pretty much know what I gotta do, so

 

thank you again.