[SUGGESTION GUIDE] What is a Buyout Cap?

[Eazy Peazy Squeezy Lemons]

I like Guiding,

 

Before reading this I recommend you read the Full Unusual Suggestions Guide https://forums.backpack.tf/topic/6033-rules-for-unusual-price-suggestions/

 

It's not uncommon to see a comment telling you to use a buyout cap - 

 

So, what is a Buyout?

A Buyout is where a sale occurs for a higher value than the seller asked for, in effect it happens when someone overpays for a hat.

All prices on the site are supposed to reflect the pure values of hats, not what people pay in unusual values, hence a buyout cap may be used.

 

There's one exception

A sale for full pure does not get capped by a buyout, although this is very rare for someone to pay extra Keys it does sometimes happen, the sale must be in Full Pure however.

 

So, how does a buyout cap come about?

 

A Marketplace.tf Sale:

Sometimes a hat will sell on Mp.tf higher than the seller wanted in pure Keys

 

For example - https://backpack.tf/suggestion/5c7b1621d3817239244e8b06

This hat sold for $69.99 which is ~39 Keys

 

However, the seller was looking for 33 Keys on Backpack.tf - https://prnt.sc/msfio9

 

Hence the sale is capped at 33 Keys, if they were offered 33 Keys Pure then they would've taken it.

 

(Marketplace.tf credit is not treated as Pure in terms of Buyout capping)

 

An Unusual for an Unusual sale:

This is how most sales occur, for example - https://backpack.tf/suggestion/5d49ec3267807238492fce76

In this suggestion the CPS Head Warmer Sold with 3 Keys + Minimal Sweets for a Flammable Bubbles of Attraction Taunt: Soldier's Requiem (10.5) + A Terror-Watt Chieftain's Challenge (19) + A Bubbling Hephaistos' Handcraft (9) = 35 Keys

 

Now this is a complicated sale however we see the final value is 35 Keys

 

However, the seller was asking for 32 Keys on Backpack.tf - https://bot.tf/stats/listings/426WEL5Y

 

So the sale is capped at 32 Keys, again if they were offered 32 Keys Pure then they would've taken it.

 

 

Buyouts can also be used to support excluding sales

For example - https://backpack.tf/suggestion/5d5290526780727ff010f2ac

 

Here sale 3 wasn't valid as it lacked a mini, however it had a buyout of 17 Keys showing that a seller was prepared to take less than Backpack.tf price in pure, this would support a drop and could help you decide what range to pick.

 

If you have sales at 15, 16, 17 and 21

But the other 3 sales all had a buyout of 18 it would be reasonable to exclude 21 Keys and go 15 - 17 Keys as a range

 

 

"So, I now know what a Buyout cap is but How do I find a buyout?"

There's a couple ways to do this:

 

Ask the seller:

 

 

Simply ask the seller via Steam or Discord about their buyout, some traders are more than happy to tell you however some won't or some sellers can't remember in which case include the sale and sale value as normal.

 

OR Check Google Cache:

 

To do this, search the Unusual's name on Google - 

Click the Green drop down arrow and click "Cached" - 

 

It'll open a page that is like stepping back in time a couple days - 

 

Which you are then free to screenshot past sellers and their Buyouts

 

OR Use Bot.tf:

Bot.tf has a powerful tool that allows you to see the classifieds if there was a bot.tf bot listing on the item that day,

 

https://bot.tf/stats/listings - The link for Bot.tf's snapshot maker

 

Simply change the parameters (Hat name, quality, effect etc etc) and it will give you a list of dates, pick a date before the sale you're looking at and you'll see if that seller had a buyout before their sale and whether it's capped or not.

 

How to reference a buyout cap:

Mention the sale's buyout just below (or with) the corresponding sale - 

 

I would mention a buyout even if it's not capped at that value, it may help exclude sales.

 

Check every sale to see if there's a buyout:

The best bet is using Bot.tf first as it's more precise, then Cached and then ask the seller.

 

I would recommend to check if there's a buyout cap on every sale.

 

What if I can't find a buyout:

The seller might not have listed it so you may not find a buyout and the sale can be used as normal,

 

Bot.tf bots may not have had a listing on that item in which you'll find the Link empty and so no buyout can be traced,

 

Cached may not have the correct dates in order to see the listing and so no buyout can be traced.

 

 

Hopefully that helps, if you have any questions still then add me on:

Steam - https://steamcommunity.com/id/EazyPeazySqueezyLemonsTrader/

Discord - Lemons#6311

Backpack.tf Discord Link - https://discord.gg/f5VS7cr

Solely Suggestion Help Discord - https://discord.gg/6qw8HwC

 

Or contact me here, hopefully this helps. Good luck with suggestions!

[Offline]

thanks lil pump!

[Keks]

so lets say i made a suggestion to increase the price of a hat i bought

 

i paid them an outdated hat, but they were  asking for x number keys and i overpayed them by around 30 keys with outdated unusuals

 

would the sale still be valid if i gave no mini yet the suggestion suggests i should change the price to x keys, which is how much the seller was asking for

 

would the suggestion still be valid?

[Eazy Peazy Squeezy Lemons]

On 8/16/2019 at 11:15 AM, Keks said:

so lets say i made a suggestion to increase the price of a hat i bought

 

i paid them an outdated hat, but they were  asking for x number keys and i overpayed them by around 30 keys with outdated unusuals

 

would the sale still be valid if i gave no mini yet the suggestion suggests i should change the price to x keys, which is how much the seller was asking for

 

would the suggestion still be valid?

You'd still have to mini the outdated hat first

[creepio]

Just a quick note to add:

 

Past and private steam conversations discussing prices that ultimately lead to nothing can still cap a sale with a completely unrelated buyer. 

 

My 805 purchase of the Roboactive Beak was capped at 550 because of a past steam conversation between an *unlisted* seller and another trader. 

 

Just warning sellers of the risks of presenting prices, no matter how tentative they may be. You could be unintentionally burning a buyer down the road.

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

18 minutes ago, han singular said:

Just a quick note to add:

 

Past and private steam conversations discussing prices that ultimately lead to nothing can still cap a sale with a completely unrelated buyer. 

 

My 805 purchase of the Roboactive Beak was capped at 550 because of a past steam conversation between an *unlisted* seller and another trader. 

 

Just warning sellers of the risks of presenting prices, no matter how tentative they may be. You could be unintentionally burning a buyer down the road.

 

Did you read the thread you're in? Because it wasn't buyout capped, and you clearly don't really understand what a buyout cap is. Maybe read OP?

[creepio]

15 hours ago, Teeny Tiny Cat said:

 

Did you read the thread you're in? Because it wasn't buyout capped, and you clearly don't really understand what a buyout cap is. Maybe read OP?

Would the only listed seller asking for 999 be considered a buyout? A mod told me it capped at 550, so I'm not exactly sure how else to see things there. 

 

A polite notice that I'm off base would suffice. No need to chop my head off. Just tell me I'm mistaken and I'll move on. 

 

Or consider doing a guy a service and explaining where I'm seeing things wrong. All I get from your response is feeling like a dumbass and unwelcome on the forums.

 

Thanks.  

 

edit: you've already helped me see that this is a suggestion guide, so I thank you for that. But if one was to make a suggestion (not going to happen because it's outdated), is there any reason why the 550 note would hold more validity than the actual listed sellers buyout? The difference being one is a private steam conversation and the other an actual listed item.