Why do people care if an item is duped?

[Director of Memes]

They're exactly the same, except steam support duplicated it. No other difference. People shouldn't care. Why does duping devalue the item?

[Bewitched]

Not for low tier. 

[Scott Bakula]

Way back when items first started getting duped, there was the fear of the potential of deletion or locking and people didn't want an item that could either just disappear or become untradeable in them, so duped items were seen as less desirable or in some cases, tainted.

 

Nowadays though, it's just an excuse people give to lowball the shit out of your items.

[Slam]

It was a product of a time when people believed duped items would eventually get deleted or account-locked.

 

But like Bakula said, nowadays it's just another excuse for someone to try and force you to lower your asking price so they get a better deal.

 

The only difference between duped and non-duped is that duped hats will have duplicate IDs. Problem is, the only way you could ever possibly know about this is to look at the duped item's history on backpack.tf - outside of that, it looks identical in every way, shape, and form to a non-duped one. The only other difference there is is that bots won't quickbuy duped unusuals most of the time, which isn't a problem if you're trying to make profits or get unusuals to keep. Although in a way, traders knowing that many buyers are going to try and pay less for duped items is another reason to avoid duped items for those looking for maximized profits.

 

Low-value unusuals don't really get the "its duped, gib discount" treatment, it's mostly in the mid to high tier unusuals that have more than 1-2 in existence.

[Druwu]

I got lowballed on a duped orbiting planets towering titanium pillar of hats.

[Mr Furley]

I still care, dont know why but I do

[creepio]

There’s two sides of the coin and both have valid arguments. 
 

On one side, dupes don’t matter and it’s just an excuse to offer less for an item. It looks the same in game and in your backpack. Who cares? 
 

On the other side, more valuable items being restored as duplicated items results in more of that item existing. Fair or not, due to item histories, the clean items can be identified, and are considered more legit and valuable. Look at Sparking Lugermorphs, Vintage Buds, Vintage Max Heads, God Tier TC’s, etc. 

 

My opinion is item histories can go to hell and people need to stfu with the “ew it’s duped” bs. It all looks the same in game.