RezTF2 Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Hello everyone, Soon I'm going to have around 10 keys and I want to get into low tier trading. But before I do I want to know if its worth it. I've seen videos about bots and their effect on the low tier trading community. And from those I want to know if its worth it to even get into it. I don't intend to make huge profit, in fact that's not why I want to do it. I think it will be fun and a good teacher about skills such as negotiating, finding lower prices etc. etc. But at this point I'm questioning if my efforts would just be overshadowed by bots automatically undercutting prices. I know trade servers still exist but that they are less popular and harder to get trades at this point. I just want to know your opinions on the topic, and if anyone has done the thing I intend to do (start with around 10 keys and make profit buying and reselling quicksells) it would be great to know how it went. (I do not want this to get controversial in anyway, just wanting to ask a question) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vrakos Anthrakir Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 this thread is sorta like but to add, if by low tier trading you mean regular items, you'll find yourself hard-pressed to compete with the bots that dominate that area of trading (it's probably not worth the effort to try and compete with bots on regular items). If by lower tier trading you mean low tier unusual trading, you may want to get more keys. I don't do any unusual trading so when I do some low tier trading, I only go for quick/easy arbitrage moves to scrape up a bit of extra SCM funds or a bit of extra metal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RezTF2 Posted June 7, 2020 Author Share Posted June 7, 2020 37 minutes ago, Vrakos Anthrakir said: this thread is sorta like but to add, if by low tier trading you mean regular items, you'll find yourself hard-pressed to compete with the bots that dominate that area of trading (it's probably not worth the effort to try and compete with bots on regular items). If by lower tier trading you mean low tier unusual trading, you may want to get more keys. I don't do any unusual trading so when I do some low tier trading, I only go for quick/easy arbitrage moves to scrape up a bit of extra SCM funds or a bit of extra metal By low tier trading I mean low tier unusual trading. Probably should've said that, and thanks for the reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melancholy Sky Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 20 minutes ago, RezTF2 said: By low tier trading I mean low tier unusual trading. Probably should've said that, and thanks for the reference. Not really worth it tbf, bots & lack of demand with the current playerbase as well as most low tiers (1st & 3rd gens) crashing beyond a point of stability. If u are set on wanting to do low tiers i'd advise you stick to 1:1 // 1:2 unusuals anything beyond that and the supply will most likely be way more than the current demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flamadin Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 I don't see how low tier unusual trading makes any sense unless you are super knowledgeable on hat values. The easier way to make money is with parted items, painted items, spells and factory new skins. S.C.M. is a gold mine, people just giving stuff away on there if you know how to look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bakula Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 The biggest problem you'll have by starting with only 10 keys in low-tier unusual trading is the lack of wiggle room. You'll be tying up your entire capital into a single hat, and if you make a slip and get an unwanted hat, you'll find yourself stuck until you finally take the loss (which will also be a more noticeable chunk of your overall funds). Having the ability to absorb a dud is an essential part of a successful trader as if you can't, you wind up losing all of your momentum, which can take forever to get going again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norah Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 Depends what you want. You want to make a lot of money? No, not really. If you wanna have a bit of fun and learn about a digital economy, sure! The traditional methods aren't as viable these days, but there's a lot of niches to wiggle into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RafasDR Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 You can always buy stranges, vintages or genuines from bots (there are good deals out there, be it free strange parts or paints) and sell again at marketplace or scm. This method can be more profitable (about 10-30% profit for every trade) and more reliable than unusuals. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyy Cow Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 23 minutes ago, RafasDR said: You can always buy stranges, vintages or genuines from bots (there are good deals out there, be it free strange parts or paints) and sell again at marketplace or scm. This method can be more profitable (about 10-30% profit for every trade) and more reliable than unusuals. Good luck. I built up a good start with painted cosmetics and skins too, those are also nice and usually good to flip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HyperToe™ Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 As a trader for years and someone who's been on the sidelines for a while now, (~a year) You've missed out on the golden years of trading which I would say were 2012-2015 in my personal experience. I hate to be like "back in my day" about it, but back then, with the right attitude and name recognition, you could easily make a profit just from being a nice person overall with a couple of hundred invested into even like shitty painted cosmetics. Nowadays, trade servers are usually empty or filled with people that want to buy quicksells more than anything because over the years the entire community has learned the math and developed things to make their lives easier and make themselves more money; such as bots. The proliferation of bots in the community prevents you from going too crazy with a price and that benefits the seller more than it benefits a buyer most of the time because they have a reference to the price of their items and you can't get as big of a discount on your own quickbuying purchases. Essentially, you're asking if it's worth it to get on a bandwagon that's left the station years ago. Unless you're a super coder, you're gonna' face problems with getting inventory and finding buyers; hence, it's not worth it. Just get a fucking job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
🔥Master Throne Crimson🔥 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 To be completely honest with you, from what ive seen its absolutely worth if youve already been trading for a while, but it seems like starting trading nowadays is quite tricky; ive heard a lot of complaints about that and seen quite a few beginners quit. But the thing with that is, imo you shouldn't be discouraged by the harshness of starting off. Once you get the hang of it, and that time will eventually come, trading is always fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftyy Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Like someone above me said, it depends why you're trading. If you're trading to have fun then sure it is, but if you're trading in hopes to make a big profit, I wouldn't waste my time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RezTF2 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 9 hours ago, leftyy said: Like someone above me said, it depends why you're trading. If you're trading to have fun then sure it is, but if you're trading in hopes to make a big profit, I wouldn't waste my time. I'm not really trying to make huge profit, I want to learn about the economy and what that could teach me in the future. It also seems like a little bit of fun. And trading or no trading I will continue to play tf2. So after the advice of all of you I will probably try to get into it, and we'll see how it goes. And if I end up making no profit or anything like that ill probably just use the keys I have to buy an unusual or two for my most played classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pootisMan Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alimanach Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 If you do it right, why not. But you need to have knowledge for that and a clearly defined goal. Many people think about trading as a main source of income, or an independent income. If there is someone who wants to start now, you should understand that the real profit is possible only by big sums. Plus, you'll need some fundamental knowledge about how stocks work. Generally, I'd say it's a long-term way to earn on some on the principle of difficult percentages. I have read on investous.com an article about all the types of investments, some of them are perfect for beginners, like government bonds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vrakos Anthrakir Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 10 hours ago, alimanach said: If you do it right, why not. But you need to have knowledge for that Why not? Because it isn't 2020 anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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