403 when using GET requests on backpack.tf

[piman]

You get a 403 error when trying to access user pages, such as https://backpack.tf/profiles/76561198954908705 using a GET request.

As of right now, the only method to refresh one's inventory is to either use the deprecated /1.0/inventory/{steamid}/refresh API (uses OAuth),

As a result, there is no suitable way to refresh one's inventory without using a macro on a browser, which is highly inefficient.

 

I believe this is caused by firewall, or is used to prevent the webscraping of classifieds pages for trade links.

 

I think an API that is token or key-based is needed, to replace the deprecated OAuth option.

Its pretty long overdue, as OAuth was supposedly deprecated as of last October, and it was never very practical to begin with.

 

There is also a StackOverflow Answer on a similar topic: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23190351/request-works-fine-in-browser-but-403-in-python 

[Wsdea]

Don’t make these kind of scripts, the Steam API is already overloaded enough. 

[piman]

3 hours ago, Wsdea said:

Don’t make these kind of scripts, the Steam API is already overloaded enough. 

 

For bots to list classifieds for an item, the item has to exist in a non-fallback inventory first. Due to the high volume of trades bots process, their backpacks change a lot, and they need backpack.tf to recognize that they  the new items, so they can sell them.

Also, this would make a very small dent in the API usage, as very few people would actually need it.

However, this opens up a feature that got recently recently, leaving no way to refresh one's backpack remotely.

[Zeus_Junior]

You can list from fallback

[piman]

Backpack still needs the items to appear in an inventory snapshot to list classifieds for them, fallback or not.So you still need to make backpack grab a newer snapshot every so often.