Lemm’s Epic Trading Guide

Preface:

Alright, so I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, because I’ve been trading like mad for the past month or so, but I’ve been putting it off because I knew I’d have too much to write. I’ll try to organize it as much as possible. You may not believe what I’m about to tell you but I’ve got an awesome backpack that says otherwise: http://www.tf2items.com/id/lemmage

 

Tiers:

The first thing about tf2 trading you need to know is the tier system. It is the basic concept that will allow you to benefit the most from trading. There are different levels of similar value for all the items in tf2*. From now on I will call these tiers. Once you get an item of a certain tier, you should more easily trade that item for something within that tier.

 

Here is a summary of the current tiers in TF2*:

Tier 1:

Awesome Unusual Hat (A good hat with a good effect ie: merryweather with burning flames)

NOTE: These are being sold for over $150 dollars via PayPal

 

Tier 2:

Decent Unusual Hat (Something in between)

Sam & Max Set

 

Tier 3:

Bad Unusual Hat (A crap hat with a bad effect ie: flies, tf logo, heart)

Max’s Severed Head

Soldier Medal

 

Tier 4:

Bills Hat

Earbuds

Big Kill

 

Tier 5:

Lugermorph (Tier 5 Because there are about to be a lot more of them when Poker Night is released)

Spine Chilling Skull (2010 ONLY Halloween Hat)

Vintage Vintage Merryweather

Vintage Vintage Tyrolean

Vintage Medic Mask

The Vintage Hound Dog

Vintage Killer’s Kabuto

Vintage Whiskered Gentleman

Vintage Towering Pillar of Hats

Vintage Ze Goggles

Vintage Hustler’s Hallmark

Vintage Baseball Bill’s Sport Shine (Hatless Scout)

Awesome Polypack Hat (ie: Familiar Fez, Snaggletooth, Milkman – These cost almost $20 in the shop)

 

Tier 6.

Unusual Headtaker (Halloween Axe)

Vintage Tyrannus

Vintage Fedora

Vintage Noble Amassment of Hats

Vintage Small Pile of Hat

Vintage Ten Gallon

Vintage Hot Rod

Vintage Safe N Sound

Vintage Magistrate’s Mullet

Vintage Gentleman’s Gatsby

Vintage Heavy Duty Rag

Vintage Trouble Makers Tossle Cap

Vintage Tippler’s Tricourne

Vintage Officer’s Ushanka

Vintage Whoopee Cap

Voodoo JuJu (Halloween Hat)

 

Tier 7:

Lumbricus Lid (Worms Hat)

Stout Shako (Crate Poly Hat that is actually still valuable)

Dr. Dappers Topper (Crate Poly Hat that is actually still valuable)

Rimmed Raincatcher (Surprisingly Rare)

Vintage Prussian Piklehaube

Vintage Master’s Yellow Belt

Vintage Demo’s Fro

Vintage Baker Boy

Vintage Frenchman’s Beret

Vintage Sola Topi

Vintage Soldeir’s Stash

Vintage Tyrant’s Helm

Vintage Glenngary Bonnet

Vintage Batter’s Helmet (A lot of these were crafted to make bonk helmets)

Vintage Pot

Vintage Brigade Helm

Vintage Drill Hat

Vintage Scottsman’s Stovepipe

Vintage Mining Light

Vintage Engineer Cap

Vintage Respectless Rubber Glove

Vintage Tough Guy’s Toque

Vintage Ritzy Rick’s Hair Fixative (Hatless sniper)

 

Tier 8:

Vintage Dome Shine (Hatless Engineer)

Vintage Pyro Beanie

Vintage Trophy Belt

Vintage Football Helmet

Vintage Backbiters Billy*edited*

Vintage Professional’s Panama

Vintage Bonk Helmet

Vintage Bloke’s Bucket Hat

Vintage Mirror

Vintage Camera Beard

Dealer’s Visor (Poker Night Hat)

Sober Stuntman (Crate poly hat)

Bombing Run (Crate poly hat)

Handyman’s Handle (Crate poly hat)

 

Tier 9:

Medic Mask

Whiskered Gentleman

Hound Dog

Goggles

 

Tier 10:

Most Non-Vintage Hats (People who are trading vintage hats are looking for vintage hats!)

 

Tier 11:

Napper’s Respite

Old Guadalajara

 

Tier 12:

Refined Metal

Key

 

Tier 13:

Saxton Hale Mask

Ghastlier Gibus

Ellis Cap

Parasite

Frying Pan

Name Tag

Reclaimed Metal

Paint

 

Tier 14:

Description Tag

Dueling Minigame

Scrap

Most Vintage Weapons

 

Tier 15:

Crate (S1 is said to be more valuable because of a higher percentage of unusual hats from them)

Single Weapons

Halloween Masks

 

Like I said, this is a basic summary of tiers and really is intended to be used more like a guideline than a rule.

 

Rules:

Here are some basic rules that you should always follow:

1. Be patient – There is an idiot out there somewhere (I like to trade early in the morning when the dumb euro kids are on).

2. Always trade for the same or higher tier.

3. Watch for changes in trends – Values of items such as name tags, rare vintage hats and weapons go up and down a lot.

4. NEVER TRADE MORE THAN 8 ITEMS FOR ANYTHING, unless they trade it to you with your first 8 items. YOU WILL BE SCAMMED.

5. Never trade 2 vintage hats for 1 (unless you really really really want that hat or it is super valuable and rare)

6. Don’t open crates. Most everything you get out of them is crap and it costs money. Crate hats are generally less valuable because everyone is opening crates and getting them and the chance of getting and unusual hat is usually 1% or less (this is actual reported finds from server logs according to tf2 wiki). You might even be able to trade 8 crates for a key or refined.

 

Guidelines:

1. Trade in multiple markets (ie: tf2items.com, trade servers, forums)

2. If you want to turn a key or other item into a hat on tf2items.com select all items for trade and change your name to something like “MY KEY FOR YOUR HAT.” This will keep most but not all of the other people away while still getting a lot of people to look at your trade. This generally works with refined and keys.

3. Allow other people to make an offer. Let them do something stupid instead of you offering too much.

4. Avoid people with a lot of vintage hats and items by viewing their backpack (they probably know the value of items and take it more seriously than other people)

5. Get all of your items quickly on Thursday (The random item drop limit resets itself every Thursday)

6. If you are having trouble getting to another tier, include a small item like crates or scrap to see if that will help.7. Don’t be afraid to lowball the hell out of people. Sure they will be *edited*ed but if they immediately cancel trade or defriend you then they probably want more than you are willing to offer anyway.

8. KEYS PURCHASED ARE TRADABLE. This introduces a monetary element into trading. So if you don’t have enough to trade and you want to spend money for hats and items in game then here is a way to do it.

9. Don’t accept less than 1 non vintage hat for any key. You will find people. Don’t worry, be patient.

10. Make binds for what you want to trade in trade servers (ie: bind l “say TRADING HANDYMAN’S HANDLE FOR GOOD OFFER”)

11. In trade servers it is helpful to be ambiguous and ask for “GOOD OFFER.” Sometimes this can get you a lot when the other person doesn’t want to lowball you and risk losing the trade.

12. Try not to specify exactly what you want but give a general guideline like a vintage hat or something.. this keeps people from overvaluing their items and charging you more for them just because they know you want them.

 

Notes:

Regular hat values have gone down a lot. In most cases you will be able to get one for a key or a refined depending on the value of the hat and how much the other person values it.

 

Certain items that are generally considered as crap have gone up in value just because they are getting rare. Some examples are the vintage hatless hats. These hats were previously considered crap and have been crafted a lot making them rare, particularly the hatless scout. Some rare vintage weapons such as the Vintage Crit-a-cola are also rare and in some cases have been traded for hats.

 

Vintage weapons are getting more valuable. Soon it will be very difficult to get a vintage hat if you don’t already have one for trade. Save up vintage weapons because these will be the next items to get valuable.

 

Unfortunately the be patient rule doesn’t always apply. Vintage hats are becoming more valuable, so if you have any interest in collecting all the vintage hats, I suggest you get these out of the way first because there is a limited supply.

 

Awesome unusual hats are being sold in forums for over $150 on a regular basis. So if you want to just turn your hat into money… do it. Here is a link to the forums where I’ve seen this: http://www.sourceop.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=17

 

A General Route To The Top:

Be patient and try trading in this order

Paint -> Name Tag -> Refined Metal -> Key (Possible to skip) -> Hat -> Better Hat (might have to add metal to get to the next level) -> Vintage Hat -> Higher Tier Vintage Hat!

 

Awesome Trades I’ve Made:

1 Key for Bill’s Hat

1 Key for Vintage Tyrant’s Helm, 2 refined, 2 tokens, demo halloween mask

1 Key for 2 Vintage Hats

Handyman’s Handle for Bombing Run + 4 Halloween Masks (Bombing Run > Handle)

I’ve done a lot more but these are the ones I can remember.

 

Annotations:

* Value is determined by the individual trader, but these values were assigned by an average of what I have traded.