keep this up top, by the time Europe awakens this will be common knowledge, but its still important to keep spreading the info
Should i just sell my tf2 keys now? i was gonna use them during the sales to trade for lower price games.
This rule really is going to put a damper on trading for lower priced games. Ive made a lot of Russian friends via this site and Im not going to be able to trade with them anymore b/c of this.
You only have 4 keys in your inventory anyway. If you had a lot (20+) I'd suggest getting out, but you can sit on 4 and see what happens. Key prices are going to stay static and may even go up b/c of the new rule affecting them (cant trade or sell them for a week) shortly. At least Valve didnt spring that on everyone without a warning at least.
I still can't help but feel butt hurt about everything that has happened on Steam this December.
This is probably the kick to the face of the year.
i save my keys. i think the prices will not change very much. At the moment the prices are good
Oh! hahahaha! What an amazing surprise! I feel sick to my stomach whenever i see people (scammers) from Steam store regions where games are much cheaper ALWAYS trying to exploit other innocent buyers into paying more... ALWAYS more! This is good. I like it. Well done, Valve! Now, we can all trade on a simple and reasonable margin of profit. I feel so relieved suddenly. Next, Valve needs to shut down trading from all other stores, like Indonesia, etc. I'm sick and tired of the superiority and vanity of people from these cheaper stores always forcing their prices and then bumping the price even more after adding them to trade and make the rest of us traders look like fools.
Oh come off of it. Yes, some of the people in cheaper regions do make a bit of profit, some more than others, but I cant even begin to tell you how much I've saved over the years through trading with Russians or whatever region. I would gladly give someone a bit more to save even more than if Im forced to buy from my own store. If a game is the equivalent of $5 in Russia, but costs $20 here, so what if I have to pay an extra key to get it. I'm still saving far more than I would buying from my own store. IMO its a small price to pay for the service.
I hope you're joking.
The prices of games in the stores of other regions is easily public knowledge by either checking SteamPrices.com or by googling "Steam cc = ru".
If you think they make too much profit don't trade with them, simple. It's an open market. In my experience as a seller from one of these countries the profit are not more than 10% most of the time its as few as 2-3%. Btw since your geography is so bad Indonesia is in SE Asia.
You're obviously butt-hurt and you'll probably now have to find a real job and quit Steam trading. The tables are turned (not feeling so superior now, eh?) and for the rest of us, it feels good to be back as a trader on Steam without needing Russian traders as crutches to survive amidst the fierce competition. Anyway, have fun teaching geography! :)
Seriously? Among traders, i really don't think i need to sugar-coat it - most of us from the higher-priced regions have experienced the same humiliation, frustration and anguish at one time or another. Russian (and other lower-priced regions) traders are ALWAYS undercutting my own prices which makes trading quite impossible! Even if i trade at break-even prices, i can't match theirs. The only (few) people who will ever trade with those from higher-priced regions are the ignorant people from the same regions who are completely unaware of lower priced cross-region gift trading. The rest of the world's traders vs Russian traders - we all know who's gonna win!
No, this is definitely good. It will restore balance to the chaos that has plagued the life of traders from non-third world countries since forever. There is absolutely zero reason why i need to constantly lower my self-esteem and make greedy Russian traders happy in order to acquire new games. The only difference between us and them is their region - it's not like the Russian traders are walking through snowstorms to get those games while we sit around with a handful of keys and masturbate. I'm not talking about the cheap games aspect (obviously trading from Russians will save you some dollars) but from a trader's point of view, it's really the best news for equality in trading!
So you're also trying to profit off of other people, but the Russian prices are stopping you from doing so? Nobody has the right to complain about somebody offering a lower price than they are. If they can't cope with being outdone, the world of business isn't a place for them.
I think I speak for hundreds if not thousands of traders when I say this is possibly the worst thing to happen to trading.
I disagree. Russian prices are perfect for their own region and the same goes for all regions. So, all traders can profit within their own region. There are zero issues with doing that and even Valve allows it, otherwise gifting altogether would be completely disabled. Unless you have some great Russian pals who give you amazing deals with very little profit (which most of us don't) then the rest of us simply cannot beat their prices, so either way, we're doomed to pick up the leftovers after the Russians are done clearing up the trading forums with their superior (cheaper) offers. As an active trader for more than a year, i spend most of my time on Steam and i have put an incredible amount of work into making my trading thread and updating with new games on sale, etc but still, i keep getting undercut by some random Russian amateurs who just show up, click to buy some gifts from their store and then sell it within minutes, while i spend hours everyday to refine my trading thread just to get a few trades every now and then. But now justice has been served by Valve, so i'm happy.
This is very sad justice. I know several Russians who use Steam as a business to make a living and help pay rent/mortgage.
If you don't like being "undercut", then either undercut them, or go elsewhere with your business. Nobody said you HAVE to trade on SteamTrades. It's purely your preference, but instead of putting your energy into searching for another place that will be more profitable of your time, you appear to find gloating very productive.
My Russian traders profit off of me, I am well aware of it. They usually make $0.30-1.00 per game depending on the size of my order. However, I profit a much larger amount than they do when I sell my games. You seem to fail to see the purpose of trading.
Trading was never meant to be done through our own regions, or else I'd just go buy my own games! Why in a hundred years would I need to go buy what you need to trade with what I want when I can just go buy what I want on the Steam store for the same price as you get it for?
Quote: My Russian traders profit off of me, I am well aware of it. They usually make $0.30-1.00 per game depending on the size of my order. However, I profit a much larger amount than they do when I sell my games.
Then, you're extremely lucky! The Russian traders that i've dealt with are all too greedy, leaving me a very small margin of profit that cannot stand against their own resale prices and the difference in prices compared to my own US store just leaves me with a bad taste and a feeling of helplessness.
Quote: Trading was never meant to be done through our own regions, or else I'd just go buy my own games! Why in a hundred years would I need to go buy what you need to trade with what I want when I can just go buy what I want on the Steam store for the same price as you get it for?
Trading does work even when buying and selling within the same region. You seem to forget that all games are not always on sale and for most games, they don't go on sale again until many months, so if anyone wants a game but it's not currently on sale, what would they do if they have a little common sense? Buy from a trader at a lower price or buy it at its full retail price from the store? :)
Yes, it can be considered as sad justice. But in my case, i've always had the misfortune to deal with greedy and arrogant Russian traders who are always pushing me to overpay each time with no possibility of reasonable discounts whatsoever. Yes, i am well aware of the prices in the Russian store and i know my way around a currency converter, which makes me feel even worse when i'm being "scammed". It's not really scamming but in a sense, it is, since i am not paying triple the price of the game in the Russian store only to see the same traders offer the same games at lower price in their trading threads. As for trading forums, you're joking, right? Every moderately sensible trader knows that steamtrades is a major center for trading. Anyway, i rest my case. Good luck, everyone!
Considering the new rules, what is the point of buying games to trade with? You're also forgetting there are other new rules in place. Keys can no longer be purchased off the market and traded or re-marketed immediately (7 day wait) and of course gifts still have a 30 day trade ban in place. I trade for one reason only, to save money. I don't build up a stock of games to trade because I find it mostly a waste of time. I buy/trade for games for myself to play not to use like baseball cards. Many more people have the same approach I do, than your approach.
All this region locking nonsense does is completely kill the Steam gift trading market and kills ALL competition. Its going to stagnate the ENTIRE game trading community. You represent such a small % of traders that your stance is minority and also completely ridiculous. The Russians and other regions who got games cheaper created competition and helped the market have fluidity.
The only game trading that will be worthwhile from here on out will be bundle game trades.
Quote: The Russians and other regions who got games cheaper created competition and helped the market have fluidity.
What are you talking about? There can be no direct competition whatsoever if you cannot win in the first place. It's not like Steam will suddenly lower the prices in other regions to "compete" with Russian prices. The only real competition is between Russian traders. All other traders are just here as bidders. That's the hard truth.
As for your different approach, indeed it works great if you buy only for your own account, but taking a look at the thousands of threads in this site tells another story. An overwhelming number of traders here don't buy for their own use only - having multiples copies of the same game is EXACTLY like collecting baseball cards or whatever you're alluding to, except with the firm intention of making profit by reselling, which brings this whole argument back to the starting point when i stated that Russian traders make the bulk of the trading and they manage the trading community with the upper-hand on prices. If you're lucky enough to have a reasonable Russian trader (like finding a virgin in a whorehouse, to put it mildly), then good for you! Otherwise, i think you will find it really hard to disagree with my opinion.
As for bundle prices, i agree. At least, on that front, we have common ground irrespective of region. :)
Sad to hear this. I'd like to thank the many excellent international traders that I've dealt with who have provided a valuable service quickly, friendly and efficiently.
steamtrades are die, for some region :(, i'm indonesian and very sad to hear this news
I guess the steam underestimate the sales of cross region games, im sure they will feel it now, im sure the profit they made of sales will go down at least 20-30% that is huge...
Most of people got the games cause they were cheap, now most of the people will be really selective of what they get...
Oh well everything comes to an end, really sad day!
Man, I just got into trading for cheap games a few months ago! Well, good luck everyone.
Wow Valve, not cool. Bump. Also thanks to all cross regional traders i've met and traded with. You've all been amazing :)
so because you can not get cheap games anymore,and your butt hurt
your answer is to steal the game,how do you act IRL when you do not get your way
its easy for you to talk since you're american and any games transaction from steam store would profit your country economy, in any other country live not as easy as living in america.. games worth a fortune.. if you face this economic situation i bet you would do the same, it's either you torrent it, or you don't play it.
They tried to stop or reduce cross-region trade locking gift for 30 days after purchase.. and they just failed..
And now hmm.. who has not seen that this will come... They want more money..
when will be the fullmoon? who wants to join and curse valve ^_^
Nice christmas gift
I am honestly surprised they had not done this sooner. It really was a blast trading all those games with you guys. I'll still be into trading, as I was before I went international, but definitely gonna be rare with a limited selection... :*
As a person who hasn't done trading in a good while, I am deeply saddened by this. Good luck to everyone, especially to the traders most affected by this :(
This is sad, the end of steamtrades/steamgifts
I have like 13 keys, should i sell them and buy the gifts from my store? (in my store the games are almost cheaper than RU Store)
So I wonder how G2a and Kinguin are going to take this news. They're easily going to lose a huge chunk of revenue.
I'm really sad right now but i have to thank SteamTrades for all the good friends that i did here. You guys rock. :)
Note: Starting in the next few days, items purchased for Team Fortress 2 either in-game or on the Steam Community Market will not be tradable or marketable for one week after purchase. We are making this change to combat fraud and scams, and to help maintain a safe and healthy item economy within Team Fortress 2.
does this really matter from now on? what will you do with tradable keys if you can't trade them for games from cheap regions?
yeah I KNOW
just first this and now gift locking WTF they thinking
It's probably many people purchased keys for trades because of this
And now we can t trade for games from cheap regions
And still €=$ even though customers have complained about that from almost after Steam arrived. Nice one Steam. Like real Fuck You.
Well, not much Steam gaming anymore.
You've still got it better than Australia. We have to put credit to our Steam account in USD, which is about 1 AUD = .80 USD, and then we pay more than any other region dollar for dollar on top of that. COD AW? $90 here, $60 in the USA, ~$20 in RU.
So Valve have finally done it and ruined what a lot of us trade for.
Regardless of publisher settings:
And likely other regions are affected. Basically, ANY gift purchased from these countries from now cannot be cross region traded. This essentially kills off the ability to get games from other regions cheaper.
NOTE: It does NOT affect previously purchased gifts.
NOTE: Here's what it looks like upon checkout.
From a dev forum:
"As most of you know, our developer tools suggest pricing based on market research and purchasing power parity. In the case of territories such as Russia, Brazil, and SE Asia, we suggested pricing that is lower than the direct USD conversion. This is based on our assessment of actual pricing of comparable products in that market. Recently Rubles have hit an all-time low which has been a concern of many game developers. We are still assessing the market to see if suggesting new prices in Russia is right for customers who live in that market. We do not think that pricing based on currency conversion only is the right way to approach the Russian market necessarily.
What we are doing immediately in response to the Ruble drop is limiting trading and gifting from Russia to prevent people from taking advantage of the situation. We have been applying a gifting and trading lock of this type on all newly created packages on Steam since mid-2014. Today we have propped a change that will affect all packages on Steam which will not allow them to be unpacked to an account, if gifted or traded from a lower priced region to a higher priced region. This change is not retroactive and only affects new purchases. It also will not affect customers in that region from gifting a copy to other people in that same region. All customers will have proper warning when they are purchasing a gift prior to checkout in those regions as well. We will continue to assess the situation and make changes if necessary in the future. If you have any questions please feel free to write us via the contact form via the Steamworks Development site - Documentation & Help -> Contact Steam Publishing."