What is the best method to buy weapons and hats?

[sigma]

I am new to TF2 and I want to buy some weapons and hats. However, I don't know where to buy. I wanted to buy the starter packs from the Mann Co. store but I heard that it isn't worth it. I read from somewhere that it's better to buy keys and go to a trading site and trade. But recently I came across this marketplace site where it said that I can buy the items I want straight away with cash with no trade holds(not so sure what that means,is it that I need to queue and wait when trading?). So now I am in a state of dilemma and don't know how I should buy items,I tried googling but I couldn't find an answer. Any suggestions or tips? Thanks.

[Angelo]

buy keys and trade. use backpack.tf
or
buy from marketplace.tf

both are good

[trash]

it depends if you have mobile 2-factor authentication or not
you need auth to trade

first of all, if you're still f2p, you should buy 1 mann co supply crate key from the ingame store to get premium status which upgrades backpack space and allows you to trade your items
if you do, you can then trade that key for metal which can then be traded for items

if you don't plan on going the trade-a-key route, or if you can't trade, instead you could opt to test run a rocket jumper for the discount and then buy it for like 50 cents, and that would also get you premium

if you have cash to spend, you can use marketplace.tf to buy items with cash
the way it works is that their bots will process your purchase and send you a trade offer for the items you buy using your steam trade url that you provide for them
i don't think this requires trading privileges since you aren't putting up any items of your own, but i could be wrong

the next option is to check out the steam community market which uses steam funds

these are the big sites that everyone uses:

https://backpack.tf/
general trading site

https://scrap.tf/
automated site that uses bots to make trades
easiest place to buy/sell items

https://marketplace.tf/
for cash trades

there's dozens others, but you really only need these 3, and they're all reputable
other sites out there are either pretty crap or sketchy and should probably be avoided

[Mun-Dee]

Buy weapons and cheap hats and painted hats that costs the same price as an unpainted one from scrap.tf

Buy hats/taunts/stranges/festives etc from backpack.tf

[GhostyOsty]

Backpack.tf or the steam market.

[Pyroboi]

Why does everyone say backpack.tf? I can't set it up or don't know how it works so I am using scrap.tf

[trash]

Originally posted by PieroFlare:

Why does everyone say backpack.tf? I can't set it up or don't know how it works so I am using scrap.tf

what's hard about it?
you just check the classifieds section and search for whatever
example
https://backpack.tf/classifieds?item=Deadliest%20Duckling
then you can send people trade offers or get their steam profile if needed

[GhostyOsty]

Originally posted by PieroFlare:

Why does everyone say backpack.tf? I can't set it up or don't know how it works so I am using scrap.tf

It's pretty much the same thing as scrap.tf. But it has how much your inventory is worth, and you have to manually buy items.

[Pyroboi]

Now I've seen everything
Danka (thanks)