Backpack.tf is a SCAM.

[iLuvKoЯn]

is it corrupt?

Yes..

I remember one time an admin said "NO" to a "lower a key's price" when the voting has a higher percentage approving of the lowering of the price, I'm sure you can find that story on the interwebs.

I have a few notations on how they can be corrupt, too.
The admins that made money off of keys can make an alt that can sit there for 3 months, trade the keys to that alt then ask to increase the price of keys where the admin on his main account could approve of the submission he made himself on his alternative, and maybe make alternative accounts to vote for the increase of key price as well.

That being said, bp.tf is the number one reason why the key price inflated, and why it's a problem.

First off, try to sell a big kill back then and then try selling one from now.
Back then when keys were 2.33 refined, you could sell a big kill for 15 keys.
Keys on mann. co store cost $2.49.
That being multiplied by fifteen equals $37.35
In equation, that is $2.49 X 15 = $37.35

Now, since the big kill is twelve keys, and Mann. co keys can be sold on market but the prices there always change, lets stick with $2.49.
$2.49 times 12 equals $29.88, meaning you actually can profit a lot less from the item from then and now because of the price drop.

So, that was before backpack.tf existed.
You can say that you would be scammed by the site, yes you can.
Since the web site itself is heavily advertised in VARIOUS servers, people that do go to the website (backpack.tf) will also see an advertisement to the right of the screen.
Therefore BP.tf makes money off of those advertisements.
People often like to have a reference sheet, and they'd supply BP.tf with ad money.

Now, there is another website called "Scrap.TF", made by the same people.
Even though BP.TF lists the price of keys to be 7.11 to 7.22, they are buying keys for 7.33, where they added just one-two scrap metal.
Then you can see that they are selling keys for 7.55, just added three to four scraps.
That doesn't seen fair at all, considering that these are the same guys who owns BP.tf.
So they are profiting off of advertisements, profiting off of your own metal, and your own keys
which appears to be highly corrupt and unfair at all.

You don't get to make profit at all at this time, you just won't be able to.
Remember the one "TF2Spreadsheet" site back then?
They used to price keys at 2.33 refined because in their philosophy, "rarity increases price".
It made a lot of sense for keys to be sold at that price because of how ridiculously common keys are and still are being bought from the Mann. co store.
Keys have usually been the top-seller of the Mann. co store.

In the meantime, everything else including unusuals are decreasing in price because of bp.tf, making the sellers make a lot less profit, as a notable example is for those merchants trying to trade their big kills for 15 keys to get $40, will only actually get $20.

TF2Spreadsheet kept keys at 2.33 because keys are still the most purchased item.
Mann. Co sells an infinite supply of keys, no way you can run out of keys over the limited big kills that are being sold at a significantly lower price than usual.

[Arokhantos]

backpack.tf is based on market price, you bassicly need proof that it sells for suggested range or it won't be aproved.

To lower key price you need many unsolds at current range or lower.

[Steakswirl]

One of the main reasons I decided to stop playing TF2 at the dawn of 2014 was because the prices were inflating so much on only keys. I think that these sights are somewhat of a problem, along with the outpost, but the main problem that started the inflation was the creation of the steam market.

[dakota]

Not saying you're wrong, but these wheels have been in motion for a while now. The only thing to do is deal with it until the economy "crashes", then build it back up.

[Very_Truck_Man]

I have a feeling that TF2 is slowly dying. I mean, keys are up super high, and we haven't had any new content (other then hats) in months.

[PlushieKnight]

Backpack has been inflating Keys like mad, and Spreadsheet may have been somewhat better, but it wasn't run by angels.

[iLuvKoЯn]

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

I have a feeling that TF2 is slowly dying. I mean, keys are up super high, and we haven't had any new content (other then hats) in months.

Exactly.
Lack of new content outside of mann vs machine and a crap ton of reskins and re-washed ideas can slowly kill TF2 much like the rabid increase of keys can cater traders away.

[Very_Truck_Man]

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

I have a feeling that TF2 is slowly dying. I mean, keys are up super high, and we haven't had any new content (other then hats) in months.

Exactly.
Lack of new content outside of mann vs machine and a crap ton of reskins and re-washed ideas can slowly kill TF2 much like the rabid increase of keys can cater traders away.

Even MVM hasn't had an update since November. And I don't even remember what was the last non MVM update. I don't think we even had any in 2013 (that weren't hat centered, like Robotic Boogaloo)

[iLuvKoЯn]

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Exactly.
Lack of new content outside of mann vs machine and a crap ton of reskins and re-washed ideas can slowly kill TF2 much like the rabid increase of keys can cater traders away.

Even MVM hasn't had an update since November. And I don't even remember what was the last non MVM update. I don't think we even had any in 2013 (that weren't hat centered, like Robotic Boogaloo)

Yes.
Only one update for MvM in 2013 is that.

Then you have the halloween update that only focused on one map with real yet really, unbalanced spell spam slamming content.

Then birthed more hats, to fall down in price thanks to bp.tf.

[gsc159753]

well, it's a cycle of panic buying and raising, quite similar to the .22 ammo shortage last year. people were panic buying them like mad and selling them at gunshows for thrice the price. Keys had a "shortage" during halloween 2012, and people have been panic buying them and reselling ever since. While it could be stopped by bp.tf I dont nesseraly think it's 100% their fault.(though I 100% agree that it is the sites fault for keys increasing so fast. (ex. when keys were rising in price once a day, before the limit of votes))

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

I have a feeling that TF2 is slowly dying. I mean, keys are up super high, and we haven't had any new content (other then hats) in months.

Exactly.
Lack of new content outside of mann vs machine and a crap ton of reskins and re-washed ideas can slowly kill TF2 much like the rabid increase of keys can cater traders away.

quite sad really, valves too busy working on any game other than tf2 and half life 3

[iLuvKoЯn]

Originally posted by gsc159753:

well, it's a cycle of panic buying and raising, quite similar to the .22 ammo shortage last year. people were panic buying them like mad and selling them at gunshows for thrice the price. Keys had a "shortage" during halloween 2012, and people have been panic buying them and reselling ever since. While it could be stopped by bp.tf I dont nesseraly think it's 100% their fault.(though I 100% agree that it is the sites fault for keys increasing so fast. (ex. when keys were rising in price once a day, before the limit of votes))

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Exactly.
Lack of new content outside of mann vs machine and a crap ton of reskins and re-washed ideas can slowly kill TF2 much like the rabid increase of keys can cater traders away.

quite sad really, valves too busy working on any game other than tf2 and half life 3

Paragraph one
I didn't know keys had a shortage, did people start deleting the keys or were most of those keys duped? i gotta go look that story up.

Paragraph two
It's so sad but it's so true.

[Very_Truck_Man]

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

Even MVM hasn't had an update since November. And I don't even remember what was the last non MVM update. I don't think we even had any in 2013 (that weren't hat centered, like Robotic Boogaloo)

Yes.
Only one update for MvM in 2013 is that.

Then you have the halloween update that only focused on one map with real yet really, unbalanced spell spam slamming content.

Then birthed more hats, to fall down in price thanks to bp.tf.

Forgot about Halloween. But it doesn't really matter that much. It's for a couple weeks of silly fun. This year was the most underated Halloween, but I liked it. And it doesn't have to be balenced, it's only for two weeks!

[luna!]

backpack.tf is a guide, not the trading bible. By that logic, I can trade my Genuine Grandmaster for a Golden Frying Pan and it would be okay. You can name your price, just make it reasonable or close to the bp.tf price.

[iLuvKoЯn]

Originally posted by Vladimir Pootis:

Originally posted by Shadowcon66:

Yes.
Only one update for MvM in 2013 is that.

Then you have the halloween update that only focused on one map with real yet really, unbalanced spell spam slamming content.

Then birthed more hats, to fall down in price thanks to bp.tf.

Forgot about Halloween. But it doesn't really matter that much. It's for a couple weeks of silly fun. This year was the most underated Halloween, but I liked it. And it doesn't have to be balenced, it's only for two weeks!

Originally posted by PyrusEnderDrago:

backpack.tf is a guide, not the trading bible. By that logic, I can trade my Genuine Grandmaster for a Golden Frying Pan and it would be okay. You can name your price, just make it reasonable or close to the bp.tf price. :sentry:

Your post is wrong.
I'll thank AcesGamer for saving me time, I'll copy/paste what he said on steamrep.

http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/backpack-tf-price-maipulation.30216/page-3


"Except this is wrong. The way the website is set up, the way prices are dictated, and the way the community (and especially admins) participate in suggestions makes it very much like a bible, and not merely a reference. A good example is key prices: Whenever a new price is set, every single outpost trade jumps up to follow the "guideline". Anything set lower immediately gets flamed or shut down. You may think high and mighty of your website, but that's not how the community sees it.

In addition to this, you cannot advertise the website as "community driven prices", when it's quite the opposite; Absolutely incompetent admins dictate whether their opinion (which is much better and informed than the rest of the community, obviously) overrides proof given by actual traders. Coming to mind are key suggestions accepted where 20 or so handpicked trades where people are selling for 0.11 more, is considered enough proof to raise the price ceiling, when those trades are in reality an exception. (Mind you these suggestions also had somewhere near -800 votes) Now I know your answer to this will be: "Admins accept suggestions on proof provided, not on community votes", and that's fine, except 20, or even 30 or 40 trades out of mere thousands is NOT the majority of what the entire community is currently selling/buying for.

The exact same goes for unusuals: "proof provided" is mostly c/o's that may have been on impulse, or shady offers. In fact, to test this myself, a while ago I made a suggestion on the price of my Eerie Swagman's Swatter to raise it to around 5 buds, showing my outpost trade as proof. The only time I had been offered 5 buds was in cash by a shady individual that I rejected. Guess what? The suggestion was accepted.

I'd even go as far as to say that backpack.tf is the worst website in the TF2 community (trust me, that's a pretty hard award to get). The original intention behind it being a more fair and community driven "spreadsheet", but it just turned out to be quite the opposite -- Incompetent admins deemed as the most trustworthy pricecheckers, corruption by key traders (Just go and review old key suggestions to see for yourself), ridiculous advertisement and plugins being put everywhere, further enforcing this "Bible" concept, etc."

[grounded in reality]

I don't care.
I still use it.

[Fahrenheit]

idk about that, I have NEVER seen a good suggestion that wanted to bring the price down for keys that was not like "hey guys, i think keys should be 2 ref like they used to be" and have no proof on suggestion.

Would you care to send the link rather than complain?

And if it does exist and it does have proof, any one who ever suggested a price on backpack.tf can find 20x more proof saying otherwise.

Do they do things to increase their own value at times? Maybe. But I mean I could be worse[tf2spreadsheet.traderempire.com].