TF2 trading Report/Warning

[Rajsh]

Hey everyone,

Recently. a warning/report message has begun popping up for others when they trade with me. The message reads ''Other members of the Steam Community have reported Rashneish for attempting trade scams. Proceed with caution, and remember you will only receive the items shown in the trade window. Steam Wallet funds and CD Keys cannot be traded.'

This likely exists due to a disagreement with another trader, during which he/she changed their mind about a trade after it had taken place, and demanded a refund, threatening a ban if I didn't comply. As is evident, I didn't comply, and here we are.To be more specific, the other party made me an offer that later turned out to be 1 refined metal more than they might have preferred. This occurred through no fraudulent action my part, beyond my failure to mention the fact that according to the pbackpack.tf price-guide, he was overpaying.

With this in mind, I request that someone more knowledgeable than me on this subject kindly clarify the seriousness of what I've done, in the eyes of steam rules/regulations rather than their own views, as well as how I could go about confirming the cause of this message. I would also like to know whether there is anything I can do to contest it in the event that its unjustified.

For those that are interested, this is a c&p from my trade history of the specific trade in question:

''25 Oct

You traded with Fluttershy. 11:40am

+Bonk Boy, Strange Battalion's Backup, Strange Rocket Launcher

–The Frying Pan, Strange Stickybomb Launcher, Refined Metal, Refined Metal''

I would also like to point out that I in no way sought out Fluttershy with the intention of ripping off/scamming him. He is not a new player with a few valuable items, but one with hundreds of steam friends and a backpack worth over 50 refined metal.

Fluttershy's Backpack.tf profile - http://backpack.tf/profiles/76561197977657135

Fluttershy's Steam profile - http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197977657135

If any of the above is nonsensical/irrelevant, its probably because I am relatively new to the TF2 trading scene and have even less experience where incidents such as this are concerned. I will do my best to reply to anything anyone posts in this thread, but I thank anyone who offers their advice none the less.

[Ineffable Anathema]

Originally posted by Rashneish:

Hey everyone,

I recently achieved a Trade warning/report message when someone attempts to trade with me. It gives the generic 'this user has been reported by some members of the community as untrustworthy' message.

Where does this message come from exactly? Is it something within the game itself, or something that looks like it is from Steam? I've never heard of such a thing.

[Rajsh]

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

Where does this message come from exactly? Is it something within the game itself, or something that looks like it is from Steam? I've never heard of such a thing.

This message appears when someone, via TF2 or not, attempts to trade me. As far as I'm aware, its a grey/black steam notification box thingy with the info I mentioned above, though this is only based on what I've seen pop up when trading others, and the only experience I've had of my own message is what I have heard from others after a trade.

I'll ask a friend to trade me shortly, and send a screenshot of the message that appears. It should be edited into the post within the next hour or so if possible.

UPDATE: Was unable to procure a screenshot, but I have updated the text to the exact message seen on the message bar/box that pops up, and my description of it seems to be pretty accurate. Please let me know if you need more info on anything at all.

[Ineffable Anathema]

Originally posted by Rashneish:

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

Where does this message come from exactly? Is it something within the game itself, or something that looks like it is from Steam? I've never heard of such a thing.

This message appears when someone, via TF2 or not, attempts to trade me. As far as I'm aware, its a grey/black steam notification box thingy with the info I mentioned above, though this is only based on what I've seen pop up when trading others, and the only experience I've had of my own message is what I have heard from others after a trade.

I'll ask a friend to trade me shortly, and send a screenshot of the message that appears. It should be edited into the post within the next hour or so if possible.

UPDATE: Was unable to procure a screenshot, but I have updated the text to the exact message seen on the message bar/box that pops up, and my description of it seems to be pretty accurate. Please let me know if you need more info on anything at all.

Wow, I had no idea Steam had anything like that, I'm not much of a trade fan so I've really only traded with my sweetie to give him a few cards. What I'm wondering is if it is really what it says, which is that its presence is determined by Steam Community user reports alone, or if they are actually investigated in some way to determine authenticity.

[Rajsh]

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

Wow, I had no idea Steam had anything like that, I'm not much of a trade fan so I've really only traded with my sweetie to give him a few cards. What I'm wondering is if it is really what it says, which is that its presence is determined by Steam Community user reports alone, or if they are actually investigated in some way to determine authenticity.

I would guess not. The message started appearing the day after the incident I described above, which doesn't seem like enough time to undergo and investigation. The process is automated, most likely.

[Marble]

It's something new that's come along. Basically if people get reported for scamming multiple times, anyone who trades with them now will get a warning informing them as such.

I've been seeing it with card trading bots so it does appear to be based purely on user reports. It also happens if you add items to the trade and click accept when the other person hasn't added anything. It doesn't stop you from trading or indicate that you're in any particular trouble, as far as I can tell.

[Silv3r9]

Originally posted by Canti:

It also happens if you add items to the trade and click accept when the other person hasn't added anything. It doesn't stop you from trading or indicate that you're in any particular trouble, as far as I can tell.

Interesting.

In this scenario [if actually confirmed and how I'm understanding it] users who get coupons, backgrounds and other giveaways will end up with an automatic "attempting trade scams" warning message. [?!]

That's troublesome to say the least. It might not stop you from trading but gives you some bad trading rep instead. Yay. >_>

[Marble]

If they were going to give them away for free anyway, then why would they report?

The purpose of this is to stop people from trading things with someone who has promised to give something else outside of Steam (like game product keys, Paypal payment etc.) by warning them that they won't get anything in return.

Specifically, it says something along the lines of "Is this trade a gift? Your partner has not added anything to the trade, so you will get nothing in return for this transaction". It's fleshed out a little more than that but you get the idea. The message itself is different from those who have had scamming reports made against them.

[Silv3r9]

Ah, gotcha!
For a moment I was under the impression it was some new "one size fits all" warning message. Thanks for the clarification Canti.

[Ineffable Anathema]

If they're allowing it to be used in that manner, it is far too easily abused as "anyone" can then file a report on "anyone else" for "any reason" (i.e. don't like their avatar, they scored higher than you in a game, etc.) So I would assume there is *some* sort of oversight or investigation into each report.

Or rather, I would hope so. Otherwise this is nothing more than "naming and shaming" legalized.

[Rajsh]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Keep us posted what support says. Contact them.

This didn't occur to me at all. I have no idea why.

Will update the main post if/when I hear back from them.

[Marble]

From what I understand, they investigate accounts that have higher-than-usual individual reports filed against them. I wouldn't imagine they would bother if it was just 1 or 2. Whether it automatically flags accounts as scammers after it reaches a certain threshold, or whether someone manually does it after checking the evidence, I have no idea.

[Ineffable Anathema]

Originally posted by Canti:

From what I understand, they investigate accounts that have higher-than-usual individual reports filed against them. I wouldn't imagine they would bother if it was just 1 or 2. Whether it automatically flags accounts as scammers after it reaches a certain threshold, or whether someone manually does it after checking the evidence, I have no idea.

That's exactly what I'm wondering, because if getting one single report filed against you by any user, without investigation is what causes the flag and thus the message to automatically pop up to all of your trade partners, then this is essentially a broken system that is easily abused, a "name and shame" function. I have no idea how to find out how it actually works other than sending a support ticket in however, which I'm not keen on doing as they already have plenty of actual issues to deal with without my useless question.

[Rajsh]

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

I have no idea how to find out how it actually works other than sending a support ticket in however, which I'm not keen on doing as they already have plenty of actual issues to deal with without my useless question.

I'm strongly considering a support ticket, after having several trades cancelled due to this infernal message alone. No one seems to know exactly how the system operates, and I think its about time we found out.

[Ineffable Anathema]

Originally posted by Rashneish:

Originally posted by I AM SHODAN!:

I have no idea how to find out how it actually works other than sending a support ticket in however, which I'm not keen on doing as they already have plenty of actual issues to deal with without my useless question.

I'm strongly considering a support ticket, after having several trades cancelled due to this infernal message alone. No one seems to know exactly how the system operates, and I think its about time we found out.

You'd think they would want some transparency in that respect.

I hate to go that route, myself, as I know they're usually overswamped with tickets about very real (as well as not-so-real) issues. More power to you though if you do it. Let us know what the deal is if they should let you know.