Guide to Safe Paypal Trading

[Hip J]

I cannot 100% guarantee that following this guide will prevent you from being scammed. When it comes to trading outside of Steam's trade window, there are always risks. This guide is intended to let you know about these risks and how to stay safe as well as where to buy and sell items for Paypal

►How to trade for Paypal and reduce the risk of being scammed
►Buy and Sell TF2 items for Paypal

[Hip J]

Paypal Trading

Paypal trading occurs outside of Steam's trade windows. There is absolutely no way to guarantee that all parties will own up to their side of the deal, but there are many steps to build your confidence and awareness and reduce your risks. There is also absolutely no way to simply "transfer money" to another user through Steam. Any trades that claim to do this are scams. The most common way for people to engage in cash trading outside of Steam is through Paypal. In order to send and receive Paypal money, you need to set up an account and it is recommended that you have a verified account by linking more personal information to make trading a bit easier on both parties.

►Set up a Paypal account[www.paypal.com]

The Risk

Paypal does very little to protect digital item transactions. This means that once someone has sent you money through Paypal for your virtual items, they have several months in which they can completely reverse their payment. Asking a user to send Paypal payments as a "Gift" can make reversing their payment more difficult, but not impossible. There are many steps one must take in order to ensure they do not become a victim of a Paypal Chargeback scam.

Who to Trust?

The absolute most crucial part of any sort of trade outside of Steam's trade window is understanding and predicting the person you're dealing with. Do they have a history of successful trades? Do they have something to lose? What's their motivation? It might seem like an impossible task to gather this info about a user by simply having a quick chat on Steam, but finding this information is actually rather simple.

Are They Using an Alt?

Alt accounts are fake accounts created with the goal of scamming a user. They may beef up certain aspects of their profile to make them seem trustworthy, but by looking for a few things, you can quickly figure out if they are or are not a blatant scammer alt.
First, check their Steam Profile.

• Do they have a few hundred hours minimum in TF2 and other games? Do they have a nice profile with a lot of money invested into it? A good sign of this is a nice stockpile of games and a large inventory. People who have invested a lot in the game will have more to lose, but that doesn't mean they aren't foolish and greedy enough not to scam.
  
• Do they have a large friends list and a history of trading through profile comments? Remember, Steam profile comments do not mean anything really. They can be removed and deleted by the owner and faked with alt accounts, however, seeing this can signify that the user is at least active on Steam and not a blatant alt.
  
• NICKNAME EVERYONE. Someone adds you to talk about a Paypal trade? Nickname them. Your just joined a competitive Highlander team? Nickname your teammates. Your mom added you on Steam? Give her a Nickname. The more you label people with nicknames, not only the more easily you can quickly find them on your Friend's list, but also the more you can guard yourself against "hidden alt" impersonator scams in which a scammer has previously added you with an alt that they then redesign to look like someone you trust. This scam is more commonly used in conjuction with the "trusted friend scam."

Are they flagged as a Scammer?

Backpack.tf is a great resource for finding more info about other traders. At the very top of a person's backpack.tf profile there are tons of options to quickly find out a lot about another trader, including their VAC and Steam bans, their backpack history, and more.

• Make sure you have "Display Steam URL address bar when available" enabled in your Steam Settings, under the Interface tab.
  
• Copy their Steam Profile URL Example: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Hip_J and paste it to the Search bar on Backpack tf[backpack.tf]
  
• Check their Backpack.tf inventory history graph. How old is their profile? Do they have a history of owning valuable items, or are they new to trading? If so, be very cautious.
  
• Do they have any Backpack.tf Trust Rep? This isn't necessary, but is another way to find feedback.
  
• Make sure they aren't banned or flagged for scamming on any of the following sites: TF2outpost, Backpack.tf itself, and finally SteamRep.
  
• Copy their entire steamID64 SteamRep URL and paste it to the SteamRep Forums Search Bar Here[forums.steamrep.com]

This will show you if there are any previously denied, pending, or open cases about the user by searching across all of their forums. Some users may have had been reported, but not enough evidence was there to flag them as scammers.

Once you've double checked them as not being flagged as a scammer anywhere, you should try to determine whether they're reliable and if they have a history of Paypal trading.

Their Reputation

Again, +Rep on a person's profile is not enough. There are many reputation sites that are actively moderated that can be a good sign that person can be trusted with a Paypal trade. Anyone who is an active Paypal buyer and seller should be able to provide a Reputation thread, or "Rep Thread". Rep threads should be at least a few months old with several comments of successful Paypal related trades with active users. You should also always check the profile on their Rep page to make sure it links back to them and that they are not impersonators. Read over the link CAREFULLY. Make sure there isn't anything strange about the link such as extra characters or that it's unnecessarily shortened.

Here are a few Rep threads people may have. I cannot vouch for any of the other websites personally.:

• Backpack.tf profile Trust
  
• Reddit's Steam Game Swap
  
• Source OP Rep[forums.sourceop.com]
  
• TF2-Trader Rep[tf2-trader.com]
  
• Bazaar tf Rep[bazaar.tf]
  
• Steam Gifts (usually for game related trades)[www.steamgifts.com]

There are users who are new to Paypal trading, or simply do not do it very often and may not have a Rep thread. You will have to use your best judgement when trading Paypal with them.

Using a Middleman

Although impersonation is very important when it comes to verifying a person's Rep, it's equally, if not more, important that you double check everything about a Middleman. Middlemen can be found on SteamRep[steamrep.com] and a few other communities that feature a lot of trading. Make sure you hold Middlemen to the same standard as you previous have the person you are trading by checking their profile on backpack.tf. Middlemen may not be necessary if you trust the trader enough, but if a user refuses to use a middleman, they are likely not trustworthy. Also, make sure you give the Middleman a nickname in Steam as well to prevent any "hidden alt profile impersonator" scams as mentioned previously.

Sending and Receiving the Payment

After a trade has been negotiated, a user is found to be trustworthy, a middleman set up and everything else ready for your Paypal trade, you can start the Paypal transaction. When receiving Paypal, always make sure to ask them to "send it as a gift" as this can make revoking their payment a little more difficult. I also recommend that you require the person sending you a Paypal payment to copy and paste a few things in their Paypal note before they send their payment. First, go back to their SteamRep profile link and copy and paste their steamID64 and ask that they attach a note with the Trade information and their ID attached.

Here's an Example:

Please send me x amount of money for 10 TF2 keys. Send the payment as a gift. If I do not receive it as a gift, I will reverse the payment and we will not trade. Paste ALL of this in your Paypal note "Buying 10 TF2 keys from this user on Steam. I will not chargeback steamID64: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198034312547"

Verify that they've pasted this correctly in their note once you've received the payment. Although this won't prevent anything if their intention is to revoke their payment, it will help you quickly track them down again if there is any issue. Now, make sure they sent you a gift payment. You can verify this by checking to make sure there's no "Print Shipping Label" option to the right of your received payment. This indicates that there is a physical tracking order, meaning it wasn't correctly sent as a gift.

Record and Archive Everything

Once the trade is complete, I recommend that everyone open both the trader's Profile and your entire Steam Chat and screenshot it. You can do this on most computers by pressing the "Print Screen" button or on Mac hit Command-Shift-4 and drag and drop your cursor over the area you wish to screenshot. I personally upload these saved images to imgur.com and keep them archived in a private folder. If there is ever any issue at all, this will be indispensable evidence of your transaction agreement. Steam does not save your conversation logs. If you do not do this, you may be scammed and unable to create a report with enough evidence to flag the perpetrator.

Thanks,
- Hip J

[Hip J]

Where to buy and sell items for Paypal

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197993234607/inventory/#440_2_3514820643

Refined Metal
Current USD Price: $0.09 - $0.13[backpack.tf]

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Metal for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]
Marketplace tf[marketplace.tf]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198034312547/inventory/#440_2_3544492978

Keys
Bp.tf value: 17 -17.33 ref[backpack.tf]
Current USD Price: $1.70 - $1.80

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Keys for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]
Marketplace tf[marketplace.tf]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198034312547/inventory/#440_2_3539891124

Earbuds
Bp.tf value: 10 keys[backpack.tf]
Current USD Price: $18.00 - $22.00

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Buds for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]
Marketplace tf[marketplace.tf]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198034312547/inventory/#440_2_2198278306

Tour of Duty Ticket
Bp.tf value: 7.22-7.33 refined[backpack.tf]
Current USD Price: ~$0.80

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Tickets for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197993234607/inventory/#440_2_1529355863

Bill's Hat
Bp.tf value: 3 keys[backpack.tf]
Current USD Price: $5.00 - $6.00

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Bill's Hats for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197993234607/inventory/#440_2_909767482

Max's Severed Head
Bp.tf value: 37 keys[backpack.tf]
Current USD Price: $63.00 - $75.00

Search for Traders Buying and Selling Max's Heads for Cash
TF2 Outpost Sellers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2 Outpost Buyers[www.tf2outpost.com]
TF2-Trader[tf2-trader.com]
Backpack tf[forums.backpack.tf]