How To Start Unusual Trading

In this guide I will be going over the following things:
•How to get into unusual trading
•How to make profits from trades
•How to get trades fast
•The best websites to use
•How to avoid being scammed/losing profit

Introduction

So you wanna start unusual trading? Here is a few things you should know before you start:

•Unusual trading requires patience
If you do not have patience, unusual trading will get very boring for you.
•You must have time on your hands
It may take days to find the perfect trade, so if you are tight on time unusual trading will be hard for you.
•You must be kind
Trades become easier when you have a friendly personality.
•You must be reasonable
No body will trade with you if your prices are too high.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's begin!

Start Unusual Trading

In order to start unusual trading, you must have anywhere between six to eight keys.
This is the MINIMUM ammount you can have to get an unusual.
You must keep in mind that if you do buy one of these cheap unusuals, it is going to be very low tier.

Low Tier: Means that the unusual you have is very undesired. The effects and the hat most likely are ones that nobody really wants.

A list of low tier effects are:
•Nuts n' Bolts
•Dead Presidents
•Orbiting Planets
•Bubbling
•Steaming
•Smoking
•Massed Flies

You can pick yourself up a cheap unusual on backpack.tf classifieds
You can get here by doing the followings steps:
•Go to backpack.tf
•Hover your mouse over trading
•Go down to "Classified Listings"
•Press "..."
•Go down to quality
•Click "Unusual"
•Click "Confirm"




                   
Here you can look at the cheapest unusuals on backpack.tf. You should try and find one that isnt duped and just offer a trade to the owner with the keys or items you have. Since they are so cheap, most people are just trying to get rid of them. I am sure if you ask nicely you could get an even bigger discount.

Congratulations! You have completed the first step to the long process of unusual trading.

Making Profit

Now you have your unusual! You should've gotten a pretty good deal and made some profit from the item you bought.

The best way you can make profit from the unusual you have is just selling it again.

I suggest that you do not quick sell if for pure but instead go on a unusual trade server and try and offer on unusuals worth a few keys more than yours. Most people at this stage do not care if they only lose a key, so take advantage of that!

Tips:
•Have a good advertisment for your unusual
Ex. "Selling my (Unusual) for (Price)! It is a very cool looking unsual for a good discount. I'm taking both pure and item offers for it. Trade me!
•Never believe the price someone tells you
Some people will tell you false prices just to make a profit off of you. Always check prices before you make a trade.
•Be open minded
Most people at this low level of trading will usually offer you items for your unusual. Don't completely decline these trades. Check prices and think about it!
•Keep your head high
It may seem that when you first start out, no one wants to trade with you. Like I said earlier you have to have patience. Eventually trades will start coming in.

Continue this process of buying unusuals a key or so more than yours till you get an unusual worth fifteen to twenty keys.

Once you have reached this stage, you are now in the mid tier range!

A list of mid tier effects are:
•Miami Nights
•Memory Leak
•Stormy Storm
•Green Confetti
•Blizardy Storm
•Purple Confetti
•Circling TF Logo

At this stage, you should now quick sell your unusual for pure. Do not put a huge discount on your unusual, only about a one or two key discount.
You should now have anywhere from fifteen to twenty keys.

Use these keys and go over to scrap.tf and look at the unusuals they have. Most of their unusuals have a major discount and the discounts get higher when the unusuals are most expensive.

             
Take the unusual you have recieved from scrap.tf and continue this process over again. You should continue to make steady profit and eventually be a high tier unusual trader. This is a very long process but in the end it will be worth it.

Keep in mind you do not need to use scrap.tf in this process. You can buy an unusual with the keys you have from another player. I just like using scrap.tf because it is quick, and you can make a decent profit.

Get Trades Fast

Unusual trading is a very slow process, any one with experience can tell you the same thing.

Here is a few ways you can speed up the process of unusual trading:
•Use trading websites
The main trading websites you can use are http://backpack.tf http://scrap.tf and http://tf2outpost.com
•Constantly ask people to trade
You will never making anything without asking, ask people on your friends list if they would like to trade with you. They are your friend for a reason.
•Wear the unusual
When people see the unusual you are wearing, they might like the way it looks and would want to offer on it.
•Be willing to take item offers
Do not be in the mind set of only wanting pure, yes pure is nice but it is harder to get.
•Put a decent discount on your unusual
No one will ever buy your unusual at full price, just keep that in mind.

Avoid Scammers

Scammers are everywhere, it sucks. And if you have expensive items, most likely you will have a few encounters with them

If you ever encounter a scammer it is best just to report them and block them.

Here is how you can spot a scammer:
•Private backpacks
Most scammers have a private backpack to try and trick you by saying they have items they do not have.
•Low level profiles
Not all scammers have a low level profie, but it is a trend to see that most scammers are low level.
•Random adds
If you ever get randomly added with out having anything listed on a trading website, usually they saw your items and are trying to scam you.
•Random links
Never click random links from strangers.
•YouTubers and Valve Workers
Scammers are now trying to impersonate YouTubers and people who work at Valve, never give anyone your items for any reason. Even if it seems legit.
•Paypal
I would never sell anyone on steam your unusual for paypal money, alot could go wrong. If you are looking for money use the website http://marketplace.tf

    

Extra Notes

Thank you so much for reading, hopefully this helps some of you. This is my first guide so please tell me if there is anything I should improve on.

Please rate this guide what you think it deservers and leave a comment if you have any questions.

If you are looking to help me out, you should consider donating:
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[titan speakerman]

Nice guide! Btw, where can i find unusual effects tier list?

[Me and my Intrusive thoughts]

i dont think people trade to get rich, they either do it as a hobby, or the profit is just decent enough that it can buy some fun steam games during seasonal sales

[MEK]

The whole profit thing pisses me off honestly. If you want to profit of anything, just go to work or trade stocks, TF2's items wont make you rich. You will profit 2 keys in a week-month, whereas trading stocks/having a job will bring you thousands of $ in cash, that is if you live in western countries.

[Orbit2]

░░░░░█▐▓▓░████▄▄▄█▀▄▓▓▓▌█Help
░░░░░▄█▌▀▄▓▓▄▄▄▄▀▀▀▄▓▓▓▓▓▌█ Doge
░░░▄█▀▀▄▓█▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▀░▓▌█ Take
░░█▀▄▓▓▓███▓▓▓███▓▓▓▄░░▄▓▐█▌ Over
░█▌▓▓▓▀▀▓▓▓▓███▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▄▀▓▓▐█ Steam
▐█▐██▐░▄▓▓▓▓▓▀▄░▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▌█▌ Copy
█▌███▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▐░░▄▓▓███▓▓▓▄▀▐█ And
█▐█▓▀░░▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓██████▓▓▓▓▐█ Paste
▌▓▄▌▀░▀░▐▀█▄▓▓██████████▓▓▓▌█▌
▌▓▓▓▄▄▀▀▓▓▓▀▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█▓█▓█▓▓▌█▌ DO IT.
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[Doc]

@NickAckermanquicksell.store - Thank you so much!

[Hale]

@Беларусь - Pretty much backpack for prices. If there is no price for the item, use the steam market and marketplace to determine the price of your item.

[Doc]

I have a question. In: "Making Profit: Some people will tell you false prices just to make a profit off of you. Always check prices before you make a trade." Where do I check the prices?

[joe bama]

Wait, so should I like buy 7 keys and buy quick sells? And then I can make profit by adding the price a key higher?

[evil witch from Tesco]

i see you have lmms installed

are you a composer?

[banster]

Don't ever buy a massed flies or a dead presidents.