Got raped by Steam

[Semiskimmed]

Its such a grey area this, its difficult for both sides to really know whos legit etc. However it would really suck to lose out from no fault of your own. Hope you get it sorted out and valve come up with safety measures for innocent traders.

 

[ins0mn1ac]

I remember donkeys ago when SOE were banning people for receiving duped items in SWG, even if you didn't know it was created by this exploit.

It's a very dodgy situation!

 

[Wh00pS]

So like I said, you can't really tell where it came from nor the legality of it.
You're asking for the unanswerable.

So then in that case after the first warning you either cease trading or continue to take the risk, unfortunatly the OP chose the latter and it's not paid off.
Isn't the trading system there for people to sell off unwanted keys and gifting? ... i dont think it was put in place for people to set up a business to make a living off.

 

[V4NT0M]

So like I said, you can't really tell where it came from nor the legality of it.
You're asking for the unanswerable.

I'm not asking anything, what I am saying is that it is not Valve's fault that he is trading stolen items, if he wants to trade with people he does not know and cannot trust it is his decision and he is responsible for those trades.

If he wants to ensure that he is not trading stolen or hijacked items then he would only trade with people he trusted.

In the OP's case, due to the nature of what he is doing this was not feasible, again his choice to operate outside of Valve's remit.

Again, I must say that I'm not judging anyone here, just pointing out that this is not a clear cut case of "rape".

 

[platypus]

Contact a few gaming websites if Valve won't help you. Kotaku, Rockpaperscissors etc.

 

[Fr0dders]

who exactly do you "trust" though.

You make it sound like a very cut and dry thing. If you lmited the trading to only the close friends in your life, you'd never sell anything. How many of your close personal friends are buying hats / items on TF2 for hard cash ?

Valve need to implement some sort of procedure whereby they can rectify the actions of people who have hacked accounts. If you have received payment for an item that was stolen, then take that money back out of your account. If you have received items that were stolen, delete the item and given the OP his money back.

Then once you've done that, go after the guy that stole the item in the first place. You may not be able to get him to give his money back, but that's steams problem not the OPs.

 

[5960xNvidiaGamer]

I doubt Steam will overturn there decision, for all they know, you could have bought the stolen keys and known about them.

 

[HangTime]

who exactly do you "trust" though.

You make it sound like a very cut and dry thing. If you lmited the trading to only the close friends in your life, you'd never sell anything. How many of your close personal friends are buying hats / items on TF2 for hard cash ?

I guess it depends on one's view of what the trading system is there for - some would argue that it isn't there to provide a platform for selling things, but rather to allow trading occasional trading of items with friends.
[Of course in reality any system that allows trading will naturally 'expand' unless controls are in place to prevent it]

 

[gareth170]

it does say this in the frequently asked questions

Warning:

Never accept a gift from someone you do not know.
Additionally, do not pay someone to gift a game to you.

 

[Overslop]

I have messaged someone at VALVe, not sure if they will do anything about it though.

Thanks so much 5UB, you are a legend. I really appreciate that you did that, whatever the outcome.

Will respond to other posts later.

 

[Fr0dders]

it does say this in the frequently asked questions

none of that covers who you can and can't trade items with in TF2. They are making reference to "gifting" games via Steam.

I guess it depends on one's view of what the trading system is there for - some would argue that it isn't there to provide a platform for selling things, but rather to allow trading occasional trading of items with friends.
[Of course in reality any system that allows trading will naturally 'expand' unless controls are in place to prevent it]

Not buying that. They knew what they were doing when they opened the trading system. If it was intended for trading items purely with your friends they'd never have made items in limited numbers. Hats and items that exist only in single numbers will command a huge price. If everybody could get everything easily there would be no need to pay $200 for that ultra rare hat of which only 5 exists etc..

 

[gareth170]

none of that covers who you can and can't trade items with in TF2. They are making reference to "gifting" games via Steam.

What are the best ways to verify a trade to avoid getting scammed?

• Do not rush the trade. A common tactic by scammers is to force you to trade quickly so they can change items/gifts in the trade without you noticing. Take your time during the trade to avoid getting scammed.
• Mouse over every item to ensure that the item/gift's properties are correct. Information about the item/gift will be stated here including the quality, name, description and any effects.
• Pay attention to the trade log while making the trade. All changes, additions, removals and actions will be recorded in this box. You may also use it to communicate with the trader.
• Do not trade items outside the trade window. If another user requests that you do, they will likely scam you. Always insist to trade within the trade window in Steam.
• Ensure that you are trading with the correct user. Scammers may try to impersonate your friends and other trusted traders. It is your responsibility to know who you are trading with.

so basically you should at least know the person to be safe in trading. which is basically the same thing they saying about gifting.

 

[Dauthi]

How? If an account looks legitimate but someone has hijacked it, how can an outsider possibly know?

If a deal is to good to belive it probably it probably is. Like people buying cheap steam keys of natural selection 2 unbeknown to them that were purchased originally by stolen credit cards leaveing people with out the game and the developers lossing £200,000 thanks to charge backs.

 

[Sleepery]

While I understand the point Skyfall and others are trying to make, I still think it's a bit of a cop-out on several levels as far as Valve are concerned. They're putting unreasonable onus on the users to verify things they realistically have no way of doing, and when an issue does arise they're taking the easy way out - blanket banning instead of putting some kind of policing in place.

 

[Mockingbird]

Good luck getting your account permissions back, let us know what they say.

(I mean that sincerely I just don't know how to write it so it doesn't read sarcastically.)

 

[Fr0dders]

While I understand the point Skyfall and others are trying to make, I still think it's a bit of a cop-out on several levels as far as Valve are concerned. They're putting unreasonable onus on the users to verify things they realistically have no way of doing, and when an issue does arise they're taking the easy way out - blanket banning instead of putting some kind of policing in place.

agreed.

If they wanted to kill TF2 trading, they could kill it overnight by making every item available from the in store shop for a reasonable fee. Nobody would be selling ultra rare hats for £200 if you could get it for £2.50 from the in game store. Valve want people to be doing this.

 

[Overslop]

Can you just open another steam account and send all your gifts to it and start trading again from the new account ??

Technically I could but for now I will just use the gifting system to get rid of them. The real problem is with the in-game items. Those are locked to my account. I can buy an item called 'Gift Wrap' and then gift items with those. But they cost about £1.50 each and massively devalue the item you use it with so it's a last resort for some of the better items.

 

[Overslop]

Thats a shame. I hope it gets sorted. Is there anything in Steam's T and Cs that say all digital property remains and belongs to Valve PLC or whatever?

I know most MMO based games used to have similar stuff in their T and Cs to pretty much allow them to do what they want when it comes to selling in game items.

Ive got a Bills hat for TF2 if you want to buy it off me. Ten millllion pounds!

The only thing I know is that games are technically not owed, but subscribed to. Not sure about items, but probably the same thing. Thanks for the good luck.

 

[Overslop]

Bad luck but when you were warned before you should have eased off

In hindsight yes, but at the time I just thought they had their wires crossed.

 

[Overslop]

This is why I stopped bothering with trading after a while, too much of a risk.

It's a great system, however they shouldn't ban people for receiving stolen e-goods, if there was a legitimate trade they should go deeper into who actually took the item from the compromised account and action bans from there. The difficulty is if someone gets their account hacked and trades directly to you, there's no way you can prove your innocence.

Your'e right of course. I just wish they would let me prove my innocence as best as I can. Not knowing which item(s) were hijacked and their general refusal to assist me makes this very hard.