Virtual item counterfeiting in Team Fortress 2

Icrontic writes, "If you want to engage in high-level item trading in TF2, it pays to be educated about dupes, scammers, and reputations before you start."

[kewlrats]

The economy of TF2, and what Valve has begun to do to talk about it, is pretty astounding. Almost puts the Diablo 3 auction house to shame.

[Megaton]

I don't like having too much value in TF2 items. I was once fortunate enough to unbox an unusual ( http://steamcommunity.com/i... ) which I immediately traded for $160 worth of Earbuds. I traded those buds for keys over the next few months, swapping the keys for gifted games during sales.

[Pandamobile]

One of the guys I used to play competitive TF2 with a year ago played the Mann-Conomy stock market and amassed a large pile of unusual hats. He spent $250 acquiring 2-3 unusual hats, and then somehow traded his way to like $3000 worth of items which he actually sold for real cash and used to pay for our servers with lol.

[Megaton]

Yeah, the unusual market is very... well, unusual. The prices for things vary so drastically depending on the buyer. I was told my unusual was worth anywhere from $100 to $400. You could definitely work it in your favor for big profit if you're willing to put in the time to make big trades.