Guide: Trading for Games.

We always have advised people to trade for games with TF2/Dota2/other game's items and/or games, and not by cash.

There are several reasons for this:
- If the game is revoked, it can be refunded by Valve with the items you "paid" for such game.
- Empty trading games (ie: you paid money, not items) that are "carded"1) can risk your account by that it may be seen by valve as a alt account of the "Carder"2).

The risks to your account:
- Perm Disabling of your account (at excessive buying for such games)
- Trade Ban, this is in most cases perm, unless successful appeal on Steam Support, very slim chance.
- Game revoke + Account lock, for you to make a steam support ticket and go explain yourselves.
- Items confiscated (rare).
- May involve other valve actions, like trade lock etc.

Of course exceptions are there:
- Good rep thread of longer then a couple months, and not only a number of reps of the last couple days/weeks. Profile rep: Toilet paper, doesn't count.
- Account with actual play time and number real games that you know are paid, account being around for a while, say at least half a year, friends, game hours in the hundreds of hours over several games.
- Got to watch for all those signs that its a actual "main" account of somebody, not some throwaway alt.

Tips:
- Revoke of games can happen up to 90 days after.
- Do not "gift" games unless you're sure. Why? Well, Valve doesn't reimburse on gifted games, even when the gifter bought the games with items, the game just gets revoked, and the receiver nor the gifter can ask for reimburse.
- The person you traded the game from, doesn't necessarily have bought the game, he can have traded the game as well from somebody else.
- Ideally, all trades between the buyer of the game and the end-user are for in-game items or games, whether that is TF2, DOTA or any other steam trade-able items.
- While those re-instated items are often just duplicated, they still have value to compensate. The original items give Valve also a way to track the carders better.
- By trading with items for games, you negate the risk for your account.
- Only trade directly, don't trade items to one account, and recieve game from another.
- Don't accept it as gift, TRADE for it, and activate it yourself.
- Valve never gives the revoked game, only the traded items in exchange. Tbh, I never heard of cases swapping games and this issue, so I cant tell if a traded game would get refunded, logically it should.

Other:
If your game gets revoked, contact Steam Support to let them give you back the items you paid for them. If you paid cash, contact them anyway, with any info of the trader you have that they may not have (pay-pal info, name/email/verified yes or no).

As this involves actual money to Valve that they lose (to the other companies, contractual etc), they won't have mercy. While they are a bit easy on the game item trading for money, they aren't on this.

1) Carded/carding: stolen credit cards or Credit Card's payment been revoked.
2) Carder: person who does carding.

Edited risks to the account and added tip:
- Valve never gives the revoked game, only the traded items in exchange. Tbh, I never heard of cases swapping games and this issue, so I cant tell if a traded game would get refunded, logically it should.

Can someone help me? I traded for a CS:GO gift a month ago for 11 keys and i could not activate it... It had the error limit exceeded. I tried sendign a ticket to steam support but all they do is the same thing, look at the trading policies we cannot refund you etc etc... Can someone help me?

Hmm, did you get the CS:GO via steam trade or was that a CD key? If it was a CD key, then nobody can help yah, the key was probably already used. Due to provability we cannot check if a key was used, and by whom, or that it was a valid key. Therefore SR isn't looking in those reports for such CD Keys cannot be verified, or be known who activated (seller on his/her (other?) account, buyer, on his/her (other?) account? etc) Once activated, the key is useless, it can't be verified if it was a valid key before it was used. And also, if the key wasn't used, a MM cannot check the key, for to check it, it only can be used to activate the game. So all ways lead to: impossible to judge.
Ofcourse there are some exceptions, there was a huge hack of some game's keys, those are made invalid and ppl are still trying at times to sell those. For that game there is a exception (don't remember what game, when I see the name of it, I will).

If you traded on steam for it, then you must complain to them that you cannot activate your steam game item on your account. Which is as told, a issue with steam support.

Yes i traded on steam for it

So there is no way of properly exchanging a key? I have a spare key for Spec Ops The Line and was hoping to get something else out of it. I have the receipt with the key.