Guys far too frequently I see screenshots here on SR, where lazy or stupid traders ask the other party to: "link me your profile". This is an open invitation for scammers to link you some legit profile and scam you blind. It only takes a second or two to copy the actual profile you are dealing with and check it against SR. Prevention is the best medicine, and one of the main functions of SR is to alert players to dangers and teach them how to avoid them. Learn to properly and directly check who you are dealing with, if you do not sooner or later you WILL come unstuck. Never ask anyone for their profile, and if they link to a Rep page, take a minute to verify it is legitimate, any genuine buyer is more than happy to wait until you do so.
To further elaborate on Venganza's statements, I'm going to be turning this into a guide on how to check profiles for yourself. Thanks to Helen for being the unknowing volunteer. Firstly, whenever you are in chat, right click on the avatar or text next to the avatar Next, a menu should pop up, Select "View Steam Profile" The person's Steam Profile should appear. Be sure to have the url bar enabled on the profile. If for some reason the url is not present, go to account settings, under the Interface tab and select "Display Steam URL address bar when available" The URL will be displayed in one of two forms: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656XXXXXXXXXX http://steamcommunity.com/id/customurlgoeshere The SteamID64 is the one with the profiles tag next to it. This is static and the most reliable way to verify the unique account. Do not worry if it is not present at this point of checking a profile, however. Next, plug the url into http://steamrep.com The person's Profile should pop up, with all of the relevant information needed. Finally, be sure to check the quick tools section for the relevant information needed (SOP rep threads, bans on various communities, and a query for the SR forums by SteamID32 and SteamID64). The SR queries are especially useful to check for reports either by or about the profile Also going to move this from general to guides.
You DO know you DONT have to "right click" on the avatar? you can STRAIGHT LEFT click on it and be gone directly on the profile without popping up menu's etc. Hidden Content: **Hidden Content: Content of this hidden block can only be seen by members of (usergroups: Administrative, Moderating).**
theres a bot i use which can get steamrep profiles of a user on you're friends list. It's quite helpful (it's not the only function of this bot) and it helps stop people giving you a fake steamrep account