Current Events > So I'm new to Steam and I have a question.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just got a new gaming laptop and made a Steam account. Already picked up The Witcher 3 and just started playing tonight. I apparently got a couple trading cards on Steam from it (Yennefer and Dandelion).

So a couple questions:

1. What are the Steam trading cards for? Is there a game that uses them or is it just bling for your profile?

2. At the bottom of the description is says I can sell them on the community market once I've had my account for 30 days. What's this community market all about? Do I just get Steam credit if I sell the cards that I can then use towards buying new games or something? Is it possible to actually make cash back by getting all the cards from playing a game I bought and selling them?
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https://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards

Fox_Master posted...

https://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards

This.

Do keep in mind that when you buy cards Valve will take a small commission from after the purchases despite already taking a commission from the seller's side.
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The link posted is pretty comprehensive on trading cards and what they're for.

About the marketplace, you've pretty much got it. Keep in mind that Valve takes a cut of every sale. Cards typically aren't worth much, around 10 to 20 cents, but some games can have cards that go as high as $0.50. Foil cards can go even higher; I sold a Steins;Gate foil card for $18 CAD once.
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Fox_Master posted...

https://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards

Thanks. I don't see that link in the Community drop-down on Steam and I'm still figuring out where everything is. I literally just signed up yesterday. >_<

SGT_Conti posted...

The link posted is pretty comprehensive on trading cards and what they're for.

About the marketplace, you've pretty much got it. Keep in mind that Valve takes a cut of every sale. Cards typically aren't worth much, around 10 to 20 cents, but some games can have cards that go as high as $0.50. Foil cards can go even higher; I sold a Steins;Gate foil card for $18 CAD once.

So if I really couldn't care less about profile bling, would it be better to collect the cards, turn them into badges, and then sell the badges (or emoticons/backgrounds/whatever)? Or just sell the cards themselves? Or does it not make much of a difference generally?
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I don't think badges can be sold, just the cards used to make them.

Every 10 Steam profile levels, gained from crafting badges and some other activities, increases your chance of getting a random booster pack drop from a game you've already acquired all cards from. However, I think the chance is low enough that it's not really worth going out of your way to buy cards left and right to craft badges in hopes of a return on that investment.
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SGT_Conti posted...

I don't think badges can be sold, just the cards used to make them.

Not the badges themselves, really. But it says that crafting badges earns you "marketable items like emoticons, profile backgrounds, and coupons." I'm assuming marketable means you can sell those things in the community market? But I don't really know how much they'd go for. And it doesn't specify if it's a guaranteed thing like making this certain badge will give you this profile background, or if it's a random chance at getting this profile background.

So if it's something like "Badge A will definitely give you Background A, which sells for $3, but Badge A requires 10 cards that are each worth $0.20" then you would want to craft the badge and then sell the background for the extra $1. But if it's only a random chance at getting Background A, then probably selling the cards would be better so you're guaranteed to get some money back from it.
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While we're on topic, what the hell are the summer stickers for aside from aesthetics?

Aristoph posted...

SGT_Conti posted...

I don't think badges can be sold, just the cards used to make them.

Not the badges themselves, really. But it says that crafting badges earns you "marketable items like emoticons, profile backgrounds, and coupons." I'm assuming marketable means you can sell those things in the community market? But I don't really know how much they'd go for. And it doesn't specify if it's a guaranteed thing like making this certain badge will give you this profile background, or if it's a random chance at getting this profile background.

So if it's something like "Badge A will definitely give you Background A, which sells for $3, but Badge A requires 10 cards that are each worth $0.20" then you would want to craft the badge and then sell the background for the extra $1. But if it's only a random chance at getting Background A, then probably selling the cards would be better so you're guaranteed to get some money back from it.

Oh, that. You'll be guaranteed one of a few different kinds of background and emoticon, so no worries on that front. However, they're usually not worth more than what it takes to make them.

FFVII_REMAKE posted...

While we're on topic, what the hell are the summer stickers for aside from aesthetics?

I don't think they really have any purpose beyond aesthetics.

For example, I actually have a Telltale Walking Dead badge. It came with a Doug emoticon and an Around Every Corner profile background. Doug is $.09 on the marketplace and the background is $.10. The cards are worth double that each.
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Never really bothered with crafting badges except for a couple of games which I really enjoyed playing. Only crafted the 1st level badge for them. More trouble than what it's worth imo.
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i sell cards every summer/winter/major sales and buy games with it. sometimes i get like 5 bucks selling everything than buy the dirt cheap games i want
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apolloooo posted...

i sell cards every summer/winter/major sales and buy games with it. sometimes i get like 5 bucks selling everything than buy the dirt cheap games i want

That's probably what I'll end up doing. Get all the cards for a game I enjoy, check if there's anything even remotely worth getting in terms of badges/backgrounds for them, and then sell everything off to get some discounts.
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