ItemFort Market Desk
Notes from the TF2 market
Guides we wrote because we kept answering the same questions in trade chat: how the metal ladder really works, what moves an unusual’s price, which scams are still landing, and where the fees quietly go. Team Fortress 2 first, CS2 and the rest after.
Coming From TF2? Here Is What Is Different About CS2 Skin Trading
No metal, no overpay culture, and a whole extra dimension called float. Everything a Team Fortress 2 trader already knows, translated into Counter-Strike 2 — and the three habits that do not carry over.
Read the guide
Where Your Money Actually Goes: TF2 Trading Fees, Compared
Steam takes roughly 15% and pays you in currency you can never withdraw. Here is the arithmetic on every route out of a TF2 item, and why the fee gap compounds brutally if you flip.
Aug 20, 2026
The TF2 Scams That Still Work in 2026, and the Habits That Beat Them
The API-key hijack, the fake login window that cannot leave your browser, the quickswitch at the confirmation screen. Six attacks that are still taking inventories, and the checks that stop each one.
Aug 12, 2026
Australium Weapons: How They Drop, What They Cost, and Which Ones Hold Value
Australiums come from exactly one place, and it is not a crate. Here is how the Mann Up faucet works, why the supply curve is so flat, and how to run the farm-versus-buy maths yourself.
Jul 29, 2026
Strange Weapons: What Is Worth Collecting and What Is Just a Kill Counter
Most Strange weapons are worth a couple of refined and always will be. The value sits in a handful of specific attributes — and in not destroying an expensive Strange Part by applying it to the wrong thing.
Jul 8, 2026
What Actually Sets the Price of a TF2 Unusual
Effect generation, public supply counts, how the particle sits on the model, and the difference between a paper price and a price someone will pay. A pricing model you can reuse.
Jun 24, 2026
How to Actually Sell an Unusual (Instead of Sitting on It for Six Months)
If your unusual has been listed since spring, the effect is not the problem and the market is not dead. Here are the three prices every unusual has, and which one you are stuck on.
Jun 2, 2026
How to Buy TF2 Items Without Getting Burned
Price-check the item, not the listing. Read the inspect link, not the screenshot. Six habits that separate buyers who compound value from buyers who fund other people’s profit.
May 6, 2026
TF2 Currency Explained: Keys, Refined Metal and What “Pure” Actually Means
Scrap, rec, ref, keys. Every TF2 trade is quoted in a currency Valve never officially created. Here is how the ladder works and why the key rate never stops climbing.
Apr 11, 2026How we write this
Everything here is written by the people running the ItemFort market desk, from listings we see and trades we handle. Prices are given as ranges and mechanics rather than fixed numbers, because a refined-metal quote goes stale in weeks — where a figure matters we say where to check it live.
Found something out of date or plain wrong? Tell us at [email protected] and we will correct the article and update its revision date.