Can you use a gift wrap on tradable items

team-fortress-2

I have recently noticed that there are many gifted unusuals, and I was wondering if people purposely put gift wraps on unusuals. I believe that if you uncrate an unusual, it should be tradable.

However, I do not understand why people gift unusuals, which considerably lowers the price of an unusual. So I am wondering if people can use a gift wrap on a tradable item and why. (I have never used gift wraps, so I don't really know how they work besides being able to trade untradable items).

Best Answer

You are correct in that every unusual unboxed is tradeable. There are two main reasons why a certain individual would gift wrap a tradeable item, such as an unusual:

  • To publicly announce that item was gifted from you: One of my colleagues REALLY likes using the blutsauger, so one day I got a strange one and gifted it to him. Yes, it's tradeable, but I wanted to put on the item 'hey this item was a gift from gigazelle and therefore has sentimental value'. Close friends/family will gift items that are tradeable all the time; in fact, I would consider this the designed/intended use of gift wrap.
  • To exploit a glitch duplicating items: There was a period of time where you could duplicate items using gift wrap. Though you should always do a background check when buying unusuals, gift text on unusuals or buds is a red flag that the item is potentially a dupe.
  • To have an item signed: I am heavily involved with the TF2 workshop, and many of my favorite hats have been 'signed' by their creator. I traded the hat + gift wrap to them, they wrap it up, send it back to me, and I unwrap the gift.

Traders may deem items with gift text less valuable, however traders are not the only people who play TF2. You also have husbands/wives, colleagues, and friends who place sentimental value on items as opposed to assigning value based on a spreadsheet.

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