The Steam Trading Cards Beta currently states:
What about free to play games like Team Fortress 2 or Dota 2?
Free to play games drop game cards based on your in-game purchasing.
For every $9 USD spent (approximate) since the start of the Steam
Trading Card Beta, you will earn one card drop. This card will drop at
some point as you play. If you have made in-game purchases in Dota 2
or Team Fortress 2 prior to the Steam Trading Card Beta, or if you
owned Team Fortress 2 prior to the Free to Play update, you will have
4 or 5 additional card drops available.
While it only mentions in-game purchases, will buying items from the Mann Co. Online Store count as an "in-game" purchase? I more often use the the Mann Co. Online Store when buying things; I can easily switch tabs to the Wiki and see each item's detail, and that helps me when buying any item.
Essentially, if I purchased $9.00 USD of items from the Mann Co. Online Store, will I get a trading card, or must all purchases be completed via the in-game store?
Best Answer
Yes,I bought an item for Dota 2 online rather than in-game shop and my progress towards the card increased,don't see why it would be different for TF2.
When you buy items online the system asks you to log-in with your steam account to finish purchase;in-game store is essentially just a simple game web browser to display the original online store(Why?It is easier to maintain one store than 2).So in the end whether you buy something online or in-game it goes thru the same account and the same system.
Also the system is retroactive,meaning all things you bought before trading cards will be counted as you bought them now.So the system will checks your receits and they are the same for both stores.
If you want to check for yourself you don't have to spent 9$,you can purchase the cheapest item you find and then check if you "progress towards next card" has increased.