7 ms·

Does it solve scalping? It seems like there is still money in sighing up with the goal to resell. Granted this is better in that I don't have to race the scalpe

Does it solve scalping? It seems like there is still money in sighing up with the goal to resell. Granted this is better in that I don't have to race the scalpers. Till the sales price matches the market value scalping will exist. The best way to address that is a vickery auction. Till then scalping will continue.

nehal3m 4mo ago
I think account age and activity should be weighted into that equation.
- Gooblebrai 4mo ago
  That crosses the line to elitism
  - gambiting 4mo ago
    Maybe, but I don't think it's totally outrageous to say the very first batch of these you can only buy if you had an account for at least 15 years or you must have spent at least $1000 over its lifetime. Then after that first batch it's free for all.
    - fartcoin67 4mo ago
      [dead]
  - nehal3m 4mo ago
    Maybe weighted is the wrong term, it’s a threshold and that seems prudent.
  - bluescrn 4mo ago
    Nah, just rewarding loyalty
- gs17 4mo ago
  I want to agree, but it's hard to figure out what's fair, and I doubt Valve has enough verified data to make it fair right now even if we had a good rule for it. Each way I can think of (account age, gameplay time, games owned, past event participation) has a big issue. Same issue for the Steam Frame, I'd personally love if they weighed my VR time to bump me up the queue, but at the same time it feels like a "the rich get richer" kind of unfairness.
- noxvilleza 4mo ago
  What type of activity? Just purchasing? There's thousands of bot accounts made every day which are active in the sense of playing games, but don't buy very much.
- BlueTemplar 4mo ago
  One issue here is that one, very important for the future of Valve, type of target customer here is first time Steam users : teens without a console nor a (gaming) PC. April 2026 is already going to be a problem for them. (Though I guess someone in their family can enter the lottery for them.)
- throwaway2037 4mo ago
  Activity I can understand, but how should age be weighted? Do you intend to prefer younger or older players? Should annual income (or taxable income) also be weighted?
Xirdus 4mo ago
"Customers must meet the following criteria to be able to sign up: You must have a Steam account in good standing. You must have made a purchase on Steam prior to April 27th 2026. Limit one signup per household. We will use payment method, shipping address, and other information to eliminate multiple entries."
- ajmurmann 4mo ago
  That prevents flooding of tickets by a single person but doesn't prevent me from signing up even though I just want to resell
  - fc417fc802 4mo ago
    And why should that matter? If Valve wants to sell below market this is a reasonably fair system for doing so. What you do with your purchase is none of their concern.
  - nehal3m 4mo ago
    Well if you’re prepared to sell a kidney for a flux capacitor and a DeLorean, go for it.
  - jack_pp 4mo ago
    Sure but no one can do anything about your free will. This is about being fair, any ideas to make the system fairer?
    - ajmurmann 4mo ago
      Scalping exists because the sales price is significantly lower than the market value. Just do a Vickery auction and scalping is gone. Because it's avickery auction the price likely wouldn't be totally ludicrous either. If there is a batch of 10,000 units sold the price would be the 10,001th highest bid.
      - chorizo 4mo ago
caconym_ 4mo ago
I assume scalpers are often much better at getting through a heavily contested purchase flow (eg the recent steam controller release) due to tools like bots, general experience, and being able to dedicate 20 minutes or more to sitting at a computer constantly refreshing a browser window. This way it's just a random draw and (I think?) the number of accounts scalpers can enter with is limited because they need to be established. So it might not solve scalping, but it could be a significant improvement.
- elictronic 4mo ago
  DDOS server when not making direct purchase. If there is a financial incentive the process is automated to generate maximum value for the scalper. In our modern age scalpers are not going to be waiting. Biggest impediment would be changes to purchase process. Run one live user through and repeat for how many bots you want to buy more. Agreed with your comment on random being better. I just found a scalper sitting at a PC for 20 minutes waiting to buy pretty funny.
  - somenameforme 4mo ago
    I expect Steam is already being DDOS'd probably close to 24/7. DDOS services are cheap, and there's plenty of kids with a card that think they're going to show off their 1334 haxing skillz after getting banned for using an aimbot they also paid for.
    - Ekaros 4mo ago
      They are not exactly great in handling large peaks of traffic. They don't last that long, but they are still there. Controller launch had order processing issues. Any large sale start always have issues. Though it might be less load and more of making tens of thousands of background changes on items on sale.
unholiness 4mo ago
It doesn't solve scalping, it solves putting everyone in a Red Queen race[0] against the scalpers. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen%27s_race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen%27s_race

nehal3m 4mo ago

I think account age and activity should be weighted into that equation.

Gooblebrai 4mo ago
That crosses the line to elitism
- gambiting 4mo ago
  Maybe, but I don't think it's totally outrageous to say the very first batch of these you can only buy if you had an account for at least 15 years or you must have spent at least $1000 over its lifetime. Then after that first batch it's free for all.
  - fartcoin67 4mo ago
    [dead]
- nehal3m 4mo ago
  Maybe weighted is the wrong term, it’s a threshold and that seems prudent.
- bluescrn 4mo ago
  Nah, just rewarding loyalty
gs17 4mo ago
I want to agree, but it's hard to figure out what's fair, and I doubt Valve has enough verified data to make it fair right now even if we had a good rule for it. Each way I can think of (account age, gameplay time, games owned, past event participation) has a big issue. Same issue for the Steam Frame, I'd personally love if they weighed my VR time to bump me up the queue, but at the same time it feels like a "the rich get richer" kind of unfairness.
noxvilleza 4mo ago
What type of activity? Just purchasing? There's thousands of bot accounts made every day which are active in the sense of playing games, but don't buy very much.
BlueTemplar 4mo ago
One issue here is that one, very important for the future of Valve, type of target customer here is first time Steam users : teens without a console nor a (gaming) PC. April 2026 is already going to be a problem for them. (Though I guess someone in their family can enter the lottery for them.)
throwaway2037 4mo ago
Activity I can understand, but how should age be weighted? Do you intend to prefer younger or older players? Should annual income (or taxable income) also be weighted?

Xirdus 4mo ago

"Customers must meet the following criteria to be able to sign up: You must have a Steam account in good standing. You must have made a purchase on Steam prior to April 27th 2026. Limit one signup per household. We will use payment method, shipping address, and other information to eliminate multiple entries."

ajmurmann 4mo ago
That prevents flooding of tickets by a single person but doesn't prevent me from signing up even though I just want to resell
- fc417fc802 4mo ago
  And why should that matter? If Valve wants to sell below market this is a reasonably fair system for doing so. What you do with your purchase is none of their concern.
- nehal3m 4mo ago
  Well if you’re prepared to sell a kidney for a flux capacitor and a DeLorean, go for it.
- jack_pp 4mo ago
  Sure but no one can do anything about your free will. This is about being fair, any ideas to make the system fairer?
  - ajmurmann 4mo ago
    Scalping exists because the sales price is significantly lower than the market value. Just do a Vickery auction and scalping is gone. Because it's avickery auction the price likely wouldn't be totally ludicrous either. If there is a batch of 10,000 units sold the price would be the 10,001th highest bid.
    - chorizo 4mo ago

caconym_ 4mo ago

I assume scalpers are often much better at getting through a heavily contested purchase flow (eg the recent steam controller release) due to tools like bots, general experience, and being able to dedicate 20 minutes or more to sitting at a computer constantly refreshing a browser window. This way it's just a random draw and (I think?) the number of accounts scalpers can enter with is limited because they need to be established. So it might not solve scalping, but it could be a significant improvement.

elictronic 4mo ago
DDOS server when not making direct purchase. If there is a financial incentive the process is automated to generate maximum value for the scalper. In our modern age scalpers are not going to be waiting. Biggest impediment would be changes to purchase process. Run one live user through and repeat for how many bots you want to buy more. Agreed with your comment on random being better. I just found a scalper sitting at a PC for 20 minutes waiting to buy pretty funny.
- somenameforme 4mo ago
  I expect Steam is already being DDOS'd probably close to 24/7. DDOS services are cheap, and there's plenty of kids with a card that think they're going to show off their 1334 haxing skillz after getting banned for using an aimbot they also paid for.
  - Ekaros 4mo ago
    They are not exactly great in handling large peaks of traffic. They don't last that long, but they are still there. Controller launch had order processing issues. Any large sale start always have issues. Though it might be less load and more of making tens of thousands of background changes on items on sale.

unholiness 4mo ago

It doesn't solve scalping, it solves putting everyone in a Red Queen race[0] against the scalpers. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen%27s_race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Queen%27s_race