[idoma]

I buy & sell pixels (hats) in a video-game - Team Fortress 2.

I'm currently making $10k-15k per month; I'm one of the largest sellers on the game's main third-party marketplace (https://marketplace.tf).

Less of a side project and more of a part-time job, since it's ~4-6 hours of work per day.

[rvrs]

What does your dealflow look like? Do you usually trade smaller unusuals into larger ones or are you just flipping big-money unusuals? How do you get the deals?

[idoma]

I buy ~$2,000 of items per day from a handful of places (advertising, bots, listings, quicksells).

I sell _anything_ that I can buy at a reasonable margin, but that trends down towards a ~$50 average.

[n1c]

Only TF2? Or do you also do other markets like CS?

I'm curious to know how much actual knowledge about the game makes compared to just being a good "trader"?

[idoma]

Some CS, but TF2 is my main focus. Items are less liquid and the cash trading scene isn't as established. For example, my average margin on TF2 items is 6x higher than CS (~25% vs. ~4-5%). I'm able to buy for less & sell for more than I could in CS.

Knowledge about the game isn't necessary at all - it's just the market itself. Understanding what people are interested in, what items can sell at, how long they take, etc.

[soulofmischief]

Really curious about what kind of alphas exist in this space, if you don't mind divulging.

[idoma]

The market is incredibly small & illiquid - the main alpha comes from:

- a better knowledge & understanding of the market. What items are desirable? What will take a long time? How do you price them? etc.

- trust/reputation, which takes form through cash trading (directly buying items from people at a discount).

I also have a few automated trading bots & scripts that save time on buying items, but that's easily replicable.