Trades something something = toxic. Can we fix it? (GA Inside)

Extra notes (to make the proposed idea more viable):

Every user with the requisite Steam library value for an SG account could start with 10 potatoes, and farm 1 potato every two weeks by giving away a game (any game, just a token to show activity and a little contribution) to generate a little supply.

Users with a surplus of potatoes could spend some of them on silly forum features or to enter featured giveaways in SG with better odds, which would allow potatoes to exit the system as well (to reduce hyperinflation).

Feedback/rep would remain as is, so you could choose to buy the cheapest copy from a user with high levels of positive feedback.

These are just ideas I'm throwing out, other tweaks could be made instead.

wait, who do you want to "sell" games to?

i never understood how to trade.

So kind of like how dispenser.tf works at the moment?
Actually I don't even know what the problem is with trade currently (looks fine to me).
I just use this over Reddit because I can't bother to build rep from scratch in another community.

While virtual currency is always a fun approach, Barter.vg is more than capable of serving trading needs. So, attempting to fill a niche that doesn't need to be filled.

As far as this site's trade section goes, it'd require a full overhaul to be compelling, for sure- though I think perhaps anyone that really cares has already mostly moved on to Barter and SG giveaways.

This sounds like an idea somewhere between the G2A/Kinguin grey market and barter.vg, somewhat along the line of SteamCardExchange.
Frankly, if you stick to game to game trades, just use barter.vg. Once you set up your preferences and properly list your stock (where is it from, how high do you value it, what kind of things you expect for it), it can be a fairly accurate thing. And if you have even more time to start filling up the blacklist that prevents people from offering stuff you'd never want, or fill up the wishlist and set offers to wishlist only, you cannot get bad offers. Heck, you can even filter any user's stock to your needs or use automatic matchings for stuff you want and others want.
It won't completely eliminate the greedy offers, but makes them manageable, and with the personal offer list there is no fear that a trade offer gets lost in the crowd.

tradeR lives matter - 1 Cobblestone (9 - 10 CSGO Key) each

Even if Potatoes = chips, fries, vodka -> potatoes #1

We already have trade currencies = tf2\csgo keys, tod, capsule keys, gems, tf2 ref, cards, marketable items

I like the idea and it would be nice and funny to have potato currency

Those potatoes are called keys (tf2/csgo).

No ty. Why would I trade for a silly currency like that? There's no guarantee the site won't just shut down at some point or something happen to the server as it's very often and the currency will be lost.

Where as now, I can just go and trade for other games and cash out on whatever I want. DLCs, games, cards, subscriptions, whatever.

First of all it's overcomplicating the system. And the system already works. Ever heard of "if it ain't broken don't fix it"?

While I do agree the whole way ST works needs a redo, this idea isn't any better.

As for toxidity, there is a fairly easy solution. Start moderating it and handing out appropriate punishment. Toxidity is extremely easy to moderate because all it takes is one mod going casually over the threads and the proof is right there in the comments, no further investigation required. I don't see why support would choose to run away from it when all it takes is some action. It's like the current suspensions for violating site rules, except ten times easier to detect and handle. Once people have been subject to punishment, they'll automatically adjust their behaviour or end up indefinitely suspended - in both cases, problem solved. Same principle as for all other rule-breakers on the site.

TBH, I think the Potatoes system would not work. Instilling a virtual currency would be tough, and many people would not accept it considering it has no real monetary value. The entire reason why CS:GO and TF2 keys work is because you can sell them on the Steam market for wallet funds.

Let's put it like this. You own a region-free giftable and tradeable copy of Fallout 4. Would you convert it into potatoes? Or would you rather assume the risk of being scammed, and sell it to somebody for real money on PayPal (or have no risk by trading it for TF2/CS:GO keys to sell for Steam wallet on the market). With the money you get from a real trade, you could just go buy whatever you want and forego the entire process of buying with potatoes AND the risk of being stuck with a large quantity of useless virtual currency.

Moreover, even though there are a lot of scammers, the chances of you getting scammed by someone with 100 or more +rep with no negative feedback is less than 1%. There may be a lot of scammers, but the risk obviously mitigates as you trade with more reputable people (unless you trade with someone doing an "exit scam", which is fairly low)