Why is my Steam account trade banned?
A trade ban blocks trading and the Community Market, account-wide. Valve applies it for a short list of economy offences - and, unusually for Steam penalties, support states it cannot modify trade restrictions regardless of circumstances. There is no appeal desk.
What earns one
- Trade scams - completing one, or helping one along.
- Fraud linked to scamming - including selling or buying scammed items knowingly.
- Chargeback fraud - disputing Steam purchases with your bank. Community reports put a first offence around 4 weeks of restriction plus a permanent ban on that payment method; clear fraud is permanent.
- Market manipulation and automation - inventory bots and scripted trading that break the Subscriber Agreement.
- Hijacking involvement - including trading with accounts flagged for handling stolen items.
PERMANENT OR NOT?
Most trade bans are permanent; a minority are temporary and show an expiry on the profile. A trade ban is separate from VAC (cheating), game bans (developer-issued) and community bans (behaviour) - see Why is my Steam account restricted? for how the four systems differ.
OBLIGATORY PLUG
Boring but true: keep the account clean, because prizes here arrive by Steam trade - a trade-banned account cannot receive the knife you just won. Protect the inventory you are about to have, optimist. Browse the draws ->
Knowledge base: Steam Support: trade bans · DMarket: trade ban causes
