Reference
Before you trade: the account state that decides the outcome
Every other page here answers "what is this worth". This one answers the question that comes first: can the item move at all? A fee estimate is worthless if the trade is blocked, delayed, or aimed at the wrong account, and those failures are decided by account state rather than by arithmetic.
The item has to be allowed to move
Two separate flags govern this and they are not the same thing. An item is tradable if it can be sent to another account, and marketable if it can be listed on the Community Market. An item can be one without the other, so confirm the flag that matches the route you intend to take before pricing anything.
The destination has to be correct
A direct trade is addressed with a trade URL, which encodes the partner and a token rather than a display name. Display names are not unique and can be changed at will, which is why the URL is the only reliable identifier and why it should be copied from the source rather than retyped.
Delivery can be delayed even when everything is valid
A valid trade to a correct destination can still be held. A trade hold delays delivery based on account security state, and items received from certain sources carry their own trade lock for a fixed period after acquisition. Both are enforced by Steam and neither can be waived by the counterparty.
The usual way to shorten a hold is a mobile authenticator that has been active long enough to count, since the hold length is a function of how the account is secured. Where a hold does apply, the items sit in escrow until it expires.
Checklist
- Confirm the item is the one you think it is, by market hash name rather than by display name.
- Confirm it is tradable or marketable, depending on the route.
- Confirm the trade URL belongs to the intended partner.
- Check the current hold and lock state before, not after, agreeing a price.
- Re-check the price immediately before trading; an old estimate or screenshot is not a quote.
Why this sits next to a fee table
The fee arithmetic on the other pages assumes a listing actually happens. Account state decides whether it can. The maintainers also run SteamVaults, an independent third-party service that trades supported Steam items for USDT; its trade readiness check evaluates the same conditions against a live account.