If you have a Steam account, you probably tried to sell something on the Steam Market more than once. A better solution would be to use a skin trading platform, which would allow you to use your money outside of Steam.
But if you choose to trade on Steam, setting up your Steam Guard is a good idea. This will allow you to sell skins much easier and immediately instead of having to wait for at least two weeks to do it.
The Use of Steam Guard
In games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2, skins can be worth a lot of money. And some players have inventories that could be sold for more than $1000. In some cases, for more than $1 million!
Steam Guard is used to prevent cases of account theft or hacking in which someone loses an enormous amount of money because the thief sold all their skins. This mobile app feature serves as a mobile authenticator for your Steam account.
The usefulness of Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator becomes obvious once you start trading skins. But even if you have a valuable Steam account and understand security risks, it will be clear to you why you might want to use it.
By connecting your phone number to your Steam account and then authorizing every transaction you make using information sent to your smartphone device, you can have the certainty that nobody is going to sell all your skins overnight just by hacking into your account.
A Huge Benefit of Using Steam Guard
For skin traders, one of the main benefits of using this Steam app feature is the ability to sell skins quickly. Without it, you need to wait for a long time until the transaction is made. Or rather, until your skins are added to the market.
The problem here is that the price can vary a lot. Between the date when you order the sell offer to be added to the Steam Market and the date when the offer will be accepted by Valve’s system, there is a two-week delay. During that time, the price of your item will change, and you’ll experience one of two problems.
Either the price has gone down significantly, and your asking price is no longer realistic, or it has gone up significantly, and you will feel the need to cancel your initial offer, realizing that you could be making a lot more money.
When you use Steam Guard, you get the ability to sell instantly. Or at least add your skins to the market right away. If the price you’re asking for is small enough, you will make the sale within minutes.
It’s always a good idea to check the maximum pre-buy price offer. That way, you’ll know what price you can ask for if you want to make the sale instantly.
The Steam Mobile App
The Steam Mobile App is the mobile application that you’re required to install on your mobile device if you want to be able to use Steam Guard.
After it’s been enabled on a new device, you’ll receive a Steam Guard code each time you take an important action requiring confirmation of your identity. This way, you will be protected from unwanted actions by a different party.
When you install the app and set up your Steam Guard, save your recovery code somewhere. You’ll likely end up needing it later.
At first, the need to verify your identity might seem annoying. But this additional level of security, which involves the use of an extra password, is extremely useful in today’s world.
If you have any questions about the feature or are afraid to give Valve your phone number, you can contact Steam support and ask questions. Or you can check out this page. The answers you seek might already be there.
Steps to Install
To ensure the security of your Steam account and install the app, you can follow the steps below:
- Log into your Steam account
- Click on your name, located in the top-right corner of your Steam window
- Select Account Details
- Under ‘Contact Info’, select ‘Add a phone number’. Enter your phone number and select ‘Next’. You will receive an SMS message containing your confirmation code. Enter this code to verify that Steam has the correct information.
- After you’ve added your phone number to your Steam account, you can use the guide provided by Steam.
