How Steam Trading Cards Work

Your first four card drops happen while you play, but how do steam trading cards work after that? You are buying the rest on the Community Market. Steam trading cards are not a game feature, they are a Steam profile system that rewards you with XP, emoticons and backgrounds. Use cards to craft badges. Each badge gives you 100 XP toward your Steam Level.

Earning Free Drops

Card drops are the free cards you earn by playing games. You must be Steam Level 5 or higher to receive them. Each game that supports trading cards gives you a set number of drops. The exact drop rate varies per game, but the general rule is 4 cards per $9.00 USD spent in a single transaction. You cannot get more than 2 card drops from the same game per day.

If you play multiple games in one session, each game counts toward its own daily cap. Drops are not guaranteed on every purchase, they only apply to transactions that meet the threshold. Check the game's store page to see if it has card drops. Not every game does.

How to Craft a Badge

A trading card set is the full collection of cards for one game. To craft a badge, you need every card in that set. Once you have them, go to the Badges section of your Steam inventory and click "Craft." The action consumes all the cards, you cannot get them back. Each badge you craft gives you 100 XP, one emoticon and one profile background. You can craft the same badge multiple times to increase its level, but the XP reward per craft stays the same.

The badge level shows how many times you have crafted that set. A level 5 badge means you crafted the set five times. Each craft costs you the full set again. There is no discount for repeat crafts.

When you craft a badge, you always get three things: 100 XP toward your Steam Level, one random emoticon from that game's set, and one random profile background from that game's set. You cannot choose which emoticon or background you get. The rewards are pulled from the pool of items associated with that game. Some games have larger pools than others, so the chance of getting a specific item is lower.

The emoticons and backgrounds can be sold on the Community Market. Their sell price varies widely. Some sell for pennies, others for a few dollars. Check the market before you craft to see what the rewards are currently selling for. That price is what determines whether crafting that badge is worth the cost of the cards.

Foil cards are a rarer version of standard trading cards. They have a shiny animated border in your inventory. Foil cards drop at a much lower rate than regular cards, roughly 1 in 10 drops, depending on the game. They also require more cards to craft a foil badge. A foil badge set typically uses the same number of cards as a standard set, but the cards themselves are harder to find and more expensive on the market.

Foil badges give the same 100 XP as standard badges. The reward pool is the same. The only difference is the badge itself has a foil appearance on your profile. Because foil cards cost more and the rewards are identical, foil badge crafting is often unprofitable. Most experienced traders skip it unless they are chasing a specific look.

Free Booster Packs

A booster pack contains 3 random cards from a specific game set. You can earn one free booster pack every 10 Steam Levels, up to Level 50. That means you get booster packs at Level 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Only games you own that have card drops are eligible. You do not get booster packs at every level, only at these thresholds.

Crafting Booster Packs

Booster packs can also be crafted from duplicate cards. If you have extra cards from a set, you can combine them into a booster pack for that game. The number of cards needed varies by game. Once crafted, the booster pack appears in your inventory and can be opened for 3 random cards or sold directly on the Community Market. Some booster packs sell for $1.00 or more, though most sell for less.

Fees You Need to Know

The Community Market is where you buy and sell trading cards, emoticons, backgrounds and booster packs. Every sale incurs a total fee of 15%, 10% listing fee plus 5% transaction fee. The game's publisher can add a game-specific fee on top of that. This extra fee varies per game and can be as high as 15%. That means the total fee you pay could be 30% or more. Check the market listing for a specific game to see its fee.

Trade Holds and Restrictions

When you list an item, the listing fee is charged immediately. It is not refunded if the item does not sell. Items you buy on the market are untradeable for 7 days. Items you trade are untradeable for another 7 days after the trade. If you do not have Steam Guard mobile authenticator active for 7 days, your trades are held for 15 days. Use the mobile authenticator to avoid the hold. New accounts must have Steam Guard enabled for 15 days before they can use the market at all.