Why can't others see items in my steam inventory?

Long gone are the days when items could be traded instantly after a transaction. Before 2018, trading on Steam was straightforward, with no waiting period for newly traded items to become tradable again. However, in March 2018, Valve implemented a 7-day hold on traded items, significantly impacting trading, especially for sites using bots with skins. Despite this challenge, trading persevered.

Valve's new Update

Fast forward six years, and Valve introduced another update that substantially affected trading websites. The new Steam policy dictates that any traded item will not be visible to other users for 10 days.

This means that even after becoming tradable, others won’t be able to see the item in your inventory. However, this visibility restriction only affects others and does not impact your ability to see the item or send trade offers. Additionally, the 10-day visibility lock does not apply if you place your invisible item in your item showcase on your Steam profile.

Aftermath of the update

While the rationale behind this update remains speculative, the community believes it was intended to tackle gambling sites by preventing them from verifying trades. Unfortunately, this change also affected all peer-to-peer (p2p) marketplaces, making it difficult to track if an item had been sent to the user. Since the item became invisible after reaching the buyer’s account, verifying the trade became challenging.

This update caused a massive uproar in the community, prompting users to question Valve’s decision and request a reversal. It led to a temporary halt in operations for all p2p marketplaces and gambling sites until they could find a solution. Eventually, trading resumed with the help of manual verifications done by users from both ends.