Wanted to clear some things in regards to trading. Is there some kind "Traders Code of Conduct" that says games are traded taking into account standard sale discount price?

I was trying to negotiate a trade where my game costed 5$ plus than the game I was asking for, at normal steam price. Despite this the other person asked for another extra game on my list on the basis that on sale my game had a 75% discount while his had only 33%, making the game I was offering him actually cheaper.

I replied saying I didnt consider it fair because I actually got the game in a bundle that made its price less than 2$. If I followed his reasoning I would have to offer him at least 5 more games at the same value to reach his. He then replied saying that the 2$ price shouldnt be taken into account...

I then got confused, because that sounded like a contradiction. Who s defining the standard price here anyways? I used the normal price on steam that shows the "real" market value of the game, he was using the sale price assuming I got the game for that price, which made it cheaper than his. Ironically I got it even cheaper. So what should be taken into account, the market price, sale price or the actual price you got the game for?

If his standard is the rule than games like Dark Souls 3 can be traded for little indie titles that get a much lower percentage discount when on sale. I find it absolutely ridiculous if that is the case.

There is no standard. There is no code of conduct. You accept the trade or you don't, simple as that. Everyone has a right to say how much they feel their key is worth (or how much your key is worth to them). If you disagree, don't trade. If they don't agree with what you're offering in exchange, they won't trade. The beauty of trading, you're free to make your own choices.

Ok, thanks.
If you dont mind, what is your opinion on this?

Edit: I just wanted to know if the sale discount price is something traders like to use around here as a standard practice.

I think you just quoted my opinion.

Value isn't derived from discounts (alone), it's a subjective thing. Sure, if someone's trying to trade a key that GOG gives away for free every other month, I'll probably value it low. On the other hand, someone could be trying to trade a key for something that was once dirt cheap but has now been pulled from the store. If it's a game I really want, I could trade a lot for it.

Maybe I'm trading for a game that was once dirt cheap but got more expensive since then? Maybe it was heavily discounted in the past but now mostly sits close to base price. Do I want that game *now* or am I going to wait an indeterminate time for a good discount? There are so many things to consider. I'm not aware of there being any sort of "standard practice."

Trades are negotiated. If you're both happy, then it does not matter whether the price/discounted price/price once in the past/price tomorrow/subjective value match.

It's pretty standard for most recent/lowest sale price to be considered value for a game to be traded, because of course it didn't take long for people to figure out they could buy games on sale and trade them for 'more' when they weren't on sale. Not to mention these days there's places like G2A which usually have the games on resale for a little over the most recent sales price.

Well then, according to you and the previous guy I was really being offered a bargain. The game I had was Shadowrun HongKong Extended Edition (19.99$) that goes on sale apparently with 75% discount. The game I wanted was Hollow Knight (14.99$), sale price with 33% discount, wich puts my game 5$ cheaper.

The thing with your reasoning is that in my case I got the game on Fanatical with 4 other games for less than 7$ which means I paid less than 2$ for it. If I took this price into account I would have to offer him five or 6 more games, that who knows cost 20 ot more bucks normally but hey, I bought them all for 2$! So in fact he was being quite generous, lol. And who knows if his family or friend gave him the game for free so I was actually the one getting the end of the stick... See why normal retail price looks like a reasonable measure of value to me?

Oh, by the way, this exchange was between Steam keys not gog.

Thank you all for your answers