OPSkins Trade Bots Shut Down by Valve
Valve has officially taken down OPSkins trade bots, preventing users from buying and withdrawing skins from the popular skin-buying website. This means that the safest place for CS:GO users to buy skins is now the Steam community market. OPSkins confirmed at 11:38am CT today that all of its bots are now offline.
Valve’s Cease and Desist Order to OPSkins
OPSkins launched ExpressTrade on June 6, which allowed players to instantly trade skins and bypassed Valve’s seven-day cooldown for cosmetic item trades in CS:GO. Valve responded by sending a cease and desist order to OPSkins, stating that ExpressTrade violated the Steam Subscriber Agreement by using Valve intellectual property. As a result, all OPSkins Steam Accounts will be locked on June 21, rendering OPSkins useless for CS:GO skin enthusiasts.
Impact on Valve’s Authority and OPSkins’ Response
The use of ExpressTrade by multiple third-party websites undermined Valve’s authority and the purpose of the seven-day trade cooldown. OPSkins responded to Valve’s statement by claiming a decrease in player interest and activity, citing a drop in the number of theft and loss tickets reported to the site. However, many of OPSkins’ claims are unsubstantiated, except for the decline in daily player count according to the Steam Database.
Petition to Revert Trade Rules
Over 157,000 people have signed a petition on change.org, urging Valve to revert the trade rules to their previous state. However, Valve employee John McDonald stated on Twitter that it is unlikely they will reverse the changes.
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