Steam lets you decide who can see your profile, your games and your inventory. For trading, the inventory setting is the one that matters: if a trade partner or a site can't see your items, they can't build an offer that asks for them. You can open your inventory while keeping the rest of your profile as private as you like.
Where the settings live
Open your Steam profile, click Edit Profile, then the Privacy Settings tab. You can also go straight to steamcommunity.com/my/edit/settings while signed in. Changes save automatically.
Each setting offers the same three levels: Public (anyone), Friends Only, or Private (only you). The main categories are:
- My profile, which covers your profile summary, friends list, badges, Steam level, showcases, comments and group membership.
- Game details, which Valve added as a separate category in April 2018. It covers the games you own and have wishlisted, your achievements and playtime, and whether others see you as in-game. A separate checkbox keeps your total playtime private even when game details are visible.
- Friends list.
- Inventory, which covers items from games that use Steam Trading, your Steam Trading Cards, and extra game copies held as Steam Gifts. A checkbox lets you keep Steam Gifts private even when the inventory is visible.
- Comments, which controls who can post on your profile.
Two things are always public: your profile name and avatar.
What trading actually needs
Inventory: Public is what most trading needs. Valve's trading FAQ says this setting controls who sees your items, and its trade offer FAQ says you can send offers to friends whose inventory you can view, or to anyone who has given you their trade URL. Trading sites and strangers aren't on your friends list, so for them the inventory has to be public.
Friends Only works if you only trade with people already on your friends list. Private means nobody else can see your items, so nobody can request them in an offer.
The profile setting sits above the others. When gHacks covered the 2018 update, it noted that setting your profile to Private also makes the other categories private. If your inventory looks public but sites still can't read it, check the profile level as well. Some sites may want a public profile too, so check what the site you use asks for.
Your game details, friends list and comments don't affect whether someone can build a trade offer with you, so they can stay as closed as you prefer unless a site specifically asks.
The 10-day blind spot for new items
Even a fully public inventory doesn't show everything. Since Valve's April 2, 2024 update, Counter-Strike items you buy or receive in a trade are hidden from other people viewing your Steam inventory for 10 days. You still see them yourself.
That window is longer than the seven-day trade protection lock on traded items, so a skin can become tradable again a few days before anyone else can see it in your inventory. If a buyer says they can't find an item you just got, this is the likely reason rather than a privacy setting.
Privacy and safety
A public inventory shows everyone what you own. That's what makes trading possible, and it also means people looking for valuable accounts can see yours. Valve's security page reminds you that anyone can try to add you as a friend after finding your profile, and that users can change their display names at any time.
Viewing isn't taking, though. Nobody can remove an item just because they can see it: every trade offer that sends items out of your account needs your confirmation, and Valve gives no way to turn that off. The risks come from what you're persuaded to click, approve or sign in to, which our guide to common trading scams covers.
A few settings are worth tightening for traders:
- Comments. Valve warns that "+rep" comments can be generated easily, so a wall of praise on someone else's profile proves little. Limiting who can comment on yours keeps it free of the same spam.
- Trade URL. Who can send you offers is set on a separate page, not in privacy settings. If your link has spread too far, generate a new one (see our trade URL guide).
- Steam Gifts. If you hold spare game copies, the gifts checkbox keeps them out of view while your skins stay visible.
If you'd rather keep your inventory hidden most of the time, you can make it public only while you're actively selling and switch it back afterwards. Just remember that sites and partners will see nothing while it's private, so any offer they try to build in the meantime will fail.