Steam Support
Steam Sale Trading Cards & Badge FAQ

During the Summer and Winter sales on Steam, collect a full set of Sale Trading Cards to craft the special sale badge and get rewards!


Available during Winter and Summer Sales. Collect all the trading cards (typically 10, but can be more or less depending on the event) to craft the sale badge. This special badge can be crafted an unlimited number of times during the sale resulting in exponential profile XP.

Craft the sale badge and you’ll also receive a sale themed emoticon and profile background.

During the sale there are a few ways to get trading cards. Read how below.

How do I get Steam Sale trading cards?

Steam Sale cards are only available during the Summer and Winter Sales. There are a few ways to get the cards:

  1. Craft a game badge
    Starting one week prior to the start of the sale, crafting a game badge earns you a mystery card. During the sale, each game badge you craft will get you an additional Steam Sale Trading Card.

  2. Make a purchase
    As an extra reward for purchasing, for every $10 USD spent during the sale you’ll receive a Steam Sale Trading Card. From your sale badge page select “How do I get more cards?” to track your purchasing progress.

  3. Trade for them
    That’s why they’re called trading cards! Find friends with other cards and make trades. Your Steam Sale badge page shows which friends have the cards you need.

  4. Buy them from the Community Market
    Sell the cards you don’t need and buy the ones you do, all with other Community members on the Community Marketplace. Turn those duplicate cards into Steam Wallet funds to buy games.



How do I get the Steam Sale badge?

Once you’ve collected the entire set of cards you can craft them into a special badge for the Steam Sale to show off on your profile. From your Badges page, select a ready-to-craft badge to view its details and click on the blue "Craft Badge" button.

Visit your badge page for details and progress.

What do I get when I craft the badge?

Crafting the Steam Sale badge earns you an emoticon and a profile background in addition to profile XP. All item rewards are tradable and marketable. Crafting another set of cards will level up your badge and earn you more items.

What is the Steam Sale foil badge?

The Steam Sale foil badge can only be obtained by crafting the Steam Sale badge with foil trading cards. Foil trading cards are exceedingly rare and are randomly dropped. Crafting the foil Steam Sale badge earns you an emoticon and profile background as well.

What is unique to the Steam Sale badge?

A game badge can only be crafted a limited number of times. Unlike a game badge, there is no limit to the number of times you can craft the Steam Sale badge. Each time you craft the badge, you will continue to earn item rewards and profile XP.

How long do I have to craft the badge?

As long as you have a full set of Steam Sale cards, you can craft the badge at any point after the sale. However, 30 days after the sale ends the cards will no longer be tradable and marketable.

Do the Steam Sale trading cards expire?

Steam Sale trading cards will no longer be tradable or marketable 30 days after the sale ends.

Got more questions?

Check out the general Trading Cards FAQ
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