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Pricing System & Phase Detection Guide

Complete guide for the automated pricing system using SteamAPIs.com, phase detection for Doppler items, and hourly price updates.

🎯 Overview

The pricing system automatically fetches and updates market prices for CS2 and Rust items every hour using SteamAPIs.com. It includes:

Phase Detection - Automatically detects Doppler phases (Ruby, Sapphire, Phase 1-4, etc.)
Market Price Storage - Stores prices in database for fast access
Automatic Updates - Scheduled hourly updates (configurable)
Manual Triggers - Admin panel for manual price updates
Estimation Fallback - Smart price estimation when market data unavailable

📊 Features

1. Phase Detection

Automatically detects Doppler and Gamma Doppler phases from item names and descriptions:

Supported Phases:

✅ Ruby (highest value)
✅ Sapphire (highest value)
✅ Black Pearl (rare)
✅ Emerald (Gamma Doppler)
✅ Phase 1
✅ Phase 2 (popular)
✅ Phase 3
✅ Phase 4 (popular)

How It Works:

// Example detection from item name/description
"★ Karambit | Doppler (Factory New) - Ruby" → Phase: "Ruby"
"★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler (Minimal Wear) - Phase 2" → Phase: "Phase 2"

Phase Multipliers (Price Impact):

Ruby: 3.5x base price
Sapphire: 3.8x base price
Emerald: 4.0x base price
Black Pearl: 2.5x base price
Phase 2: 1.3x base price
Phase 4: 1.2x base price
Phase 1: 1.0x base price
Phase 3: 0.95x base price

2. Market Price Fetching

Source: SteamAPIs.com /market/items/{AppID} endpoint

Supported Games:

CS2 (AppID: 730)
Rust (AppID: 252490)

Price Data:

Uses 30-day average price (most stable)
Currency: USD
Updates every hour
Caches last update timestamp

Example API Call:

GET https://api.steamapis.com/market/items/730?api_key=YOUR_KEY

Response Format:

{
  "data": {
    "AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)": {
      "prices": {
        "7": 42.50,
        "30": 41.80,
        "all_time": 45.00
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Database Storage

Item Model Fields:

{
  name: String,              // Item name (used for price matching)
  price: Number,             // Seller's listing price
  marketPrice: Number,       // Current market price from SteamAPIs
  priceUpdatedAt: Date,      // Last price update timestamp
  phase: String,             // Doppler phase (if applicable)
  wear: String,              // fn, mw, ft, ww, bs
  statTrak: Boolean,
  souvenir: Boolean
}

4. Price Estimation

When market data is unavailable, the system uses intelligent estimation:

Factors Considered:

Item name patterns (knives, gloves, high-tier skins)
Wear condition multipliers
Phase multipliers
StatTrak multiplier (1.5x)
Souvenir multiplier (1.3x)

Wear Multipliers:

Factory New (FN): 1.0x
Minimal Wear (MW): 0.85x
Field-Tested (FT): 0.70x
Well-Worn (WW): 0.55x
Battle-Scarred (BS): 0.40x

🔧 Setup & Configuration

1. Environment Variables

Add to .env file:

# Steam API Key (SteamAPIs.com)
STEAM_APIS_KEY=your_steamapis_key_here
STEAM_API_KEY=fallback_key_here

# Admin Configuration
ADMIN_STEAM_IDS=76561198000000000,76561198111111111

# Enable automatic price updates (optional in dev)
ENABLE_PRICE_UPDATES=true

2. Admin Access

Option A: Steam ID Whitelist Add admin Steam IDs to .env:

ADMIN_STEAM_IDS=76561198000000000,76561198111111111

Option B: Staff Level Update user in database:

db.users.updateOne(
  { steamId: "76561198000000000" },
  { $set: { staffLevel: 3 } }
)

Admin Levels:

0: Regular user
1: Moderator
2: Staff
3+: Admin (has pricing access)

3. Start Price Updates

Automatic (on server start):

// Runs every 1 hour automatically
pricingService.scheduleUpdates(60 * 60 * 1000);

Manual via API:

POST /api/admin/prices/schedule
{
  "intervalMinutes": 60
}

Disable in Development:

# Don't set ENABLE_PRICE_UPDATES or set to false
ENABLE_PRICE_UPDATES=false

📡 API Endpoints

Admin Endpoints (Require Authentication + Admin Access)

1. Trigger Price Update

POST /api/admin/prices/update
Content-Type: application/json
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

{
  "game": "cs2"  // "cs2", "rust", or "all"
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Price update completed",
  "data": {
    "cs2": {
      "success": true,
      "game": "cs2",
      "total": 150,
      "updated": 142,
      "notFound": 8,
      "errors": 0,
      "timestamp": "2024-01-10T12:00:00.000Z"
    }
  }
}

2. Get Price Update Status

GET /api/admin/prices/status
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "status": {
    "cs2": {
      "lastUpdate": "2024-01-10T11:00:00.000Z",
      "needsUpdate": false,
      "stats": {
        "total": 150,
        "withMarketPrice": 142,
        "avgMarketPrice": 45.50,
        "minMarketPrice": 0.50,
        "maxMarketPrice": 8999.99
      }
    },
    "rust": {
      "lastUpdate": "2024-01-10T11:00:00.000Z",
      "needsUpdate": false,
      "stats": {
        "total": 50,
        "withMarketPrice": 45,
        "avgMarketPrice": 25.30
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Get Items Without Prices

GET /api/admin/prices/missing?game=cs2&limit=50
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "total": 8,
  "items": [
    {
      "_id": "item_id",
      "name": "AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)",
      "game": "cs2",
      "category": "rifles",
      "rarity": "rare",
      "wear": "ft",
      "phase": null,
      "seller": {
        "username": "User123"
      }
    }
  ]
}

4. Estimate Price for Specific Item

POST /api/admin/prices/estimate
Content-Type: application/json
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

{
  "itemId": "item_id_here"
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Price estimated and updated",
  "item": {
    "id": "item_id",
    "name": "AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)",
    "marketPrice": 42.50,
    "priceUpdatedAt": "2024-01-10T12:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

5. Schedule Price Updates

POST /api/admin/prices/schedule
Content-Type: application/json
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

{
  "intervalMinutes": 60
}

Options:

Minimum: 15 minutes
Maximum: 1440 minutes (24 hours)
Default: 60 minutes (1 hour)

6. Get System Statistics

GET /api/admin/stats
Cookie: accessToken=your_jwt_token

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "stats": {
    "items": {
      "total": 250,
      "active": 200,
      "sold": 50
    },
    "users": {
      "total": 1500
    },
    "marketplace": {
      "totalValue": 125000.00,
      "totalRevenue": 75000.00
    },
    "recentSales": [...]
  }
}

🔄 How It Works

Automatic Price Updates

Flow:

Scheduler triggers (every 1 hour)
Fetch prices from SteamAPIs.com
Parse response - Extract item names and prices
Query database - Get all active items for game
Match items - Compare by name (exact match)
Update prices - Save marketPrice and timestamp
Log results - Report success/failures

Example Log Output:

⏰ Scheduling automatic price updates every 60 minutes
📊 Fetching CS2 market prices...
✅ Fetched 5000 prices for CS2
🔄 Updating database prices for CS2...
✅ Price update complete for CS2:
   - Total items: 150
   - Updated: 142
   - Not found: 8
   - Errors: 0

Phase Detection in Inventory

When user loads Sell page:

Fetch inventory from Steam/SteamAPIs
Parse descriptions - Extract item descriptions
Detect phase - Scan name + description for phase keywords
Store phase - Add to item data
Calculate price - Apply phase multipliers

Example:

// Item from Steam inventory
{
  name: "★ Karambit | Doppler (Factory New)",
  descriptions: [
    { value: "Phase 2" },
    { value: "Rare Special Item" }
  ]
}

// After phase detection
{
  name: "★ Karambit | Doppler (Factory New)",
  phase: "Phase 2",
  estimatedPrice: 520.00  // Base 400 * 1.3 (Phase 2 multiplier)
}

Price Calculation

Priority Order:

Database marketPrice (if available and recent)
SteamAPIs market data (if available)
Estimation algorithm (fallback)

Calculation Steps:

let price = basePrice;

// 1. Apply wear multiplier
if (wear) {
  price *= wearMultipliers[wear];
}

// 2. Apply phase multiplier
if (phase) {
  price *= phaseMultipliers[phase];
}

// 3. Apply StatTrak multiplier
if (statTrak) {
  price *= 1.5;
}

// 4. Apply Souvenir multiplier
if (souvenir) {
  price *= 1.3;
}

return Math.round(price * 100) / 100;

🧪 Testing

1. Test Price Fetching

Via Admin API:

# Get auth token first (login via Steam)
# Then trigger update

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/api/admin/prices/update \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Cookie: accessToken=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"game": "cs2"}'

Expected Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Price update completed",
  "data": {
    "cs2": {
      "success": true,
      "updated": 142,
      "notFound": 8
    }
  }
}

2. Test Phase Detection

Load item with Doppler:

// In Sell page, select a Doppler knife
// Check console logs or item data

console.log(item.phase); // Should show "Ruby", "Phase 2", etc.

3. Verify Database Updates

MongoDB Shell:

// Check items with market prices
db.items.find({
  marketPrice: { $exists: true, $ne: null }
}).count();

// Check recent price updates
db.items.find({
  priceUpdatedAt: { $gte: new Date(Date.now() - 3600000) }
});

// Check items with phases
db.items.find({
  phase: { $ne: null }
});

4. Test Scheduled Updates

Enable in development:

ENABLE_PRICE_UPDATES=true

Watch logs:

⏰ Starting automatic price update scheduler...
📊 Fetching CS2 market prices...
✅ Fetched 5000 prices for CS2
🔄 Updating database prices for CS2...
✅ Price update complete

📈 Monitoring

Check Price Update Status

Via Admin Dashboard:

GET /api/admin/prices/status

Look for:

Last update timestamp
Number of items with prices
Items missing prices
Average market prices

Check Logs

Successful Update:

✅ Fetched 5000 prices for CS2
✅ Price update complete for CS2:
   - Total items: 150
   - Updated: 142

Failures:

❌ Error fetching market prices for cs2: 429 Rate limit exceeded
❌ Failed to update item AK-47 | Redline: Not found in market data

Database Health Check

// Check price coverage
db.items.aggregate([
  {
    $group: {
      _id: "$game",
      total: { $sum: 1 },
      withPrice: {
        $sum: { $cond: [{ $ne: ["$marketPrice", null] }, 1, 0] }
      }
    }
  }
]);

// Output:
// { _id: "cs2", total: 150, withPrice: 142 }
// { _id: "rust", total: 50, withPrice: 45 }

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue: No Prices Being Fetched

Check:

✅ STEAM_APIS_KEY in .env
✅ API key is valid
✅ SteamAPIs.com service status
✅ Rate limits not exceeded

Fix:

# Verify API key
curl "https://api.steamapis.com/market/items/730?api_key=YOUR_KEY"

# Check backend logs
# Should see: "📊 Fetching CS2 market prices..."

Issue: Phase Not Detected

Check:

Item name contains phase info
Item description parsed correctly
Phase keywords match exactly

Debug:

// Add logging in inventory route
console.log("Item name:", item.name);
console.log("Descriptions:", item.descriptions);
console.log("Detected phase:", item.phase);

Issue: Prices Not Updating

Check:

Scheduler is running
Last update timestamp
Items match by name exactly
No errors in logs

Fix:

# Manually trigger update
POST /api/admin/prices/update

# Check status
GET /api/admin/prices/status

# Check missing prices
GET /api/admin/prices/missing

Issue: Rate Limit Exceeded

Error: 429 Rate limit exceeded

Solutions:

Reduce update frequency (e.g., 2 hours instead of 1)
Upgrade SteamAPIs.com plan
Implement caching
Batch updates

Configure:

// Update every 2 hours instead
pricingService.scheduleUpdates(120 * 60 * 1000);

🚀 Production Recommendations

1. Monitoring

Set up alerts for failed price updates
Monitor API usage and rate limits
Track price coverage percentage
Log all admin actions

2. Optimization

Cache price data in Redis (5-10 minutes)
Batch API requests when possible
Only update changed prices
Use webhooks if available

3. Backup Strategy

Keep historical price data
Store last N successful fetches
Fallback to estimation if API down
Manual override capability

4. Security

Restrict admin endpoints to IP whitelist
Log all price modifications
Implement audit trail
Rate limit admin endpoints

📚 API Reference

SteamAPIs.com Endpoints

Market Items:

GET /market/items/{appId}?api_key={key}

Rate Limits:

Free: 100,000 requests/month
Pro: Higher limits available

Documentation: https://steamapis.com/docs

🎓 Examples

Example 1: Manual Price Update

// Admin triggers update for CS2
const response = await fetch('/api/admin/prices/update', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  credentials: 'include',
  body: JSON.stringify({ game: 'cs2' })
});

const result = await response.json();
console.log(`Updated ${result.data.cs2.updated} items`);

Example 2: Phase Detection

// Service method
const phase = pricingService.detectPhase(
  "★ Karambit | Doppler (Factory New)",
  "Phase 2 pattern with pink/purple playside"
);

console.log(phase); // "Phase 2"

Example 3: Price Estimation

const price = await pricingService.estimatePrice({
  name: "AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)",
  wear: "ft",
  phase: null,
  statTrak: false,
  souvenir: false
});

console.log(price); // 42.50

✅ Checklist

Setup:

Added STEAM_APIS_KEY to .env
Configured admin Steam IDs or staff levels
Tested API key with manual request
Enabled price updates in environment

Testing:

Manual price update works
Automatic updates scheduled
Phase detection working
Database storing prices correctly
Admin endpoints accessible

Production:

Monitoring configured
Rate limits understood
Backup strategy in place
Security measures implemented

Last Updated: 2024
Version: 1.0
Maintained by: TurboTrades Team

15 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History

Pricing System & Phase Detection Guide

🎯 Overview

📊 Features

1. Phase Detection

2. Market Price Fetching

3. Database Storage

4. Price Estimation

🔧 Setup & Configuration

1. Environment Variables

2. Admin Access

3. Start Price Updates

📡 API Endpoints

Admin Endpoints (Require Authentication + Admin Access)

1. Trigger Price Update

2. Get Price Update Status

3. Get Items Without Prices

4. Estimate Price for Specific Item

5. Schedule Price Updates

6. Get System Statistics

🔄 How It Works

Automatic Price Updates

Phase Detection in Inventory

Price Calculation

🧪 Testing

1. Test Price Fetching

2. Test Phase Detection

3. Verify Database Updates

4. Test Scheduled Updates

📈 Monitoring

Check Price Update Status

Check Logs

Database Health Check

🐛 Troubleshooting

Issue: No Prices Being Fetched

Issue: Phase Not Detected

Issue: Prices Not Updating

Issue: Rate Limit Exceeded

🚀 Production Recommendations

1. Monitoring

2. Optimization

3. Backup Strategy

4. Security

📚 API Reference

SteamAPIs.com Endpoints

🎓 Examples

Example 1: Manual Price Update

Example 2: Phase Detection

Example 3: Price Estimation

✅ Checklist

15 KiB

Raw Permalink Blame History