If you’ve recently tried to accept a trade on Steam and were met with the message:
Sorry! an error was encountered while processing your request. There was an error retrieving your trade offers. Please try again later.
You’re not alone.
This error has popped up before — as far back as 11 years ago — but the current version seems to be a new twist on an old issue. At the time of writing, it’s been affecting users for about a week, and while it’s not directly caused by Steam’s recent protected trades update (released just a couple of days ago), the two are closely related.
What’s Going On?
It appears that the trade list fails to load properly if there are too many protected items involved in the trade — specifically, around 10 or more. When this happens, you can’t accept trades in the Steam client or even via a web browser.
And here’s the kicker:
This is a Steam-side issue.
Which means:
You can’t fix it yourself
Valve will likely fix it soon (hopefully)
Tutorials like this may become outdated fast
That said, you can still accept your trades — you just need to work around the broken UI.
Workarounds You Can Use
Even though the interface is broken, the trade offers do go through — you just don’t have a normal way to accept them. Here are a few options that are working right now:
1. Use a Marketplace (e.g., CSFloat)
If you’re using marketplaces like CSFloat to trade or buy skins, you can accept trade offers directly through their platform. It bypasses Steam’s broken UI entirely.
2. Use the Steam Inventory Helper Extension in Browser
This browser extension is well-established and generally considered safe.
Once installed:
Log into Steam in your browser
Click the Inventory Helper extension icon
Navigate to the Trades section
Accept your trades from there
This method works well for most users and doesn’t require complex setup.
3. Use a Dev Console Script or Custom Extension
An open-source developer released a workaround script (originally made 5 years ago, now updated for the current issue).
You have two options:
A. Run the Script in Your Browser’s Dev Console
Copy the script from the GitHub repo
Paste it into your browser’s dev tools console
It will fetch and show links to your trade offers, which you can then open and accept
B. Install the Script as a Custom Extension
Download and unzip the extension files from GitHub
Load it into your browser manually (using the “Load unpacked extension” feature)
Follow the simple setup steps
You’ll then be able to view and accept trade offers through a custom UI
Since the code is open source, anyone with technical know-how can verify what it does — and so far, it’s considered safe.
Final Thoughts
While there’s no official fix yet, these workarounds should hold you over until Valve inevitably patches this bug (and hopefully doesn’t break something else in the process).