Would it be against the rules to enter for a game I have in my inventory, but not my library?

As long as you activate the copy you win, that's fine.

Even if it's fine according to the rules, it's still considered amoral to do so.

Yes, you can.

Since you can make inventory private no one would know you bought it.

No. I enter for games I have in my inventory every now and then because the one I already have is reserved for a current giveaway. I don't like entering if the copy I have was purchased for myself though. I think it's a bit of a dickmove.

I sent in a support ticket asking about it a while back, and was told that it was okay. Though other members might have issues with you entering their giveaways if you've already got a copy of the game that they're giving away.

While I'm thinking about it, Terraria will most likely be cheap during the summer sale, so you probably won't get much for it. But you'll be able to trade it for another cheap game quite easily, I'm sure!

Dn't matter who thinks it's adickmove, it's allowed.

a good tip: if you think it might be wrong, don't do it.. anyway try the support and see what they say

on a personal note.. dick move indeed, just don't do it

It is not against the rules. The rule about not entering for games you already own refers to items that are in your library.

Nobody knows what an inventory item is intended for so it's up to entrants to decide. Some members might, indeed, get annoyed as others mentioned but that's not a reason for you to not to enter if you wish to.

Gave away a few Rome Total War earlier and I'm fine with the ones who have it in their inv as long as they activate their winning. Hell even some of the items in my inv are reserved for future giveaways.

You Sir, are an a-hole. Plain and simple. You are greedy, and you should not be entering the contest. The rules here might force me to give you the game if you won a contest I held, but I would hate giving it to you, and it would ruin the satisfaction of giving a gift to someone.

Allowed and not even a dick move, people here think gifting and receiving is a sacred sport and only the ones who 'truly' need the games should be entering contests. If you create a giveaway on steamgifts you condone to its rules and you accept that someone who can afford the game more than others is also eligible for winning.
Entitled fucks.

If you win just activate it to your account.

If you have the game in your inventory, you don't really need another copy. So while it's not technically against the rules, IMO it is rather bad form since there are other people who may need the game who, unlike yourself, can't get it any other way.

It's fine IMHO

Yes, it's perfectly fine. Ignore those who complain.

I'm storing like 3-4 games I do have and 1-2 games I don't have right now just for a summer giveaway festival (at least that's how I call it =D)

Well, it's not against the rules but a dick move IMO. It's not like you're strapped for cash since you're just holding it to trade away.

There was another thread about this where a support moderator said it wasn't against the rules and allowed I remember, so go on ahead.

I prefer to buy games to giveaway but I don't have enough money to buy two of every game so what's wrong with entering to win a copy of a game you think you might want to play? It's not like anybody on here NEEDS to play these games.

It seems silly that some people complain about the idea of someone winning a game then giving away a copy from their inventory, yet most of the same people would probably be quite happy with someone who won a game and then bought and gave away a new copy, even if the first person might have gone to greater expense to do so.

To me, one of Steamgifts' strengths is that it's not a charity, it's a competition that treats everyone (almost) equally. The one exception to this is the rule that someone who already has a game in their library can't enter to win it - for fairness, it would be better to allow everyone to enter, with a rule that someone can only win any particular game once - but this would lead to some other minor issues and given my fairly average account value it's not something I feel particularly strongly about either way. :)

I have a couple that I'm entered in right now where I actually have a copy in my inventory. I was entered in the GA before I got the copy and figured if I don't win it I'll just redeem the copy I have. Or I may still give the copy in my inventory away in a GA.

I don't see a difference between having it in the inventory or in the library. You have the game. And you can play it. If you want to give it away on Steamgifts for free, fine. But if you want to trade your spare copy, then what is the difference between entering for a game you already have in your library to trade the extra copy you win? There is no difference. People get all upset about other people not activating their won games and play Sherlock Holmes all the time to denounce them, but this is ok? Weird.

People who don't trade or can't trade seem to have a real problem with it, but there are no rules against it. If there was a rule, you could switch to a private inventory or just buy everything in key form so no one could whine.

There seems to be a notion that if you trade, you're wealthy and can afford anything anyway which I can say is certainly not the case. Buying multiple bundles when they first started and before they were well known because you knew they'd increase in value doesn't prove that you're rich. nor does taking advantage of IG's Happy Hour and received 20 bundles for $20 rather than 1 bundle for $5.

its totally fine man, people get butthurt for no reason... if you want to win a game you want to win a game, why not take the chance and see if you can gift it to a friend or trade it?

tl;dr version

Unless your morality's against it AND/OR the giveaway-er is against it, YES- it is okay.