Where a price comes from
Every price starts from market data. We track what each item is listed and sold for on the Steam Community Market and other big marketplaces, and the lowest price the item is currently listed for is our starting point. We need several price sources for an item. If we can't get a reliable price, we don't make an offer.
From there, the price depends on how easily we can sell the item again, as explained below. All prices are in US dollars, and you see each one next to the item after you sign in with Steam.
Why items that sell often get a better price
We buy items so we can sell them again. An item that changes hands many times a day can be resold quickly at a known price, so it gets a better offer. An item that sells a few times a month may take weeks to resell, and its price can move a lot in that time, so its offer is lower.
Some items get no offer at all:
- Items with too few sales. Without regular sales there's no reliable price to start from.
- Items released in the last two weeks. The price of a new item usually swings in its first days, so we wait until it settles.
- Items we already hold many of. If we have plenty of one item, we may skip it until we've sold some.
Why our price is lower than the Steam Market
This is the question we're asked most often, so here's the plain answer. Three things explain the gap.
A Steam listing price isn't what the seller gets
The price on the Steam Community Market is what the buyer pays. It's the seller's price plus about 15% in fees: 5% for Steam and 10% for the game (CS2, Dota 2 and TF2). So if a skin is listed at $1.15, the seller receives $1.00. Our guide to Steam Market fees has more worked examples.
Steam pays only in Wallet funds
Even that $1.00 stays on Steam. Market sales go into your Steam Wallet, and you can't withdraw Wallet funds to PayPal or a bank. We pay in US dollars that you withdraw to PayPal or crypto.
We hold the item and carry the risk
When you sell to us, your price is fixed at the moment you trade, and selling the item again is our job. We hold it until someone buys it, and its price can fall in the meantime. CS2 items carry one more risk: Steam lets the sender reverse a CS2 trade for 7 days, so for that week the item can be pulled back. That's why we release the money for CS2 items when the 7 days end.
Our price covers that cost and risk, plus our margin. We don't publish the margin, but you always see the final price of each item before you trade, so you can compare it with any other site. If you'd rather wait for a higher price, you can list a skin on a P2P marketplace and wait for another player to buy it. Our ranking of sites to sell CS2 skins compares the options.
Prices move with the market
Skin prices change every day, after game updates, new cases, tournaments and plain supply and demand. Our prices follow the market, so the offer for the same skin can be higher or lower next week. Our post on why CS2 skin prices change goes into the reasons.
What doesn't change is the order of things. You see the exact price of each item before you trade, and that's what you get for it. Nothing is deducted after the trade, except the fee of the payout method you choose when you withdraw.
Payout fees
The fee depends on the payout method, not on what you sold. These are today's fees:
| Payout method | Fee | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal | 2% | A percentage of the amount you withdraw |
| Bitcoin | $2 | Our estimate of the network fee |
| Ethereum | $0.50 | Our estimate of the network fee |
| Litecoin | $0.10 | Our estimate of the network fee |
An example: you sell skins for $100 and withdraw to PayPal. The fee is $2, and you receive $98. The same $100 in Litecoin costs $0.10 in fees, but you receive Litecoin, not dollars.
Fees can change. The payout card at the top of this page always shows the current fee, minimum and maximum of each method, and the calculator above works out what each method sends for any sale total. You see the fee and the exact amount again before you confirm a withdrawal.
Two things can still change the final amount, and neither is our price:
- Crypto. The coin amount is calculated at the exchange rate when the payout is sent, and the real network fee at that moment is deducted. The result can differ a little from the estimate. Read how to sell CS2 skins for crypto.
- PayPal. We pay in US dollars. If your PayPal account uses another currency, PayPal converts the money at its own rate and charges its currency conversion fee. Read how to sell CS2 skins for PayPal.
Items we don't buy
After you sign in, items we can't buy are grayed out and have no price, so you won't send an item we don't pay for. We don't buy:
- items worth less than $0.30 on the market, or $0.10 for Rust skins
- items released in the last two weeks, because their price isn't stable yet
- items with too few sales to give them a reliable price
- CS2 cases and other containers, Souvenir items, graffiti, music kits, sticker capsules and name tags
- TF2 crates, cases, Name Tags and tickets
- Rust crafting resources such as cloth, wood and metal, and Dota 2 loading screens
- items from games other than CS2, Rust, TF2 and Dota 2
We may also skip an item we already hold too many of, and buy it again later. If you want to sell for money you can withdraw, our page on how to sell CS2 skins for real money compares every way to do it.