A third-party marketplace is any skin trading site that is not the Steam Community Market. The big difference is money. Steam pays sellers in Steam Wallet funds that can only be spent on Steam. A third-party marketplace pays in real money that you can withdraw. Which payout methods a site offers is listed on its own fees or payout page, and our marketplace reviews record them for each site.
Marketplaces come in a few types. P2P sites match buyers and sellers and move the item by direct trade offer. Bot sites hold items in their own accounts. Instant sell sites buy from you directly. Many sites mix these models. Each charges fees, which can be a percentage of the sale, a listing fee, a withdrawal fee, or some combination. Compare fee types at /marketplaces/fees/.
How do I choose a safe CS2 marketplace?
Start with age and track record. Look for a real company behind the site, a public support channel and clear terms. Check that the login flow opens a real Steam window on steamcommunity.com. Look at how the site handles CS2 trade protection: every CS2 item received in a trade is Trade Protected for 7 days and the sender can reverse the trade in that window, so read what the site's terms say happens to a sale if a trade is reversed.
Avoid sites that push you to create a Steam Web API key, that promise prices far above the market, or that appeared last month with a big giveaway. Run any link through the scam link checker before signing in. Our marketplace reviews list what each site's own pages say about fees, payouts and company details.
What fees do CS2 marketplaces charge?
Most charge the seller a percentage of the sale price. Some also charge buyers, and most charge for withdrawals depending on the method. For comparison, the Steam Market adds a 5 percent Steam fee and a 10 percent Counter-Strike 2 fee on top of what the seller receives, about 15 percent in total. Many sites charge less than that, but the exact number depends on the site and sometimes on your volume. Never assume; read the site's fee page and use the fee calculator to see what you would keep.
A marketplace is also the safest answer to the middleman problem. Its escrow holds the buyer's money until the item arrives, so neither side can walk away with both.