Selling a skin on the Steam Community Market costs you about 15% off the top: a 5% Steam transaction fee plus a 10% CS2 game fee, both applied to what the seller receives. That money then lands in your Steam wallet, where it stays. It cannot be cashed out to a bank.
Last updated: July 9, 2026. Verified against current CS2 mechanics, July 2026.
The two fees: 5% Steam + 10% CS2
Every Community Market sale carries two stacked fees:
- Steam transaction fee: 5%. This goes to Valve for running the marketplace itself.
- Game (publisher) fee: 10%. For CS2 this goes to the game's publisher fee bucket. Other games can set a different rate, but CS2 sits at 10%.
Both fees are calculated on the amount the seller receives, not on the buyer's total. That distinction matters for the math. Steam works backwards from the price a buyer pays, strips out the fees, and hands the remainder to the seller.
So the buyer's price equals your net plus 5% plus 10%, which is your net multiplied by 1.15. Flip that around and the buyer price loses about 13% on the way to your wallet.
Worked examples
Here is the real math on a few common price points. Steam rounds each fee to the nearest cent, so live numbers can be a penny off, but this is accurate enough to plan around.
| Buyer pays | Steam 5% | CS2 10% | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.15 | $0.05 | $0.10 | $1.00 |
| $11.50 | $0.50 | $1.00 | $10.00 |
| $57.50 | $2.50 | $5.00 | $50.00 |
| $115.00 | $5.00 | $10.00 | $100.00 |
| $1,150.00 | $50.00 | $100.00 | $1,000.00 |
Notice the pattern: to net a clean $100, a buyer has to pay $115. That 15% gap is the single most important number to internalize before you list anything. If you are selling a Covert AK or an AWP and eyeing the price on the market page, mentally shave 13% off before you celebrate.
The minimum-fee trap on cheap items
Both fees carry a minimum of one cent each. That is invisible on expensive skins but brutal on cheap ones.
Take a sticker or a common container listed so the buyer pays $0.03. The two minimum fees eat $0.02, leaving you a single cent. That is an effective fee rate near 66%, not 15%.
The effect fades as prices climb:
| Buyer pays | Fees | You receive | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.03 | $0.02 | $0.01 | ~67% |
| $0.10 | $0.02 | $0.08 | ~20% |
| $0.50 | $0.07 | $0.43 | ~14% |
| $2.00 | $0.26 | $1.74 | ~13% |
The lesson for collectors: dumping a stack of low-value drops on Steam is mostly a donation to the fee engine. Below roughly $0.20, the minimum fee dominates and you keep pennies. This is why bulk sellers often route cheap charms and stickers through cash marketplaces or trade them in bulk instead.
The wallet lock: your money cannot leave Steam
This is the part people forget until it is too late. Steam wallet funds are not withdrawable. There is no cash-out button, no bank transfer, no PayPal.
What you can do with Steam credit:
- Buy other skins, cases, or items on the Community Market.
- Buy games, DLC, and in-game content on Steam.
What you cannot do:
- Convert it back to real currency.
- Send it to another user directly.
So the true "cost" of selling on Steam is not just the 15% fee. It is 15% plus the fact that the remainder is locked into the Steam ecosystem forever. If your goal is spending money inside Steam anyway (topping up for a knife upgrade, buying the next case batch), that lock is harmless. If your goal is real money in your pocket, Steam is the wrong exit.
Steam vs cash marketplaces
This is where the fee conversation gets interesting. Third-party cash marketplaces charge their own fees, often in the same 0% to 15% ballpark depending on the platform and payment method. On paper that can look similar to Steam's 15%. The difference is what you walk away with.
- Steam: ~15% fee, payout is locked wallet credit.
- Cash marketplaces: variable fee, payout is real withdrawable money (with its own withdrawal fees on some platforms).
There is also the buyer side. Because Steam credit is trapped, buyers with big wallet balances will often pay more on Steam than the same skin costs for cash elsewhere. That premium is why a skin can genuinely be cheaper on a cash market than on Steam even after both sets of fees. Our markets guide breaks down where each platform sits, and the deals page surfaces the biggest live gaps between them.
The honest summary: sell on Steam if you plan to spend inside Steam, because the fee is your only real cost. Sell for cash if you want money out, and always compare the net payout across platforms first. That is exactly what our fee calculator is built for, and why we pair it with the full price-comparison catalog.
The bottom line
Steam market fees are simple once you see them clearly: 15% off your payout, a nasty minimum-fee bite on cheap items, and a wallet that never opens outward. None of that makes Steam bad. It makes Steam a place to spend, not to cash out. If you are reinvesting into your inventory, the fee is your whole cost and the convenience is real. If you want money in hand, price your skins net across every platform first.
Run your listing through the fee calculator, check where the live gaps are, value your whole collection with the inventory calculator, and browse the full skins catalog before you commit to a sale. Trust the net number, not the sticker price.
Remy, SkinWise