The ranked ledger
The marketplace audit
One imaginary sale — a $100.00 AK-47 — priced through every major CS2 marketplace at its published rates, read and dated 9 September 2026. Rates come from each platform's own published terms, cross-checked against reviews that tested them (compiled 4 Sep 2026); anything we could not pin down is marked unverified rather than guessed.
Line items
The one-sale test
Fee percentages hide differences that dollars expose, so every market below is scored on the same question: list a $100.00 skin, sell it, withdraw the money — what lands? Two published numbers decide it: the seller fee taken at sale, and the withdrawal cost taken at cash-out. Some markets run one high and the other at zero; some run both; one famous option pays you in money you can never withdraw at all.
| Marketplace | Seller fee (published) | Withdrawal | $100 sale pays about | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSFloat | 2% | 0.5–2.5% by method | $95.50–97.50 | P2P listing |
| Skinport | 8% (6% above €1,000; 2% on private listings) | bank/PayPal — no buyer fee | $92 | P2P listing |
| DMarket | ~2% standard, up to ~10% on low-liquidity items; F2F ~4% | by method — unverified | $90–98 by item and payout | Hybrid / instant |
| Tradeit.gg | opaque — terms allow 0–30%; instant-sell quotes 5–20% under | cash-out 2%, $10 min | $78–93 equivalent | Instant / bot |
| CS.Money | priced into the spread | built into rates | varies by item — check the quote | Instant / bot |
| SkinBaron | seller fee not confirmed | payment-method fees: card 5% + €0.35, SOFORT 5%, Paysafe 15% | check at listing | P2P listing |
| Steam Community Market | 15% total (5% Steam + 10% CS2) | none — wallet funds only | $87 in unwithdrawable credit | First-party |
Read the last row twice if you are new to this: Steam's market is the safest place to sell and the only one where the proceeds are not money. Wallet credit buys more skins and nothing else, ever. Third-party marketplaces exist because of that single fact, and every risk difference between them and Steam is the price of withdrawable cash.
How to choose in three questions
Patient and fee-averse? List on CSFloat at its published 2% and wait for a real buyer — the cheapest honest path we can find at our read date. Want a European storefront with a long track record and buyer-side simplicity? Skinport's 8% is steep next to 2%, but its no-buyer-fee model helps items actually move — and drops to 6% above €1,000. Need money today? The instant sites — Tradeit, CS.Money, DMarket's instant mode — quote you a price below market and the gap is the fee, whatever the label says. None of these answers is wrong; paying an instant-site spread for patience you actually had is.
The rules that protect you on every market
All trades happen inside the platform, no exceptions — every "direct trade, better price" message is the same scam wearing different fonts. Enable two-factor on Steam and the marketplace both. Expect Valve's Trade Protection (July 2025) to shape how fast anything completes: trades are reversible for 7 days, a reversal triggers a 30-day cooldown, and P2P markets now credit sellers about 8 days after delivery — read each market's handling before you list, not after. And check the fee page on the day you sell: our numbers carry a read-date for a reason.
Where the money goes when you sell: our receipts section keeps live write-ups per marketplace — start with the Skinport fee breakdown and why Steam wallet funds are a trap for cash-out sellers.