The Steam Community Market is the simplest place to sell a CS2 item: list it, and the money lands in your Steam Wallet when it sells. That convenience has costs. Every sale carries two fees, the proceeds can't leave Steam, and price caps keep the most expensive items off the Market entirely. Here are the current numbers and rules, taken from Valve's own pages.
The two fees on every sale
Valve's Market FAQ lists two charges on a Counter-Strike 2 sale:
- the Steam Transaction Fee, currently 5% with a minimum of $0.01, which Valve says the buyer pays and which is shown on the confirmation page before purchase;
- the Counter-Strike 2 fee, a game-specific fee of 10% that the publisher sets and collects. Valve's page still labels it the CS:GO fee in places.
Both are added on top of the amount the seller receives, so the buyer pays about 1.15 times what lands in the seller's wallet. In other words, the price a buyer pays already includes both fees, and the seller gets what's left.
| You receive | Steam fee (5%) | CS2 fee (10%) | Buyer pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | $0.05 | $0.10 | $1.15 |
| $10.00 | $0.50 | $1.00 | $11.50 |
| $100.00 | $5.00 | $10.00 | $115.00 |
| $1,000.00 | $50.00 | $100.00 | $1,150.00 |
Put the other way round, a seller keeps roughly 87% of what the buyer pays. Fees are worked out in whole cents, so real listings can differ from these figures by a cent, and the one-cent minimum on the Steam fee takes a much bigger share of very cheap items.
Where the money goes, and the caps
Market proceeds go into your Steam Wallet and stay there. Valve's FAQ is explicit that the funds can't be withdrawn or transferred to another Steam account, a bank or any third party. You can spend them on games, other items, or Steam gifts for friends.
Two caps also apply:
- Wallet limit. Valve currently caps Steam Wallet balances at $2,000, or close to that in other currencies. You can't list an item if your current balance plus the sale price would go over the limit. If you have several Steam accounts, Valve adds their wallets together for this check.
- Price limit. No single item can be listed for more than about $1,800.
So anything worth more than that, including many high-end knives and gloves, has to be sold somewhere else. Taxes are your own business; Valve says it's up to you to work out whether you owe any on your sales.
If you need money you can actually withdraw, selling has to happen off the Market. CS2Sell, for example, lets you sell to its bots or list items for other users on Sell, and pays withdrawals in USDT.
Who can use the Market
Not every account can buy or sell. Valve's requirements:
- A purchase history. The account needs a successful purchase older than seven days but not older than a year. Games, DLC and wallet funds count; gifts and retail CD keys don't. A chargeback resets the clock.
- Steam Guard for 15 days. Accounts that haven't had Steam Guard on for 15 days can't use the Market.
- Payment checks. Funding your wallet with an unverified credit card or PayPal means a three-day wait before you can use those funds on the Market. Cards can be verified with Steam's verification tool, which sends two small authorisations to your bank; you get three attempts. PayPal can't be verified.
Account restrictions apply too. A forgotten-password reset blocks the Market for five days, removing the Mobile Authenticator blocks it for 15, and reversing protected trades blocks it for 30. Our guide to Steam Guard and trade holds lists the full set.
Holds and locks on CS2 items
Listing holds. If you haven't had the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator for at least seven days, Valve's authenticator page says new Market listings are held for 15 days before they go up for sale. CS2 trades are exempt from holds, but that exemption doesn't mention Market listings.
Listed items stay with you. Since March 4, 2026, CS2 items you list remain in your inventory while they're for sale, so you can keep a skin equipped until it sells. While listed they can't be consumed or modified, and you can cancel the listing at any time.
Bought items are locked for a while. Items bought on the Market show a date in your inventory before which they can't be traded or re-listed. Valve set that lock at seven days in October 2024. Items received in trades are protected for seven days and can't be listed until then either.
Purchases are final. Valve's FAQ says you have no right to a refund or reversal once a Market transaction completes. Steam's trade reversal feature only covers trades, not Market purchases.
Buy orders
Instead of buying the cheapest listing, you can place a buy order: you set the most you'll pay, and the purchase completes when an item comes up at or below that price. If one is listed cheaper, you pay the lower price. You can have buy orders worth up to ten times your wallet balance active at once; any order your balance can't cover is cancelled automatically.
When several buy orders could fill a new listing, the oldest one wins. When your buy order matches several listings, Steam buys the cheapest, and among equally cheap listings it takes the one that has waited longest. Our guide to buy orders vs listings covers how to use them.