What selling for cash really costs

3 of 8 marketplaces state that cash-out waits for Steam's 7-day hold. The measured gap below shows how far each cash price sits under the cheapest ask, next to each market's stated fee and payout cost.1 − (instant cash price ÷ cheapest ask on any market), per item, then the median. For each item we compare what a market pays now with the lowest price a buyer can get the same item and wear for anywhere. Only Tradeit, DMarket, PirateSwap publish a cash price. Variant: first Normal exterior of each group.

Check prices for one skin

Measured next to stated

The first column is ours, hourly. The others are what each market states, last checked 1 Oct 2026, with sources on each profile.

Measured cash price gap and stated fees per marketplace
Marketplace	Seller feestated	Payout coststated	When the money arrivesstated
CS.MONEY	5% on Market sales, 3% from $1,000	No CS.MONEY withdrawal fee; the payment system may charge. $10 minimum	After the 7-day hold; processing quoted up to 5 days
Tradeit	5-20% instant sell, built into the price shown	2% for bank or crypto, $10 minimum; store balance is free	7-10 days from the sale (7-day hold, then payout)
Skinport	8% (6% from 1,000; 2% private sales)	Not stated in the sources we checked	Bank payout reported at 1-3 business days
DMarket	2% on liquid items, up to 10% on low-liquidity	No DMarket fee; payment processors charge their own, shown before you confirm	After the 7-day hold; then up to 48 h (e-wallets) or 7 working days (cards, wire)
PirateSwap	10% listed (single source)	Not stated in the sources we checked	Reported to pay at once from its own balance
SkinsMonkey	10% listed (single source)	No cash payout	Sale proceeds arrive as site balance
SkinSwap	Varies by payout route; no single figure	Service fee on payouts, lower for crypto; no single figure published	Crypto in minutes, PayPal or Venmo in hours (per SkinSwap)
CS.Trade	5% or 10%, sources disagree	No cash payout listed	Not stated

"Above" means the market's cash price is higher than the cheapest ask anywhere, which can happen when a quote is a buy order or is quoted before the seller fee.Tradeit says its instant-sell fee is already in the price it shows; for the others we cannot tell, so the stated fee may come off the figure. Offer counts are supply, not sales.

By item price

The same measure split by the item's Steam price.Steam's minimum fee and cent rounding distort cheap skins. Steam price is the last crawl held for each item.

How to read it

Pick a market for your skin, then check its price on the skin itself. The gap varies by item.

Check prices for one skin

A gap includes pricing policy and any margin the market keeps. It is not proof that the whole gap is a platform fee, and a stated fee is not proof of what you will receive. It is not a complete fee bill: currency conversion, network fees and method minimums are separate, and Steam holds items 7 days after a sale before most cash-outs.

Trade credit is a separate series and is not pooled with cash prices.

Sample: the 1,000 most-listed skins and containers, first Normal exterior. Methodology

Questions people ask

What is the True Fee Index?

It compares what each marketplace pays for a skin right now with the cheapest ask for the same item on any market, and sets that gap next to each market's stated seller fee, payout cost and payout timing.

Is the gap the same as the marketplace fee?

No. The gap includes pricing policy and any margin the market keeps. It is not proof that the whole gap is a platform fee, and a stated fee is not proof of what you will receive.

Why does a cash-out take about a week?

Steam protects items received in a trade for 7 days and the trade can be reversed in that time. CS.MONEY, Tradeit and DMarket state that cash waits for it.