It’s easy to forget that every time you sell a CS2 skin on the Steam Market, you’re not actually getting the full price you list. Steam quietly takes a 15% cut, part of it for Valve, part for the game itself. It doesn’t sound like much, but over dozens of trades, it adds up fast.
This guide breaks down exactly how that Steam Market fee works, especially for CS2 skins, and what that 15% really means in practice. You’ll see a simple formula, worked examples across different price ranges, and a few subtle quirks like rounding errors or how VAT changes things depending on your region.
By the end, you’ll know exactly how much Steam takes, what ends up in your wallet, and how to check those numbers before you list your next skin.
At the simplest level, the Steam Community Market fee is split into two parts:
For CS2, both portions go to Valve, since it’s the publisher and the platform owner. But for other games like Rust or Dota 2, that 10% goes back to the respective studio.
When you create a listing, Steam automatically adds those fees to your asking price. The buyer sees a slightly higher total than what you’ll receive. That’s why it can feel like your sale value shrinks when it clears.
Here’s the core formula used internally by Steam:
And reversed:
That second version explains why a $1.00 “seller price” looks like $1.18 to the buyer. Steam’s listing interface automates this, but if you ever wonder why the totals don’t match exactly, that’s the math behind it.
Say you list your AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested) for $10.00.
That’s the base rule. It doesn’t change with volume, time, or rarity, only with the item’s price.
To make things easier, here’s a set of quick reference points. These reflect CS2’s fixed 15% total fee.
| List Price (What Buyer Sees) | Steam Cut (5%) | Game Cut (10%) | You Receive | Effective % |
| $0.50 | $0.03 | $0.05 | $0.42 | 16% (rounding) |
| $5.00 | $0.25 | $0.50 | $4.25 | 15% |
| $25.00 | $1.25 | $2.50 | $21.25 | 15% |
| $100.00 | $5.00 | $10.00 | $85.00 | 15% |
Note: rounding on low-value items can make the effective percentage slightly higher or lower. Steam rounds to two decimal places.
These are the smallest transactions on the market.
If you list at $0.50, Steam rounds each fee to the nearest cent.
That means:
Small items exaggerate the percentage. Not because Steam charges more, but because decimals can’t go lower than a cent.
At $5.00, rounding smooths out.
This tier covers most mid-range CS2 skins and knives under $10.
High-value items scale predictably.
No thresholds, no caps, no volume discounts. Steam doesn’t care how many items you sell; the cut stays fixed. Some players wish there was a lower fee for trusted or high-volume accounts, but Valve’s system treats everyone equally.
When listing, always click the “You will receive” field. Steam automatically calculates both portions and displays the exact wallet amount before you confirm. That’s the safest way to avoid confusion, especially if you’re setting a batch of listings at once.
Fees stay 15% everywhere, but regional currencies and tax laws add a few wrinkles.
Steam includes value-added tax (VAT or GST) in the buyer’s final price. You, the seller, don’t pay it directly. Steam collects and remits it. That means when a German buyer pays €10, you still receive your €8.50; the difference is just baked into the buyer’s side.
Different currencies have different decimal rules. For example, the Japanese Yen has no decimal points, so Steam rounds differently, sometimes to the nearest ¥10. This can make effective percentages look slightly inconsistent.
Steam always uses your wallet’s currency for your net balance. If you sell an item that was purchased by someone in another region, the conversion happens automatically using Valve’s internal rate. There’s no visible “exchange fee,” but price discrepancies may appear when comparing graphs across regions.
Steam automatically attaches tax data to receipts, which you can find under Account Details → View Purchase History → Market Transactions. For most users, it’s just informational, but for streamers or semi-pro traders who file taxes, it’s useful to keep these.
For most of CS2’s history, the 15% split has remained untouched. However, there are a few edge cases in which fees act differently.
Some third-party titles, like PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, once experimented with adjusted percentages. Valve later standardized the system to prevent confusion, but technically, the developer still controls their 10% cut.
Valve rarely changes fees, but during global or regional promotions, buyer-side prices might shift slightly due to tax adjustments. Steam always announces these on its Support Portal.
Items obtained through gifts, bundles, or promotional events can carry restrictions, “Not Marketable” or “Not Tradable.” In those cases, the 15% fee doesn’t even apply because you can’t list them.
If your account gets flagged for high-risk behavior, such as rapid high-value sales, new region login, etc., Steam can temporarily freeze listings. The fee stays the same, but your sales may pause for verification.
When a user changes country or payment method, Steam automatically updates the currency and recalculates displayed prices. The fee percentage never changes, but rounding quirks can shift the perceived amount by a cent or two.
According to Steam’s official Community Market Fees policy, the platform reserves the right to adjust fees or taxes per region but keeps the total user-visible cut consistent.
The 15% rule has been stable since 2013, surviving both the CS:GO and CS2 transitions. For all practical purposes, treat the 15% as fixed. If Valve ever changes it, it’ll appear immediately on listing screens before confirmation.
All figures in this guide are based on live Steam Community Market listings for Counter-Strike 2 items (skins, stickers, and cases) observed in November 2025.
The fee percentages were verified against Steam’s official support documentation and cross-checked through test listings using real Steam Wallet balances.
Price examples ($0.50, $5, $25, $100) reflect rounded buyer totals in USD before any regional taxes.
Where noted, regional adjustments (VAT/GST) were derived from publicly visible EU/UK/AU buyer receipts and historical support notes.
All effective percentages were recalculated using:
Net to Seller = Listing Price × (1 – 0.15)
Rounding quirks were confirmed by comparing item listings under $1.00 to verify how Steam truncates decimals.
No external APIs or third-party fee calculators were used. All results replicate what users see directly in Steam’s interface.
The Steam Market’s 15% cut is one of those things players love to hate but quietly accept. It funds the infrastructure that keeps trades secure and fraud-free, and yes, it helps Valve keep the ecosystem self-contained.
If you treat it as a built-in cost of convenience, it’s easy to live with. You get an instant, risk-free sale, full protection, and zero chance of chargebacks. But if you’re purely chasing margins, that 15% will sting after a few big trades.
Either way, understanding the numbers makes it easier to plan. Whether you’re unloading duplicates, flipping cases, or selling a rare knife, the formula never changes, and now, you’ve got it down to the cent.
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