The Best CS2 Markets To Sell Your Skins For Crypto
Over the past 11 years, Counter-Strike 2 has seen phenomenal growth in its popularity and player base. Despite this long span of time when even the best titles usually have their player base fall off and move to newer games, the success of CS2 has only gone up with each year, and as of this writing, it remains the best-selling game on Steam with the daily player base averaging 1.5 million.
Over time, there have been numerous updates to the game, but perhaps the most groundbreaking among these was the Arms Deal update which came a year after the game’s release, introducing different cosmetic finishes for the weapons which popularly came to be known as ‘skins’, as well as extremely rare drops in the shape of knives. This update set into motion the beginning of an online economy the likes of which, both in terms of valuation and volume, have never been seen before. People who had been skeptical of paying large amounts of money for in-game items started to become convinced that there was more to this virtual market than just another avenue for spending on a hobby. It seemed like a potential way of making some money.
At present, excluding items held in private inventories, there are estimated to be roughly over 1 billion skins that make up the CS2 economy, rising with each day as more are unboxed. So now you might ask, how much could this market be valued? A rough estimate puts the market cap of CS2 skins at USD 4.5 billion. To put this into perspective, the value trails just behind the 17th largest cryptocurrency, which stands at USD 4.7 billion.
More recently, investors who deal mainly in cryptocurrencies have turned their eye to the CS2 market and what it offers as a way to diversify their assets. This is mainly due to the fact that according to some analysts, the returns provided by certain CS2 investments have even surpassed those of some stocks on the S&P 500. So whether you are a Crypto investor who has made a profit with skin investments and now wants to cash out, or just a regular person who wants to invest in Crypto by selling your skins, this article will go through the best marketplaces where you can sell your skins for Cryptocurrencies.
Ranking Overview
Our ranking for the best CS2 markets to sell your skins for Crypto takes a number of variables into consideration, all of which contribute in some way towards making your experience of using a particular site better or worse. By and large, these include the trust factor of the website, the monthly traffic on average, the value of skins listed, the fee charged on the sale of items by the site, user-friendliness of the interface, the sign-in and wallet deposit options, and finally, the options available for cashing out in crypto. There is no particular weightage used for any of these factors, rather, the approach is to see how all of these combine on a holistic level and translate into the end-user experience for the stated purpose.
Starting from the best, here is our ranking of the top 5 online third-party marketplaces to sell your skins for Cryptocurrencies:
1. Market CS2
Market CS2 is a third-party marketplace that was established in 2017, and exclusively catered towards the buying and selling of CS2 skins through a peer-to-peer service (P2P). This means that items bought and sold are traded directly from the seller’s inventory into the buyer’s inventory, without the use of bots. Currently, there are more than 460k offers for items listed on the site, with a total valuation of more than USD 5.1 million. There are various reasons why it tops our list.
For starters, it is the most highly trusted site on this list with 1.5k votes, giving it an aggregate rating of 4.9 on Trustpilot. The transaction fee charged by Market CS2 is a flat 5% per item, which is considerably lower than Steam Marketplace’s 15%, but slightly higher compared to some other third-party marketplaces such as BUFF163 which charges a fixed 2.5% fee. One small factor which goes against this site is that the user interface is not particularly welcoming for new users, and may take some time to get used to. However, once you get the hang of things, the rest of the process which includes signing in through your Steam account, topping up your wallet and cashing out are relatively straightforward.
Another reason why we believe this site to be the best for selling skins for crypto is that it generates the highest number of monthly site visits at 3.4 million, which equates to a greater chance of having your skin sold quicker than the other sites mentioned, more so if the skin in question is popular among the community. Items are usually priced competitively on the site, and rarer items are relatively easy to find. Overall, it is probably the best site on this list if you are looking to sell your skins fast, and want to cash out via Crypto.
Crypto payout options include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether.
2. BitSkins
BitSkins is an online third-party marketplace that has been around longer than any of the others listed here, operating since 2015. The market follows the older approach of using bots for buying and selling, where a user has to deposit the skin they wish to sell. The skin goes into the inventory of a bot, and is then listed on the site. When another user purchases the skin, it is transferred to their inventory through a trade initiated by that bot. The process is relatively smooth and buyer-oriented where they don’t have to wait for the seller to accept the trade for it to be final. Currently, there are over 1 million different offers listed on the site, with a total value of just above USD 2.7 million.
BitSkins has a good reputation among the community which it has earned over the 8 years of its operation, with a 4.7 rating on Trustpilot. It is for this reason that the site has a global reach of users in comparison to all other sites listed here, which have their majority audiences mainly centered around specific regions. Monthly site visits average just over 1.4 million.
For everyday users looking to sell their skins, BitSkins charges a 10% fee per item sold, which is lower than the 15% on the Steam Market, but significantly higher than any of the other sites on this list, and stands as one of the site’s few downsides. However, there is good news for users who have high-value items or huge inventories with items to be sold in bulk. As the amount of sales goes up, a tier-wise fee structure comes into play, where it can be reduced to a minimum of 4.8% on sales exceeding USD 50k.
The process for buying and selling is simple, and pretty much follows the same pattern where the user logs in via their Steam account, tops up their wallet if they wish to make purchases, or just lists a skin they wish to sell on the site. BitSkins probably has the best UI of all these sites, with a very large number of variables that can be manipulated to find the exact skin you wish to buy. Some major plus points include the option to instantly sell a skin at a lower rate, selling on the newer P2P network which bypasses the 7-day trade hold, and a deals section where discounted items can be found for various price tiers. Overall, BitSkins is a great site for buying and selling your skins and offers multiple withdrawal options, including cryptocurrencies.
Crypto payout options include: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
3. CSFloat
Founded 3 years ago in 2020, CSFloat has quickly become one of the biggest third-party marketplaces for CS2 items, with over 2.5 million monthly site visits. The platform is P2P based, where an item you own in your inventory can be sold directly into the inventory of the buyer, except that the transaction is complete only when the buyer approves the trade. Although the commercial side of the website is relatively new, it has managed to attract a large part of the trading community owing to the popularity of its Float Database (FloatDB) where you can inspect or find any weapon skin by utilizing the search settings. Another important reason how the website has managed to gain such huge traction is through its CSFloat Market Checker, which is a browser extension that allows users to check important data such as the float value and paint seed of items on the Steam Community Market or in player inventories, a much-demanded feature that has remained missing from Steam itself.
Although the site has a pretty mid rating of 3.6 on Trustpilot with only a handful of reviews, it should be taken with a grain of salt since this rating is overwhelmingly overshadowed by other indicators such as the monthly average site visits which stand in second place for all sites mentioned in this list at 2.6 million, as well as the value of all items listed which are the highest in comparison, being a little over USD 9.3 million. CSFloat also has a unique bargaining feature that allows buyers to bargain for a discount on the skin they want from a particular seller.
The biggest advantage of using the site for buying or selling is the minuscule 2% fee it charges, which is substantially lower than SCM’s 15%, and even lower than Buff’s 2.5%. However, the story is a bit different for withdrawals, where an additional fee is charged on top of the base 2%. This fee follows a tiered structure, where a further 2.5% is charged for withdrawals from USD 0 - 2499 on the maximum end, but a small 0.5% only if the items are valued in excess of USD 100k.
A limiting factor that forms the primary reason why CSFloat has been placed third on the list is that there is only a singular cryptocurrency option for withdrawals. Usually, the settlement time for crypto withdrawals is 2 days but might take slightly longer the first time. Despite this fact, CSFloat is still one of the best sites if you are looking to sell your skin investments for crypto in a short span of time.
Crypto payout options include: USD Coin.
4. Waxpeer
Waxpeer has been operating for the past 4 years, and although it is a relatively new online market, has grown steadily during this time amidst strong competition. The site has a good trust rating of 4.5 on Trustpilot, with around 350k monthly visits, and a total valuation of USD 3.9m worth of skins listed on the market. The site charges a relatively modest 6% fee for transactions per item, which may be very competitive in comparison to the Steam Community Markets’ 15% but is slightly higher than some other third-party marketplaces.
Waxpeer has a relatively straightforward user interface, which makes listings, inspects, and purchasing easy for consumers. By nature, the site is a P2P marketplace, and exclusively cryptocurrency based both for depositing funds in order to purchase items, as well as for payouts after sales. The site offers a number of different cryptocurrencies for cashing out funds, though it could take a while for your skin to sell as traffic to the site is generally low in comparison to the sites mentioned above.
Crypto payout options include: Tether, TRON, and Litecoin.
5. CS.DEALS
Finally, we have CS.DEALS on this list. This marketplace was established 4 years ago in 2019 to deal exclusively in CS2 skins. In this short span of time, the site has become well-known among the community with over 400k monthly average visits, a valuation of items close to USD 700k, and a little over 51k different offers listed. The site has an exceptional 4.9 rating on Trustpilot and has a P2P structure in place for buying and selling similar to Waxpeer and CSFloat.
The process for selling skins is fairly simple and requires signing in with your Steam account and listing the skins you want to sell in the sell tab. A few points which place CS.DEALS lower on this list are its UI, which in comparison to all the sites above is perhaps the least intuitive, and in need of an overhaul. Second, your skins might take time to sell considering the fact that although there is substantial traffic to the site, it is still pretty low in comparison to the other sites on this list.
However, those willing to be patient for their skins to sell and save up on the higher fees of other sites may be encouraged by the fact that the site has the lowest fee on sales at 2%, but on the flip side, there is only one cryptocurrency available for cashing out.
Crypto payout options include: Bitcoin.
Concluding Remarks
So there you have it, our ranking of the top 5 third-party marketplaces for selling your CS2 skins for Cryptocurrencies. You can’t go wrong with any of the sites that make this list since they have been operating for many years now and managed to create a well-deserved trustworthy reputation within the community. However, your experience with the ones on the top of the list may be slightly more efficient and user-friendly.
Here is to hope your investments do well, and your cashouts are smooth!
