HaloSkins

Introduction

HaloSkins is a marketplace for Steam items, particularly for CS2 skins and items. The platform was founded about 1 year ago, on March 24th, 2023. HaloSkins is currently operated by Davis Dai, with headquarters in Hong Kong, China. The HaloSkins marketplace and company have been vetted by CSGOSKINS.GG and deemed trustworthy by all our standards.

Popularity

HaloSkins is rated 4.3 out of 5 with over 79 reviews on Trustpilot. The HaloSkins platform received approximately 16.2K visits during the last month. There are currently 17.3K different items available on the marketplace, with a total of 740.5K listed offers. Additionally, the combined value of all CS2 skins that are currently available on the HaloSkins market amounts to $9.1M.

Market Type

HaloSkins is a P2P (peer-to-peer) marketplace. That means when an item is sold on HaloSkins, it is traded directly from the seller’s Steam inventory to the buyer’s Steam inventory. This has the advantage that sellers can list their items on multiple marketplaces at the same time, since they don’t need to deposit the skins to a single marketplace. The downside is that when an item is sold, the seller must manually approve the trade which causes a delay for the buyer. P2P marketplaces have some benefits for sellers but the buyer experience is not as smooth.

History

In contrast to the majority of established online third-party CS2 skin markets, HaloSkins emerges as a fresh entrant, having entered the scene in early 2023. Like any other CS2 skin trading site, HaloSkins enables its users to buy and sell CS2 skins and other cosmetics using both real money and cryptocurrencies. Notably, HaloSkins serves as an extension of C5game, a well-established Chinese CS2 skin marketplace, making its debut in the Western market through this platform.

Users & Popularity

As mentioned earlier, HaloSkins is a global skin trading website used by traders and casual players from throughout the globe. One noteworthy aspect of the website is that the listings in HaloSkins are seamlessly integrated with the ones in its Chinese counterpart, C5Game, resulting in shared skin inventories between the two platforms. This unique synergy allows users to swiftly and efficiently buy and sell their CS2 skins via HaloSkins, despite its relatively recent entry into the skin trading scene.

Transaction Fees

HaloSkins charges its sellers a flat 3% fee per item sale made on the platform. This number is much lower than the 15% transaction fee that sellers have to face when selling skins on the official Steam Community Market. It's actually one of the lowest seller fees among CS2 markets.

Notably, HaloSkins has a flat 0% buyer fee on its website, which means that if you’re planning to buy skins from the website, you’ll only have to pay what you see on the website with no hidden fees.

There’s also an additional fee you’ll have to pay when you decide to withdraw your funds from your HaloSkins wallet. This fee depends on the method of withdrawal you choose to adopt.

Buying & Selling on HaloSkins

While the UI of HaloSkins isn’t as well-made as some other active CS2 skin markets, it shouldn’t take much time for a trader to get used to it. Once you’re logged in to the website with your Steam account, you’ll be able to start buying and selling CS2 items using the market in just a few seconds.

Let’s take a look at how you can buy or sell CS2 skins via HaloSkins.

Buying

To buy skins from the HaloSkins market, users will have to first top-up their wallet via one of the allowed payment methods. You can do so by following the aforementioned steps:

• Log in to HaloSkins with your Steam account (You’ll get a $5 USD bonus for signing up)
• Click on the plus sign beside your wallet in the top-right corner of your screen
• Go to the ‘Deposit’ window
• Select your preferred recharge method. At the time of writing, users can only deposit via crypto
• Select your desired deposit chain and complete the process (Deposits below $3 USD will not be credited to your account)

Once you’ve topped up your HaloSkins wallet, you can head over to the website’s market to start buying skins. Simply select the skin that you want, choose its condition, and buy your preferred listing. The entire process is hassle-free and convenient.

Selling

Selling your CS2 skins on HaloSkins is also just as simple. First, log in with your Steam account and head over to the ‘Inventory’ tab located towards the top-left of your screen. Once there, you’ll be able to see a list of all the weapon skins and other cosmetics from your Steam inventory pop-up. Simply select the skins that you wish to sell on the platform, and click on the ‘Listing’ button on the bottom right to start selling. You'll then be able to state your desired price for the listings.

After a sale is complete, you’ll be able to withdraw the funds from your wallet directly via PayPal or through cryptocurrencies. PayPal withdrawals have a fee of 2.5% + $0.30, while crypto withdrawals have a minimum fee of 0.5%.

Advantages

There are certain advantages of using the HaloSkins market to buy and sell your CS2 skins:

• Offers an "Instant Delivery Feature" that helps buyers in receiving purchased items quicker than on other P2P markets.
• Has an "Auto Receive" option that automatically accepts Steam trades for you after you make a purchase.
• Lower transaction fees than the Steam Community Market.
• 0% buyer fee with no hidden charges, users only pay what they see.
• Skins are typically available at significantly lower prices compared to those found on the Steam Market.
• Listings are integrated with C5Game, resulting in quicker transactions.
• Offers a mobile app for convenient on-the-go buying and selling.
• Features a built-in screenshot tool and 3D viewer that enables users to inspect skins without needing to launch the CS2 client.

Disadvantages

HaloSkins suffers from a number of flaws that you should be aware of before trading on the platform:

• Higher transaction fees than a few other popular third-party markets like the BUFF163 marketplace, which has a flat 2.5% fee per sale.
• The UI isn’t very user-friendly and can feel unresponsive at times.
• Users can only deposit funds to their HaloSkins wallet via cryptocurrencies. Extremely limited options for withdrawing as well.
• Absence of certain useful features like 'Instant Selling' and 'Auctioning'.
• Lacks support for skin trading across other popular games such as DOTA 2, Rust, or Team Fortress 2.