SkinBaron

Introduction

SkinBaron is a marketplace for Steam items, particularly for CS:GO skins and items. The platform was founded about 6 years ago, on May 6th, 2016. SkinBaron is currently operated by Hannes Scholz, with headquarters in Hof, Germany. The SkinBaron marketplace and company have been vetted by CSGOSKINS.GG and deemed trustworthy by all our standards.

Popularity

SkinBaron is rated 4.3 out of 5 with over 787 reviews on Trustpilot. The SkinBaron platform received approximately 1.1M visits during the last month. There are currently 12.4K different items available on the marketplace, with a total of 702.7K listed offers. Additionally, the combined value of all CS:GO skins that are currently available on the SkinBaron market amounts to $2.8M.

Market Type

SkinBaron is a traditional bot-based marketplace. That means a seller must first deposit an item before it can be listed on the market. The deposit is done by sending the item to one of SkinBaron’s Steam bot accounts. Compared to P2P markets where the item can be listed on the marketplace while still being in the seller’s inventory, this is not such a smooth experience for the seller. But it provides a better buyer experience because upon purchase, the buyer can immediately receive the item without needing to wait for the seller to accept the trade.

History

Originally founded in May 2016, SkinBaron is one of the older third-party CS:GO skin markets out there that boasts roughly over a million users per month. Alongside CS:GO skins, SkinBaron also supports skins from a variety of other popular games including DOTA 2, Team Fortress 2, and Rust.

The primary reasons behind the rapid growth in popularity of SkinBaron over the past few years are the successful marketing and advertisement campaigns that the website has run by partnering with renowned CS:GO YouTubers and streamers. To this day, SkinBaron is one of the most-popular third-party skin markets on the internet due to its convenient transactions, swift cashouts, and the vast number of skins available on its market at any point in time.

Another reason behind the growth of SkinBaron is the fact that it is one of the few online third-party skin marketplaces that are fully compliant with all local laws and European legislation, which we’ll get to later.

Transaction Fees

SkinBaron charges its users a transaction fee of 15% per item sale, which is the same as that of Steam Community Market. However, skins on SkinBaron are generally priced much cheaper than on the Steam Market, which makes up for the high selling fees on the website.

This transaction fee can be reduced to a minimum of only 2% of the sales price based on whether you’re selling high-value items (priced at over 1300€). Sellers making private sales to other buyers will only have to pay a 7.5% of the sales price as the selling fee, which can again be reduced to 1% of the sales price if they’re selling high-value items (>1300€).

Unless you’re conducting private sales to dedicated buyers, the transaction fees on SkinBaron can be quite high when compared to most other third-party CS:GO skin marketplaces including its prominent competitor Skinport (12% sale fee), or BUFF163 (2.5% sale fee).

Users & Popularity

Since the SkinBaron market is based in Germany, the website sees a good number of visitors from the Western European country. Taking a look at the statistics reveals that roughly a whopping 30% of SkinBaron users are from Germany.

It’s important to note here that SkinBaron’s primary competitor, Skinport, is also a Germany-based market. About 20% of Skinport’s visitors are from Germany.

Despite SkinBaron’s high popularity and millions of monthly visitors, the website has been falling off in popularity over the past few months due to the rise of better alternatives. As mentioned earlier, most other third-party marketplaces that deal with CS:GO skins provide more competitive transaction rates than SkinBaron alongside a better user experience, which might be one of the reasons behind the declining popularity of SkinBaron.

Fully Compliant EU Marketplace

SkinBaron is one of the few popular skin-trading marketplaces that are fully compliant with the PSD2 directive in the EU. This makes purchasing skins from the website safe and reliable as customers won’t be facing any possibility of losing their money while buying or selling skins on SkinBaron.

The PSD2 compliance of SkinBaron is a result of the fact that the website uses the payment processor "Adyen". Since the release of the PSD2 regulation, marketplaces across Europe are no longer allowed to hold customer funds without a banking license. Sales, deposits, payouts, and all transactions on the SkinBaron marketplace are stored and processed by Adyen, which has a banking license and is therefore legally allowed and qualified to keep customer funds safe.

How to Buy and Sell Skins on SkinBaron

SkinBaron provides users with a hassle-free experience while purchasing or selling skins on the website. Whether you’re a new user or have been buying and selling skins for years, you’ll have no difficulties operating the website due to its intuitive UI and the clear instructions presented to users when they log into the website.

To get started with buying or selling skins on SkinBaron, users have to log in with their Steam account. This can be done by clicking on the "Sign In" button located towards the top-right of the website. Once logged in, users will have to accept a series of terms and conditions before they can access the website.

Buying Skins on SkinBaron

Buyers have the freedom to select the specific skins that they want to purchase with real money across the thousands of available items on the SkinBaron marketplace. Once you find the items that you’re looking for, simply hit "Add to Cart" to add the item to your cart. You can then click on the "Cart" icon in the top-right anytime you want to complete the transaction.

You’ll have to complete a KYC process before you can add funds to your wallet and complete your purchase.

After successfully completing the purchase, the skins will be automatically added to your inventory.

Selling Skins on SkinBaron

Similar to purchasing skins, users will need to complete the KYC process first before attempting to sell skins on SkinBaron.

Users can click on the "Sell" icon located towards the top-right beside the "Cart" to initiate the KYC process. Once the KYC procedure has been completed, users are able to list the skins they want to sell on the market.

Once the item has been successfully sold, users will be able to withdraw their funds directly to their bank account.

Advantages

There are certain advantages to using the SkinBaron marketplace compared to other websites:

• Items are generally priced cheaper than on the Steam Community Market.
• A variety of items are available on the market, giving buyers more freedom to look for the specific skins that they want.
• Sellers can enjoy fast selling times on SkinBaron due to it being one of the most popular third-party skin marketplaces on the internet.
• Being a fully PSD2 compliant marketplace, purchasing or selling skins through SkinBaron is more secure than most other markets on the internet.
• Decent UI provides newer users with a better experience while navigating through the website.
• Supports skin trading across multiple games including CS:GO, DOTA 2, Rust, and Team Fortress 2.
• High-tier skins, which are often seen to be out of stock on the Steam Market, can be readily found on the SkinBaron marketplace at discounted rates.
• Offers a variety of payment methods through Adyen. Payouts in most countries are sent directly to bank accounts.
• Freedom to set price tags on skins enables users looking to sell items quickly to put them up at discounted rates whereas skins with unique stickers or good floats can be listed at higher prices than usual.

Disadvantages

• Significantly higher transaction fees than most other third-party marketplaces like BUFF163 unless making private sales to dedicated buyers.
• SWIFT withdrawals are unavailable in many countries.
• Lack of features like "instant sell" or “auctioning”.
• Due to the declining popularity of SkinBaron over the past few months, certain items may take a while to sell on the marketplace even when they’re put up for a reasonable price.
• Items on the SkinBaron marketplace can often be seen to be on a trade lock, which means that buyers will have to wait out the duration of the trade hold in order to receive the skins in their inventory.
• No built-in "screenshot tool" available on the website. Users have to manually launch their CS:GO client to inspect any skin on the SkinBaron market.