Counter-Strike is a first-person shooter game played by millions, and one of the primary reasons for its success is the availability of in-game cosmetics, best known as Counter-Strike skins. These virtual skins have real-world value as they can be traded and sold to other players in the marketplace.
Aside from playing the game itself, many players in the CS:GO community spend a lot of time trading their skins, whether it’s because they’re bored with the ones they have, or because they are looking to make a profit from these trades.
Whatever the reason for trading, it is always good to know the very basics of skins trading in the game. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to trade in CS:GO effectively and come out with some nice profit!
What Are CS:GO Skins?
When you’re looking to get involved in trading skins, it is first very important to understand the product and what exactly it is.
Skins in Counter-strike are cosmetic items that can change the appearance of regular weapons in the game. These skins come in different colors, designs, and patterns, giving them aesthetic and visual value to the skin.
With each skin appearing differently and having various rarities, every skin in the game has different monetary values depending on its popularity, scarcity, and other factors. These weapon skins can be obtained through in-game drops, opening cases, purchasing from marketplaces, or direct trading with other players.
Expensive skins with detailed designs can give players higher enjoyment when playing the game as they get to see their cool skins every time. These skins also add social status for players as others yearn for such skins as well.
How To Trade In Skins In CS:GO?
Now that we have a decent understanding of Counter-Strike skins and how they work, let’s start getting into how trading these skins actually works. There are three things you should know about before jumping into trading.
Getting Your Steam Account Ready
Before you can perform your first trade in Counter-Strike, it is important that you set up your Steam account properly. The Steam platform is the primary place where all trades happen, as it is the official platform adhered to by Valve Corporation, the creators of Counter-Strike.
The first thing you have to do is to obviously have a Steam account. We’ll assume that you already have one ready to go, so let’s quickly move on.
After you have your Steam account ready, there are a few things you must do before you will have trading privileges. Refer to the list below for more information.
- Securing your account with Steam Guard: The Steam Guard authenticator is a protection tool that ensures the safety of your account. You will have to link your Steam account to a mobile device for maximum security.
- Make a purchase on Steam: Players who have never deposited or spent money on the Steam platform will have limited accounts, meaning they cannot trade. The minimum deposit you must make to your Steam Wallet is $5. After topping up the funds, purchase anything from the Steam Market.
- Make your Steam account public: To allow other traders to see your profile and inventory, you must set your Steam Profile visibility to Public. If you have a Private profile, nobody can see your skins or send you Trade Offers, so don’t forget to change it!
Once these steps have been completed, your account should be ready to trade.
Understanding The Trading System On Steam
Now that we are eligible to trade, let’s understand how the trading system actually works on the Steam platform. The main way to trade on Steam is to send the person a Steam Trade Offer. Let’s explain what it is.
What Is The Steam Trade Offer?
The Steam Trade Offer is the primary way of trading skins on the Steam platform. A trader can send an offer to another trader, where they will put in the skins they are willing to give, and the skins they expect to receive.
Once the trade offer is sent, the receiver will get a notification of the offer. They can then view the trade offer to see its contents. If the trade seems good, they can accept the trade, and the respective items will automatically be sent over to both parties.
However, if the trade offer doesn’t look too appealing, the receiver can decline the trade or send a counter offer, where they will make changes to the trade offer and send it back to the sender. The original sender will have the option to decline or send a counter offer as well.
How To Send A Trade Offer?
Sending a Trade Offer to someone is relatively easy. To send a Trade Offer, you must have the Steam Trade Offer Link of the person you are looking to trade with. Every user on Steam has a unique Trade Offer Link, that if clicked, will redirect a person to the Steam Trade Offer page. To send someone a Trade Offer, follow the steps below.
- Go to the person’s Steam Profile page.
- On the right-hand side of the profile, click on the “…” button and open the drop-down menu.
- Next, click on “Offer a Trade…”
- Now, you will be redirected to the person’s Steam Trade Offer Link.
- Put the skins you are looking to offer, and also put the skins you expect to receive.
- Once done, send the offer!
To make things easier, you can also share your Trade Offer Link with other traders so they can shoot you an offer. To get your personal Trade Offer Link, follow the steps below.ž
- Go to your Steam Inventory page.
- Click on the blue “Trade Offers” button at the top-right corner.
- Now, go to “Who can send me Trade Offers?”
- Scroll down until you see your “Trade URL.”
- Copy the Trade URL and send it to your trading partner or keep it somewhere accessible.
Cash Trading
The Steam Trade Offer system is the primary way to send players other skins and expect some in return. However, skin to skin trading isn’t the only method of trading in the Counter-Strike community.
Some traders prefer buying skins from other traders directly using real money, which has created the concept of “Cash Trading” in Counter-Strike. Instead of sending a skin for a skin in return, one party is sending the skin in exchange for straight cash.
The buyer will send money through real-world payment methods such as PayPal, Cryptocurrency, Bank Transfer, and whatever payment method both parties agree on.
However, cash trading defeats the purpose of having trades secured by the Steam platform, as using Trade Offers would guarantee that both parties will receive the skins safely. As a result, be careful when you perform cash trading.
Normally, you would only want to cash trade with traders who have a good reputation within the trading community – a person a lot of people can vouch for. If you are unsure of whether they are trusted, you can always hire an official middleman to secure the transaction. You might have to give them some money for the trouble, but at least your transaction will be safe.
Resources To Check Skin Values
When trading skins, one of the best tips we can give you is to keep yourself updated with the value of skins. Just like any market, the prices for certain skins change over time depending on various factors. You need to ensure you have a good understanding of what your skins are worth, as well as how much the skins you are going for will cost.
As a result, it is crucial to check the prices of skins before trading or even beginning negotiations. Here are some of the best resources to understand your product.
CS2Stash.com
The CS2Stash.com website is an incredibly useful resource to get a quick understanding of what your skin is, and how much it goes for in the marketplace. The website provides players with simple information such as which collection the skin comes from, its rarity, and other basic details to get you started.
It also provides you with a list of prices for the skin, down to the different wear conditions to give you a good idea of how much your skin is worth. However, the website doesn’t provide much more detail than that, such as patterns and float values.
Overall, CS2Stash.com is a good website for beginner traders who are trying to get the hang of trading in Counter-Strike.
Pricempire.com
If you’re starting to get into intermediate to advanced trading, we highly recommend checking out the Pricempire.com website. This website was solely created to help traders understand the prices of their skins, as well as analyze market trends to stay informed. The Pricemire.com website provides its users with useful features such as:
- Price Comparison: This allows you to compare prices of the same skin from different marketplace websites, helping you find the highest and lowest prices.
- Trending: Displays a list of trending Counter-Strike items that are being bought and sold often, suggesting a potentially good investment.
- Portfolio: A tool that helps you manage all of your Counter-Strike items in one place and see detailed descriptions.
There are more useful tools available on the Pricempire.com website, and we highly recommend it to anyone looking to go deeper into trading.
CSFloat.com
If you are an advanced trader, you should definitely take a look at the CSFloat.com website.
For those unaware, in the upper echelons of trading, float values and patterns become huge factors in determining the prices of items. Low float values ensure that the skin looks super clean and has minimal wear and tears, while there are some skins with 1 in 1000 patterns that skyrocket their prices to tens of thousands of dollars.
The CSFloat.com website has advanced tools that help players understand the float values and patterns of their skins, ensuring they know the true value of their rare items.
Best Trading Platforms To Get Started
If you’re ready to jump right into trading, here are some trusted and secure platforms we recommend you to get started. However, keep in mind that these platforms offer “Bot Trading,” meaning you aren’t trading directly with another user. Instead, you are trading your skins with the website’s stock instead. This leaves no room for negotiation and will likely feature marked up prices.
Steam Market
If you’re really new to trading, we highly recommend sticking to the Steam Market. The Steam Market is the official marketplace platform run by Valve Corporation itself. This ensures that Valve is acting as the middleman for every transaction, making the Steam Market 100% secure.
DMarket
DMarket is a third-party platform that allows you to buy and sell Counter-Strike skins for real money. They have an abundance of payment and cashout methods to ensure you can transact on the website safely.
CS.Money
CSMoney is another third-party platform, and is one of the most well-known trading platforms in the scene. They have a great reputation and have been running for numerous years without any scandals.
How To Find Peer To Peer (P2P) Trades
The platforms we listed above give you no room for negotiation, as you are dealing with set prices that cannot be changed. If this isn’t what you’re looking for, you can always find actual, human trading partners to trade with. Here are some of the best ways to find trading partners.
Discord Communities
The most effective way to find potential trading partners these days is to use Discord, one of the most popular communication and chatting platforms today. There are numerous Discord servers that were specifically made for Counter-Strike trading.
You can join these servers to meet a bunch of like-minded people trying to trade their Counter-Strike skins for others. Generally, there are text channels where you can post your trade offers, including what skins you have up for trade and any skins you prefer to receive in return.
You can take a look at these text channels to see if anyone has skins you are interested in, or you can post your own trade offer to see if anyone will reach out to you. Once someone is interested, they can immediately shoot you a private message to get started.
Social Media Groups
If Discord isn’t your thing and you want to find more opportunities, you can join trading groups on other platforms such as Facebook, Telegram, or Steam. Similar to Discord, there are groups where traders join to find other traders.
Normally, you can still post your trade offers on the group page and view offerings from other people as well. You can also use filtering and search tools to whittle down the listings to find exactly what skins you are looking for.
Negotiating In Trades
If you are engaging in a trade with a real person, that means there’s always room to negotiate and try to make a profit out of the trade. Just like real-life trading, you can always put your negotiation skills to the test to extract the most value with the least amount of resources. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re going to negotiate.
Check Prices Before Negotiating
Once you have set sights on a skin you want, your trading partner might also have their eyes on some of your items. When you have a good idea of which skins will be put into the trade, do conduct a quick check on the prices for the skins before you even start negotiating.
It is always good to do price checks before negotiating so you can stay informed and make smart decisions. Remember that the price for skins can change every day, so always check before making your next move.
Don’t Lowball Too Hard
The thing about Counter-Strike trading is that your reputation matters. Sure, everyone in the trading space is trying to make a profit, but make sure not to lowball your trading partner too hard.
The act of lowballing can be considered disrespectful and might kill the deal entirely since you might be a difficult person to work with. Make sure to set prices that are somewhat realistic, or else your reputation in the trading community can drop if word gets out.
Understand Any Rare Patterns Or Float Values
Remember that some skins potentially have rare patterns as well as float values. You might not know it, but your Factory New skin might be the lowest float in the game. Such titles can significantly increase the value of your skins.
Such information goes both ways. Make sure to check your trading partner’s skins to see if they have any rare patterns or high-tier float values. We’re not saying it’s totally ethical, but you can take advantage of their lack of information to strike a profitable offer.
Be Patient
Remember that trading is a long-term game. Make sure not to rush your trades, and try not to accept the first offer you receive on your items, as someone might have a better offer for you in a few days time.
Make sure to stay patient and try collecting other offers before you decide to sell or trade your skins. However, don’t make your trading partners wait too long, or else they’ll lose interest. Try keeping a good balance and communicating with your trading partners as much as possible.
Trade Safely – Do Not Get Scammed
Unfortunately, there are always malicious users who try to take advantage of others by scamming them. It is important to be wary of common scamming techniques in the Steam platform and avoid them as best as possible.
Here are some of the most prevalent scams that are effectively used against inexperienced traders.
Phishing Links
The most common way for scammers to steal a user’s inventory is by sending them a phishing link. An unknown trader will try getting you to click a link. Once you click it, you will be redirected to a sketchy website, and all of your information and credentials will be stolen in an instant. Next thing you know, your entire inventory could be stolen in a matter of minutes, leaving you with nothing left.
Make sure not to click any suspicious links, and avoid accepting random friend requests. Even if the person is trying to send you a Steam or YouTube link, carefully check the link to see if any letters or symbols have been added in or swapped out.
Man In The Middle Scam
As mentioned earlier, middlemen are generally required in cash trades since Steam cannot adhere to real money transactions. Usually, a middleman will be hired for these trades to ensure no sides get scammed.
However, some traders will try convincing you to use this middleman, which is actually their friend looking to scam you. They often have profiles filled with fake reputation boosters to make you believe in them. Make sure to only hire trusted middlemen that can be vouched for by community members.
Impersonation Scams
Last but not least, we have a very easily avoidable scam, but it somehow still gets inexperienced traders all the time. Some people might impersonate famous figures such as YouTubers or professional players.
They will then try to add you and ask you for skins in exchange for a quick shoutout or something like that. Obviously, this isn’t really them, so don’t send them any skins. These public figures would never ask their fans for skins.