Comparing Dota 2 Marketplaces: Fees, Payouts and Price Gaps
Ten Dota 2 marketplaces side by side: listed fees, payout options, stock depth and why the same item can cost up to 30% less off Steam, with October 2026 data.
On the morning of October 14, 2026, Terrorblade's Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm was listed at $31.56, $33.21, $36.00 and $41.99, depending on where you looked. Same Arcana, same morning. The spread between Dota 2 marketplaces is large, it's consistent, and it has clear causes.
The ten marketplaces tracked
dota2skins.gg tracks ten marketplaces for Dota 2. The fees below are seller fees as listed on the site's marketplace pages as of October 14, 2026. Listing counts are the Dota 2 listings the site tracked for each one that day.
| Marketplace | Type | Seller fee (listed) | Dota 2 listings | Payout options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam Market | Marketplace | 15% | 9,069,852 | Steam Wallet only |
| Market.dota2.net | Marketplace | 7% | 1,775,804 | WebMoney, bank transfer |
| DMarket | Marketplace | 7% | 349,789 | PayPal, bank transfer, crypto |
| LIS-SKINS | Marketplace | 10% | 301,462 | Bank card, SBP, SEPA, crypto |
| Skinport | Marketplace | 12% | 230,601 | Bank transfer, PayPal |
| Waxpeer | Peer-to-peer marketplace | 7% | 188,860 | Crypto, PayPal |
| Loot.Farm | Bot exchange | None (skins only) | 144,810 | Skins |
| Avan.market | Marketplace | 0% | 54,327 | Bank card, PayPal, SBP, crypto |
| CSTrade | Bot exchange | None (skins only) | 5,451 | Skins |
| CS.Deals | Exchange | None (skins only) | 0 tracked | Skins |
Treat the fee column as a starting point. Marketplaces change fees, some charge for withdrawals or particular payment methods, and instant-sell options usually cost more than listing and waiting. Confirm on each marketplace's own fee page before a large trade.
Why Steam prices sit higher
Steam is the deepest market by far, with millions of listings across more than 33,000 Dota 2 items. It's also consistently the most expensive place to buy. Three rules explain why:
- Fees on top. Steam adds a 5% Steam fee and a 10% Dota 2 fee to what the seller receives. A $41.99 Steam ask pays the seller $36.52.
- Wallet-only proceeds. Steam sales pay out in Steam Wallet funds you can't withdraw, which to most sellers are worth less than cash.
- Hard caps. Valve limits a single listing to $1,800 and a wallet balance to $2,000, so expensive items can't trade on Steam at all.
Sellers on cash marketplaces accept lower prices because they get money they can actually use. Here's what that looked like on October 14, 2026:
| Item | Steam ask | Cheapest cash listing | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm | $41.99 | $31.56 (DMarket) | 25% |
| Manifold Paradox | $22.90 | $18.77 (LIS-SKINS) | 18% |
| Treasure of the Crimson Witness 2025 | $183.10 | $128.60 (Avan.market, LIS-SKINS) | 30% |
The gap isn't universal. The everyday Baby Roshan courier was $10.42 on Steam and $10.41 on LIS-SKINS. For cheap items with deep Steam books, Steam can be the best price.
Why the gap doesn't close
If Fractal Horns cost $31.56 on DMarket and Steam's best buy order was $40.08, why doesn't everyone buy off Steam and sell into that bid? Because the two sides are paid in different money. Selling into the $40.08 Steam bid pays $34.86 after fees, in wallet funds that can only be spent on Steam. Buying for $31.56 costs real cash.
In effect, that trade converts about $31.56 of cash into $34.86 of Steam credit, roughly a 10% bonus for anyone who was going to spend on Steam anyway. For people who want cash, it's useless. That asymmetry is why Steam prices settle above cash prices and stay there.
Depth matters as much as price
The cheapest listing is only useful if there's more than one of it. For Fractal Horns that morning:
- LIS-SKINS had 584 listings from $33.21.
- Market.dota2.net had 429 from $36.00.
- Avan.market had 136 from $33.57.
- DMarket had 86 from $31.56.
- Waxpeer had 70 from $34.87.
- Skinport had 2, from $100.51.
Skinport's quote wasn't a Skinport problem. It was two sellers asking too much on a thin book. The Market.dota2.net page and the LIS-SKINS page show where each marketplace's Dota 2 stock is deep and where it's thin.
Exchanges work differently
Loot.Farm, CSTrade and CS.Deals are exchanges. You trade items for items with automated bots instead of selling for money, and their prices are trade values set by each site. Those can differ noticeably from cash market prices. Exchanges are useful for swapping a few items into one you want, but they're the wrong tool if you want cash.
How to compare properly
- Compare all-in prices. For buying, include deposit and payment fees. For selling, subtract the seller fee and any withdrawal cost.
- Check stock depth. One or two listings at a marketplace can be far off the real price, in either direction.
- Know how delivery works. Bot marketplaces deliver from their own inventories. Peer-to-peer platforms such as Waxpeer wait for the seller to send the trade. Steam Guard trade holds can also apply if your authenticator isn't set up.
- Read the trust signals. The site's marketplace pages show review ratings and counts, along with each marketplace's listed pros and cons.
The comparison page does steps one and two for every item, lining up current prices across all ten marketplaces.
Worked example: selling a $40 Arcana
Say you own a Fractal Horns and want to sell.
- On Steam, listing at $41.99 pays you $36.52 in wallet funds. Good if you're going to spend it on Steam anyway.
- On a 7% cash marketplace, listing at $35.00, just above the cheapest competing ask that morning, would net $32.55 before withdrawal costs, in money you can withdraw.
- Instant sale on a cash marketplace would be quicker and pay less again.
Neither option is "best" in general. It depends on whether you want Steam credit or cash, and how fast you need it.
Using the deals feed carefully
The deals page surfaces listings priced below an item's usual level. It's a good place to start, but check two things before buying: how many listings sit at that price, and whether the item's history on the site is long enough to define "usual". Steam price history is still backfilling, so some apparent bargains are artifacts of thin data.
The Dota 2 market isn't one market. It's ten order books with different fees, currencies and depths. Comparing them takes a minute, and for the three items in the table above it was worth 18 to 30% of the Steam price.
