Question 1

How does this arbitrage work?

Accepted Answer

Buy the skin on the Western marketplace shown, then list it on the Chinese marketplace shown. Every row here is a skin whose cheapest Western listing sits below what it sells for on BUFF163, C5Game and Youpin — the three deepest CS2 markets — even after the sell market takes its commission.

Question 2

Is the profit figure after fees?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for the sell-side commission: BUFF163 2.5%, C5Game 2%, Youpin 2%. It does not include what it costs to get the money out — Alipay cash-out, or an agent's cut if you do not have a Chinese account — nor any buy-side deposit fee. Treat the profit column as a ceiling and subtract your own costs.

Question 3

Is the sell price what I would get instantly?

Accepted Answer

No. The Chinese price shown is the lowest current listing, not a standing buy order. Selling at that number means listing your skin and waiting for a buyer; if you want an instant sale you have to undercut, or hit the highest buy order, which is lower. The listing count next to each item is a rough guide to how much competition you would be joining.

Question 4

How do you keep bad prices off this page?

Accepted Answer

Picking the cheapest listing on one market and the dearest on another is exactly the operation that surfaces whichever quote is most wrong, so both sides are checked before either is chosen. Every quote is compared against the consensus for that skin — the median across the markets quoting it, plus the SteamAnalyst reference price, a weighted average over 30+ marketplaces. A buy price under half the consensus, or a sell price over 1.5x it, is discarded rather than shown. Where several Chinese markets quote an item, one standing more than 30% above the next is dropped in favour of the corroborated price. The count under the results line tells you how many rows this removed.

Question 5

Why do a few items show "unverified"?

Accepted Answer

Because too few marketplaces quote that skin for anything to corroborate the spread — there is no consensus to check it against, not that the price looks wrong. Those rows are shown with the caveat rather than hidden. Anything that actually failed a consensus check is dropped outright.

Question 6

What else eats into the spread?

Accepted Answer

Steam's 7-day trade hold on newly traded items, price movement while you wait for a buyer, currency conversion, and the time it takes to move an item between platforms. Wider spreads exist precisely because that friction is real — the numbers here are the opportunity before your own costs, not a guaranteed return.

Question 7

How often are the prices updated?

Accepted Answer

Prices from every tracked marketplace, Western and Chinese, are refreshed every 30 minutes, and anything older than 7 days is ignored. Items start at $5 on the buy side, below which fees and trade friction swallow the entire spread.

CS2 Skin Arbitrage — Cheaper Than Chinese Markets