When you sell an item on the Steam Community Market, two fees are deducted from the final sale price:
- Steam Transaction Fee: This 5% fee applies to all Community Market sales, regardless of the game. Steam uses this income to maintain the market infrastructure, handle payment processing, and combat fraud.
- Game-Specific Fee: An additional 10% fee is charged for items in certain games, most notably Valve-developed and published titles like CS:GO and Dota 2. This fee goes directly to the game developer/publisher to support their ongoing development and operations.
Exceptions:
- Community Created Content (Workshop items): For these items, Steam takes a 25% share rather than just the 5% transaction fee. The remaining 75% goes to the content creator(s).
- Third-party currencies: Items bought with in-game currencies like Dota 2’s Battle Points or Team Fortress 2’s Keys have different fee structures based on the game’s economy.
Minimum Fees:
- Both the Steam Transaction Fee and game-specific fees have a minimum of $0.01. This ensures Steam receives some compensation even for low-value item sales. This can impact smaller transactions, making selling items worth less than $0.20 impractical due to fees exceeding potential profit.
Here’s an example:
- You list an item for $10.
- Buyer sees a final price of $11.50 (including $0.50 Steam fee and $1.00 game-specific fee).
- You receive $9 (after fees).
Additional Notes:
- Some items in specific games may have different fee structures.
- Steam reserves the right to change these fees in the future.
