Introduction
BUFF Market is a marketplace for Steam items, particularly for CS2 skins and items.The platform was founded about 3 years ago, onApril 1st, 2021. BUFF Market is currently operated byDing Lei, with headquarters in Hangzhou, China.The BUFF Market marketplace and company have been vetted by CSGOSKINS.GG anddeemed trustworthy by all our standards.
Popularity
BUFF Market is rated 4.8 out of 5 with over630 reviews on Trustpilot.The BUFF Market platform received approximately430.1K visits during the last month.There are currently 15.2K different items available onthe marketplace, with a total of 164.6K listed offers.Additionally, the combined value of all CS2 skins that are currently available on the BUFF Marketmarket amounts to $6.4M.
Market Type
BUFF Market is a P2P (peer-to-peer) marketplace. That means when an itemis sold on BUFF Market, it is traded directly from the seller’s Steam inventoryto the buyer’s Steam inventory. This has the advantage that sellers can list theiritems on multiple marketplaces at the same time, since they don’t need to depositthe skins to a single marketplace. The downside is that when an item is sold, theseller must manually approve the trade which causes a delay for the buyer. P2Pmarketplaces have some benefits for sellers but the buyer experience is not as smooth.
History
Founded in April 2021, BUFF Market is a relatively new third-party skin marketplace that enables users to buy and sellCS2 skins in exchange for real money. It is owned and operated by one of the biggest skin marketplaces on theinternet, BUFF163. Since BUFF163 is predominantly used by Chinese users, BUFF Market was developed as a measure totarget users throughout the globe. For the same reason, BUFF Market enables users residing outside China to deposit andwithdraw money on their platform, whereas BUFF163 only allows Chinese users to deposit or withdraw funds.
Parent Company
The BUFF marketplace is owned by Chinese Internet technology company NetEase.Valued at over 70 billion US dollars, NetEase is one of the biggest namesin the world of Chinese video games and entertainment that has previously partneredwith big companies like Blizzard and Marvel Comics to bring avariety of games and comic books to the Chinese market.
Transaction Fees
BUFF Market charges its users a fixed transaction fee of 4.5% per item sale, which is quite more than itscompanion BUFF163, which has a selling fee of 2.5%. However, the selling fee ofBUFF Market is still significantly lower than that of the Steam Community Market (15%) and most other third-party skinmarketplaces.
Users & Popularity
Being one of the newer third-party skin marketplaces out there, BUFF Market is still a thriving marketplace that hasn'tmanaged to match the popularity of older skin marketplaces on the internet. With over 100,000 visits per month and theauthenticity of BUFF163 behind it, BUFF Market certainly shows a promising future that fans can rely upon.
It’s notable that even though BUFF Market is a China-based website, only 3% of its users are from China, whereas awhopping 11% of the users are from the United States of America. This can only be seen as its success, since the websitewas primarily developed to target users residing outside China.
Method of Trading
BUFF Market boasts a neat and intuitive UI that makes buying and selling skins a breeze for new and experienced usersalike. The convenient P2P trading system means that buying weapon skins can be done in just a few seconds, whereasselling skins might take a while due to the limited number of users on the platform.
BUFF Market currently enables users to buy and sell skins across two games - CS2 and Badlanders. The process fortransactions involving either of these titles is similar.
Buying Skins on BUFF Market
To buy skins on BUFF Market, a user has to top up their wallet by following a few simple steps:
- Sign in with your Steam account
- Click on your wallet balance on the top-right
- Navigate to the Deposit tab
- Select the amount you want to deposit
- Link a bank account
- Click on "Deposit"
- Complete the transaction
Currently, buyers can only deposit money directly through bank accounts.
Once you’re done filling your wallet, all there’s left for you to do is select a skin and purchase it. To do so, headover to the Market tab of the website and choose a skin you desire.Once done, click on "Buy", enter your Steam Trade URL, and finish the transaction. Since the trades are P2P, you mayhave to wait a while for the seller to supply your items. Accept the trade offer that the seller sends you, and youshould then have the item in your inventory.
Selling Skins on BUFF Market
Selling skins on BUFF Market is equally simple, but may take a while due to the relatively low popularity of thewebsite.
First, follow the same steps as above and sign in with your Steam account. Once signed in, you have to input your SteamTrade URL, and you’re all set to begin selling skins on BUFF Market.
To start selling items, head over to the Inventory tab and select whichitems you want to list on the marketplace. Once you’re done selecting all the skins, click on "List" to allocate a pricetag to each skin. If you’re satisfied with the price, click on "List" once again to list your items on the market. Nowall you have to do is wait till a buyer purchases your skins and send them the appropriate trade offer. Your funds willthen be added to your wallet, which you can withdraw through one of the payment methods available on the website.
Currently, sellers can only withdraw money through Payoneer or direct bank transfer.
Advantages
Here are some of the key advantages that you’ll enjoy while buying or selling skins on BUFF Market:
- Significantly lower transaction fee than that of the Steam Community Market (15%).
- Neat, intuitive UI that’s helpful for new and experienced users alike.
- The price of skins on BUFF Market is generally lower than that of skins listed on the Steam Community Market.
- Convenient P2P trading system enables users to buy and sell skins in the matter of a few seconds.
- Has a mobile app that is extremely useful for buying and selling on-the-go when you’re unable to boot up your PC.
- Great built-in "screenshot" tool that enables users to inspect skins without launching the CS2 client.
- Has a community gallery where users can share screenshots of theirown skins.
Disadvantages
BUFF Market isn’t free from flaws, and some of them are quite notable. Here are some of the disadvantages of using BUFFMarket:
- Higher transaction fee than that of the BUFF163 marketplace (2.5%).
- Number of users is much lower than that of other popular third-party marketplaces, which may lead to increased sellingtimes.
- Number of skins listed on the marketplace are lower than most other notable websites.
- Only a few depositing and withdrawal options are available on BUFF Market.
- Lack of features like "Instant Selling" and "Auctioning".
- Doesn't support skin trading across other popular games like DOTA 2, Rust, or Team Fortress 2.
We’ve compiled a list of questions that are frequently asked about BUFF Market.
Yes, BUFF Market is legit! There are several factors which let us confidentlysay that BUFF Market is a trustworthy platform:
BUFF Market has its headquarters in Hangzhou, China.
BUFF Market is owned by the company NetEase, Inc., which is operated byDing Lei.
The fee for selling items on BUFF Market is 4.50%.
There are several CS2 marketplaces which are a viable alternative to BUFF Market, including:
BUFF Market was founded 3 years ago, on April 1st, 2021.
When buying items on BUFF Market, you can use any of the following payment methods:
When cashing out balance from BUFF Market, the following payout options are available:
