You must have seen numerous top-lists with the most expensive and rarest CS:GO skins. It’s a true privilege to own one of these, and once you equip them, you’ll get noticed for sure.
However, prices of those cosmetic weapon finishes could easily hit a few hundred and even thousands of dollars. Obviously, for most casual gamers paying such a price for an aesthetic update is nothing but nonsense.
On the other hand, gamers wouldn’t be gamers if they didn’t get something valuable.
But, if you were lucky enough, you probably wouldn’t end up here reading this piece. So instead of hoping for a miracle to happen, we’ll show you a simple yet powerful technique of getting decent CS:GO skins (almost) for free. The “technique” is called CS:GO skin trading.
With this method, you can exchange the existing skins with other players, sell them to earn money, or sell them so you could constantly buy the new ones. In this way, you’ll never get bored with the current arsenal, and you practically won’t spend any money – as long as you’re getting good deals.
This isn’t a completely free technique, as it requires you to have at least some valuables in your inventory. Yet if you’re a frequent player, you should have got some by far. Another option is to buy a few skins to start, and luckily there’s plenty of options in the $1 – $10 price range.
But back to the topic – if you’re still new to CS:GO skin trading, let’s break it down in detail.
What is CS:GO skin trading?
CS:GO skin trading is a simple concept originally developed by Valve together with the Steam Community Market. Here you’re able to exchange skins with other people or sell them for an official estimated price.
Yet this method had (and still has) two main flaws. These problems are:
- Finding people to trade with
- Not being able to withdraw the money
Luckily, as the market developed, players came up with a practical solution.
The first one was solved naturally – communities such as Reddit’s CS:GO board opened a possibility to post offerings or trade requests.
Yet this is still far from the perfect method, as it requires loads of research, manual work, and comes with a possibility for scamming.
But then, what is the final solution?
The solution for safe and convenient skin trading came with numerous skin trading and gaming platforms. You can find some of the best sites here, and pick the one that matches your needs. If you’re willing to simply exchange skins, check their skin trading site list of the best places.
How to get the most out of CS:GO trading platforms?
Before you start exchanging skins you’ve been collecting over the years, there are a few things to take care of. They are mostly related to the winning mindset and the right strategy.
Here are a few tips that could greatly help you within the process.
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Look for the highest value
Skin market works like a regular stock or equity market. There are ups and downs, and once you start noticing patterns, you’ll know how to utilize the best deals.
Logically, as a beginner, you might have hard times looking for a good deal.
The main idea here is to practice with items of the lowest value. Once you get the idea of the system, you’ll be able to tell if it’s the right time to sell or buy an item.
Also, steam has the official price estimation for each skin, so make sure to check that as well. The rest is simple – don’t buy when the prices are high, and stay away from selling when your items don’t have any value.
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Cross compare multiple sites
It might seem like nonsense, but in reality, it’s good to open accounts on different skin trading sites. By cross-comparing deals, you’ll be able to see which one gives you the greatest value.
It’s also known that some players earned money simply by buying from one site and selling on another. The deal is simple – if the same item is overpriced on one site, and underpriced on the other, all you have to do is to buy from one and sell on the other, and you’ll get the money difference.
However, there’s a catch that you must take care of. Those websites are earning by taking a few percentages as a commission for the service. So if your profit margin is lower than the commission, you’ll hardly earn anything.
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Closely watch for the wear and tear
As you already know, there are a few conditions that the skin might offer. The more the player wears it, the price will get lower and vice versa. The most worn-down are Battle-Scarred skins, while the Factory New doesn’t have any wear at all.
More precisely, the “titles” are assigned according to the float number that goes from 0.00 – 1.00:
- Factory New (0.00 – 0.07)
- Minimal Wear (0.07 – 0.15)
- Field-Tested (0.15 – 0.38)
- Well-Worn (0.38 – 0.45)
- Battle-Scarred (0.45 – 1.00)
While you’re already familiar with this, it’s easy to overlook this step. Plus, some players might try to fool you, and instead of the agreed condition, they could send something else.
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Don’t get too emotional with skins
Remember why you started doing this – because you didn’t want to spend lots of money, yet you still wanted to have new skins from time to time. Therefore, you have no room to stock tens or hundreds of skins in your inventory.
If you’re willing to try new ones without spending, you’ll need to trade or sell the existing ones.
There could be a few items that you don’t want to trade, but our advice is to keep that number the lowest possible.
A good idea is to collect an entire series or only keep StarTrek items for example. While this is also an expensive tactic, at least you’ll have some rules to stick to.
