How to Sell Dota 2 Items on the Steam Community Market
Steps, requirements and fees for selling Dota 2 items on the Steam Community Market.
Project editor:GrassKnuckles
To sell a Dota 2 item on Steam, open your Steam inventory, choose Dota 2, click the item, press Sell, enter a price and confirm the listing in the Steam mobile app. Steam adds a 5% Steam fee and a 10% Dota 2 fee on top of your price, so buyers pay 15% more than you receive. Your payout goes to your Steam Wallet. Check it first with our Steam Market fee calculator.
What you need before you can sell
- An account without limits. Steam restricts the Market on limited accounts. Spending $5 on Steam lifts the limit, as Steam’s Limited User Accounts page explains.
- Steam Guard on for 15 days. Steam Guard, by email or the mobile app, must be enabled for 15 days before you can use the Market.
- A Steam purchase 7 days to a year old. You need a successful purchase older than 7 days but not older than a year. Steam’s Market restrictions page lists what counts: Wallet funds, games, DLC and software do; gifts and retail key activations don’t.
- The mobile authenticator, to avoid holds. Listings you create once the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator has been active for more than 7 days go up without a hold. Without it, or in its first 7 days, Steam holds items and listings for 15 days.
- A marketable item. Most Dota 2 cosmetics can be sold. Gifts and some rewards carry a “not marketable” note or a date after which they can be listed. The item description in your inventory shows it.
- Room in your Wallet. Steam caps the Wallet balance an account can hold. A sale that would push you over the cap cannot be listed, and the Community Market FAQ states the current limit.
- No recent security change. Adding a new payment method or having Steam Support reset your password can pause the Market for days, according to Liquipedia’s Steam Market page.
How to sell a Dota 2 item on Steam, step by step
- Open your inventory. Sign in to Steam in the client or on steamcommunity.com, go to your profile, choose Inventory and select Dota 2.
- Click the exact item. Read the full name, quality, installed gems and any marketable date. Check whether you hold an unopened bundle or one piece of a set.
- Press Sell. If the button is missing, see the fixes below.
- Study the price. The sell window shows the lowest listings and recent sales for your item. Compare them with the Dota 2 price table.
- Enter your price. Two boxes show Buyer pays and You receive. Type in either one and Steam fills in the other.
- Accept the agreement. Tick the Steam Subscriber Agreement box and press OK, put it up for sale.
- Confirm in the Steam app. Open the Steam mobile app, go to Confirmations and approve the listing. Until you do, it stays pending.
- Manage the listing. Your active listings appear on the Market page. You can remove one at any time and the item returns to your inventory. When it sells, the money goes to your Wallet.
Steam Market fees for Dota 2 items
Two fees are added to the price you set. The Steam Transaction Fee is 5% with a minimum of $0.01. The Dota 2 game fee is 10% and is set by Valve as the publisher, per Steam’s Community Market FAQ. You receive the price you set. The buyer pays that price plus both fees.
| You receive | Steam fee (5%) | Dota 2 fee (10%) | Buyer pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1.00 | $0.05 | $0.10 | $1.15 |
| $10.00 | $0.50 | $1.00 | $11.50 |
| $20.00 | $1.00 | $2.00 | $23.00 |
To work backwards, divide the buyer’s price by 1.15. A $11.50 listing pays you $10.00. Multiplying by 0.85 gives $9.78, which is wrong. Together the fees take about 13% of what the buyer pays. Very cheap items lose a bigger share, because of the one-cent minimum. Steam’s sell window rounds to whole cents, so trust its numbers over any estimate.
Choose a price: sell fast or wait
- Sell fast. List at or just under the lowest current listing. Listing at the highest buy order price usually sells the item right away. Our guide to buy orders and instant buying explains the difference.
- Wait for more. List a little above the lowest listing and look at the price history. A listing can sit unsold, and you can cancel and relist it whenever you like.
- Match the exact copy. Quality and gems change what an item is worth, so compare your item with listings of the same quality, not just the same name.
A quick example: the lowest listing shows $5.75, so you would receive $5.00 at that price. Listing at $5.60 for the buyer undercuts it, and you receive about $4.87 (5.60 ÷ 1.15). Dropping the price by 15 cents costs you 13 cents, so it is worth checking the “You receive” box before each cut.
Sell on Steam or somewhere else?
Steam is the simplest route: you need no account on another site, and the buyers are the whole Dota 2 community. The trade-off is the Wallet: funds stay in Steam, and the fees are a fixed 15% on top of your price. Third-party marketplaces can pay out in cash and charge different fees, but each has its own rules. Use the marketplace comparison to line them up, and check your net amount on both before choosing.
No Sell button or a stuck listing?
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No Sell button on one item | That copy is not marketable yet | Read its description for a date, then list after it passes |
| Market unavailable on the whole account | Limited account, a new payment method or a password reset | Follow the restriction notice in Steam and wait it out |
| Listing on hold | Authenticator active for less than 7 days | Wait up to 15 days or cancel the listing |
| Listing waiting | Mobile confirmation missing | Open Steam app, Confirmations, approve |
| Active but unsold | Your price is above other listings | Compare, cancel and relist lower |
| Cannot resell an item you bought | Items bought on the Market can’t be resold until the date shown on the item | List it after that date |
After the sale: your Wallet and cash-out options
Wallet funds pay for games, DLC and Market purchases inside Steam. They cannot be withdrawn as cash. If you want real money, read how to cash out Dota 2 items. Third-party sites pay out differently, and the Steam Market review shows how Steam compares with them. Our where to buy and sell guide covers when each route makes sense.
A real Market listing never needs a trade with a stranger. If someone asks you to send the item first to “release” a payment, stop. The trading safety checklist lists the warning signs.
Quick answers
Can I sell Dota 2 items for real money on Steam?
No. Steam pays into your Wallet, and Wallet funds stay inside Steam. To get cash, you need a third-party marketplace.
How much does Steam take from a Dota 2 sale?
The 5% Steam fee and the 10% Dota 2 fee add 15% to the price you set. That is about 13% of the buyer’s total.
How do I sell items in Dota 2?
The game has no shop for player sales. You list items through your Steam inventory, as in the steps above.
Can I cancel a Steam Market listing?
Yes. Remove it from your active listings on the Market page, and the item returns to your inventory.
Sources and examples
- Steam Support: Community Market rules and fees
- Dota Ledger price comparisons
- Steam Support: Limited User Accounts
- Liquipedia: Steam Community Market requirements and holds
- Steam Support: trade and market holds
- Steam Support: trading and Market restrictions
- Steam Support: Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator and item holds