How the Steam tax works
The Community Market adds two fees on top of what the seller receives: Steam’s Transaction Fee of 5% (minimum $0.01) and a game fee set by the publisher, currently 10% for Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2 and Artifact. Both are “calculated based on the item cost”, and the buyer pays them (Steam Support: Community Market FAQ).
So a listed price is about 115% of what you get, and you keep about 87% of what the buyer pays.
| Buyer pays | Fees | Fee rate | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.10 | $0.02 | 20.0% | $0.08 |
| $1.00 | $0.13 | 13.0% | $0.87 |
| $10.00 | $1.30 | 13.0% | $8.69 |
| $100.00 | $13.05 | 13.1% | $86.95 |
Steam Tax Explained: 5% Steam Fee + 10% Game Fee
On a $10.00 sale the split is roughly: you $8.69, Steam $0.43, the game $0.87. On very cheap items the $0.01 minimums dominate: a $0.10 listing leaves you $0.08. Steam doesn’t publish its rounding rule, so a live listing can differ from this by a cent.
Two things catch people out. First, the money goes to your Steam Wallet, not your bank, so it’s only worth what you’ll spend on Steam. Second, a game other than the four Valve titles may set a different fee; choose “Another game” and enter it.
Cheap items lose the most
Because each fee has a $0.01 minimum, the Steam tax bites hardest at the bottom of the market. A $2.50 listing leaves the seller about $2.17, around 13%, but a $0.05 item can lose 40% to two one-cent minimums. If you’re clearing a big inventory of low-value items, bundle them into trades or price them high enough that the minimums stop dominating.
