Marketplace rules

This page sums up how trading works on SIH.Market: what is expected of sellers and buyers, how a trade runs and what gets selling restricted. The full agreement is set out in the Terms of Service.

  • You sign in only with a Steam account. You are responsible for keeping the account secure and for everything done through it.
  • You may use the marketplace if you are of legal age or act with the consent of a parent or guardian — and only on your own behalf, not on behalf of third parties.
  • Top up your balance only with your own, lawfully obtained funds.
  • Circumventing the technical protection of the marketplace, disrupting its operation or using it in ways not permitted by the Terms of Service is prohibited.
  • A completed trade is final: a delivered item is not returned or exchanged.

To sell, you need a Steam account with tradable items, a trade link in your profile and the Steam Inventory Helper extension with trading permission granted.

  • List only what you are ready to hand over. Every sale is a commitment: once a listing is bought, you must send the Steam trade within the allotted time.
  • Stay online. Buyers can only buy from sellers who are on the marketplace right now: while you are offline, your listings are hidden from the storefront and come back when you are online again.
  • The marketplace fee is 2% of the sale price and is deducted from the sale amount. The buyer pays no separate fee.
  • Sale proceeds are credited after the item has reached the buyer. What you can withdraw is your sales revenue, not your deposits.
  • The listing description is visible to the buyer: no more than 200 characters and 6 lines, with no HTML markup or code fragments.
  • Do not cancel a sold trade or withdraw a sent trade offer in Steam — this gets your selling restricted.
  • Never take back an item you have already handed over through Steam trade protection — this gets your selling blocked permanently.
  • You need a trade link to buy. Steam itself issues it in your inventory privacy settings; without it, the seller cannot send you a trade.
  • Your Steam account must be free of restrictions that prevent receiving items (a ban, a trade lock and the like). If such restrictions exist, a failed trade is your responsibility.
  • When you place an order, the amount is reserved on your balance and goes to the seller only after the item has reached you.
  • Accept the trade in time. If you do not, the trade fails and the reserved money is returned to you; if the purchase came from a buy order, the order is closed and the rest of its amount is returned as well.
  • The marketplace does not guarantee float values.
  • If you return a received item through the Steam mechanism for protected items, the marketplace may not refund its value: the delivery obligation has already been fulfilled.
  • The buyer places an order and their money is reserved.
  • The seller is notified and sends the Steam trade.
  • The buyer accepts the trade.
  • The money is credited to the seller — after the item has arrived.

The deadlines for sending the trade and for accepting it are set for each trade and shown as a countdown under “Trades”.

An item counts as received once the seller has finally confirmed the trade and the buyer has been notified of it in Steam. Steam may take up to 24 hours to process a trade; if the item never arrives, the money goes back to your balance.

If a trade fails through the seller’s fault or because of a malfunction, the reserved amount is returned to the buyer in full.

Steam may hold a transferred item on its side — this is Steam trade protection. While that window lasts, the trade already counts as delivered on the marketplace, and the remaining time is shown on the trade card.

A selling block stops you from listing items; you can still buy. The reason and, if the term is known, a countdown to the unblock are shown under “Sell” and “My Stall”.

  • The trade was not sent in time. Selling is blocked for 12 hours. During that time your regular listings are hidden from the storefront, and running auctions are cancelled: bids are returned to the bidders and the auction listings are taken off sale.
  • The seller cancelled the trade — with the button on the marketplace or by cancelling the trade offer in Steam. Selling is blocked from the very first cancellation, and the term grows: it equals the number of your cancellations in the last 30 days multiplied by 12 hours (12, 24, 36 hours and so on). The listing of the cancelled trade is taken off sale; your other regular listings are hidden for the duration of the block, while auctions play out.
  • A delivered item was taken back through Steam trade protection. Selling is blocked permanently, all listings are removed and running auctions are cancelled with bids returned. A penalty equal to the trade amount is withheld from your balance, but no more than your available balance; the buyer gets their money back.
  • Administration decision. For violating the Terms of Service, the administration may restrict selling or block the account entirely. With a full block, selling, buying, bidding and withdrawals are unavailable.

When the block expires, hidden listings return to the storefront on their own (if you are online). The listing of a cancelled trade does not come back — you need to list it again.

If you believe a sanction was issued in error, contact support and include the order number. The administration can revoke an erroneous sanction, and it is then no longer counted towards your later cancellations.

The fastest way is the support chat right on the site: the “Support” button is on every page. If the chat does not open, write to us:

If your question is about a specific trade, include the order number — you will find it under “Trades”.

Terms of Service