TRADE SAFETY · 8 MIN READ

Steam trade protection and seller payout timeline

SkinOrders uses a direct seller-to-buyer Steam offer. The site does not take custody of the item. After the buyer accepts the correct offer, the seller payout becomes locked and follows its own server-side protection timer.

Always verify the recipient, exact items and offer contents in Steam. Never provide a password, Steam Guard code or recovery credential to SkinOrders or another trader.

1. Buyer funds a request

The buyer chooses an exact item, unit price and quantity. The required platform balance is locked before the request becomes active so visible demand is funded.

2. Seller reserves exact assets

The seller checks a public Steam inventory and reserves eligible asset identifiers for a limited time. Reservation prevents the same asset or order quantity from being promised twice.

3. Seller sends directly through Steam

The Trade Helper can prepare the correct assets and recipient in the Steam offer. The seller still reviews and confirms the offer in Steam. The item travels directly to the buyer, not to a SkinOrders bot.

4. Buyer accepts the offer

SkinOrders tracks the offer status. When Steam confirms acceptance, the corresponding seller payout moves into USD Locked. It is not yet withdrawable.

5. Each payout has its own timer

Protection is calculated per accepted trade. If one trade is accepted on Monday and another on Tuesday, their payouts do not release together: Monday's qualifying payout can become available first, then Tuesday's after its own deadline. The profile shows total USD Locked plus the nearest upcoming release amount and countdown.

6. Automatic, idempotent release

At maturity, the server verifies that the trade is still eligible and has no open dispute. It writes one unique ledger entry for that trade and credits available balance. Repeating the check cannot credit the same trade twice.

What happens to expired reservations?

An uncompleted reservation leaves the active Supplies or Requests view and remains in History for audit and support. Financial records are not silently deleted because they may be needed to explain balance movement, abuse or a dispute.

Read the two balances correctlyUSD Available can be withdrawn subject to account and payout rules. USD Locked includes protected seller payouts and, in the profile total, any buyer balance committed to active requests.

For recipient safety, read the Steam Trade URL guide. For the full platform flow, see how SkinOrders works.