Review · 1 min read·by CS2Apps editorial
Buff163
Largest CS2 marketplace by volume — Chinese, but trade-friendly.
Buff163 is best for volume-weighted price discovery. Free to use.
What it does
Buff163 (operated by NetEase in China) is the highest-volume CS2 marketplace by far. Buff prices set the global market floor for many items. Their public-facing site is in Chinese; English UI requires a translator extension. Trades are Steam-mediated so non-Chinese users can buy and sell with the right setup.
No public API — third-party tools (including Pricempire) aggregate Buff prices via partnerships or scraping.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Highest volume worldwide
- Sets the global price floor for many items
- Lowest fees in the market
Caveats
- Chinese-only UI
- No public API — third-party aggregators only
- Withdrawal/payment friction for non-Chinese users
Buff163 compared head-to-head
Direct comparisons with the closest alternatives.
- Buff163 vs CSFloatBuff163 is the global volume leader for CS2 — its prices set the floor most third-party tools reference. CSFloat is the largest English-speaking P2P marketplace with the lowest published seller fee. The choice depends on whether you can stomach Buff's region and UI friction for the access to volume.2/6 wins
- Buff163 vs SkinportBuff163 is the global volume leader for CS2 — its prices are what most price aggregators reference as the world reference. Skinport is the EU-focused alternative with a polished interface and weekly SEPA payouts. The pick comes down to whether you can stomach Buff's region friction for the access to liquidity.3/6 wins
- Buff163 vs DMarketBuff163 has the deepest CS2 liquidity in the world but lives behind a Chinese-only UI and CN-region payment rails. DMarket is smaller but ships the most complete public + HMAC-authed API in the space. They're not really competing for the same user — one optimises for traders chasing the best price, the other for builders automating listings.3/6 wins
- Buff163 vs CSGOSkins.ggCSGOSkins.gg aggregates prices across 29+ marketplaces and points you to the cheapest listing for an item. Buff163 is one of those listed marketplaces — usually the world reference and often the cheapest. Asking "which one to use" is mostly a question of whether you want to shop one source or all of them.2/6 wins
- Buff163 vs CSFloat vs Skinport3-wayThese are the three CS2 marketplaces most serious traders end up using together. CSFloat for English-speaking float-conscious P2P trades, Skinport for clean EU cash-out, Buff163 for the deepest global liquidity. Picking one means picking your trade-off — most people end up rotating between two of the three depending on what they're selling.2/8 wins
- Buff163 vs DMarket vs Skinport3-wayDMarket, Buff163, and Skinport solve the same problem — let you trade CS2 skins — through three completely different lenses. DMarket leads on API + multi-game support. Buff163 has the world's deepest liquidity but lives behind a CN region wall. Skinport is the EU sellers' default with clean SEPA payouts. Which one wins comes down to where you live, what you trade, and whether you build automation.3/8 wins
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free · Marketplaces
Buff163