Guide
Steam Market Glossary: Commodities, Buy Orders, Holds and More
Summary: A glossary of the terms used on the Steam Community Market and across Steam Bulk Sell. It covers selling (commodity, Multisell, buy order, listing), money (Steam Transaction Fee, game fee, Steam Wallet, wallet cap), account rules (Steam Guard, Mobile Authenticator, trade hold, market hold, trade cooldown, Trade Protection, limited account), items (marketable, tradable, exterior, StatTrak™, Souvenir, case, key) and Steam trading cards (booster pack, foil, badge, gems, Sack of Gems). Each definition links to the Steam Support page it's based on or to a longer guide.
Steam's selling rules use a lot of specific words, and some of them, like *trade hold*, *market hold* and *trade cooldown*, sound alike but mean different things. Here's what each one means, in plain English, with a link to where the rule comes from. Definitions are based on Steam's support pages as of October 26, 2026.
Selling and listing
Steam Community Market
Steam's built-in marketplace, where users buy and sell in-game items, trading cards and other community items for Steam Wallet funds. Valve's Steam Subscriber Agreement calls the Market and Steam Trading "Subscription Marketplaces". Whether a game's items appear there is "up to the game developer" (Market FAQ). Overview: Steam Community Market guide.
Commodity
An item where, in the Market FAQ's words, "all the items are identical, and can be traded interchangeably". Every Fever Case is the same as every other Fever Case, so it's a commodity. A CS2 weapon skin with its own exterior isn't. Only commodities can go on Steam's Multisell page. See CS2 skins vs commodities.
Multisell
A Steam Market page that lists several commodity items from one game in a single form. You set a price and quantity for each and submit them together. Steam Bulk Sell builds the link to that page from your public inventory. See the Multisell guide.
Sell listing
An item you've put up for sale at a set price. Steam shows your active listings at the top of the Market page, where you can remove them.
Buy order
A standing offer to buy a commodity at up to a set price. The Market FAQ says that if no item is available at that price right away, the order "stays active until an item listed at the right price comes along". When you list an item, the oldest matching buy order is filled first. Buy orders let sellers "do a lower price to sell immediately; or go for a higher price and wait".
Market hash name
The exact name Steam uses for an item on the Market, as it appears in the item's Market page address, for example "Sealed Graffiti | Heart (Blood Red)". Two items with slightly different names, such as a StatTrak™ and a plain music kit, are different Market items with different prices.
App ID
The number Steam uses for each game, for example 730 for Counter-Strike 2 and 440 for Team Fortress 2. It appears in Store and Market addresses, and Steam Bulk Sell uses it in its game page links, such as /game/730.
Money and fees
Steam Transaction Fee
Steam's fee on each Market sale. It's currently 5% of the sale, with a minimum of $0.01. The buyer pays it on top of your price, and it "may be increased or decreased" (Market FAQ). See Steam Market fees.
Game fee
An extra fee on sales of some games' items, "determined and collected by the game publisher". The Market FAQ lists it at 10% for Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and Artifact.
Steam Wallet
The Steam account balance that Market sales are paid into. The Market FAQ says the funds "cannot be withdrawn or transferred to another Steam account or to a bank/3rd party account". The Subscriber Agreement says they "have no cash value". See can you sell Steam items for real money?
Wallet cap
The most your Steam Wallet can hold, $2000 or about the same in your currency. You can't create a listing that would take you over it, and the largest single listing is about $1800 (Market FAQ).
Account rules and restrictions
Steam Guard
Steam's account protection, which sends a code by email or through the Steam Mobile App. Steam Guard has to have been on for 15 days before you can use the Market, and turning it off and on again restarts that wait (Restrictions FAQ).
Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator
The Steam Guard option that generates sign-in codes in the Steam Mobile App. The codes change every 30 seconds. Once it's been on for more than 7 days, your new trades and listings aren't held (Mobile Authenticator FAQ). Steam Support "will never ask for any of your codes".
Trade hold
A wait of up to 15 days before items in a trade are delivered. It applies when the account doesn't meet the authenticator rule above (Holds FAQ). See trade holds and market holds.
Market hold
The same kind of wait, applied to a Market listing after you create it. While a listing is held, buyers can't see it.
Trade cooldown
A period when you can't trade or use the Market at all. Examples are 7 days after you cancel a held trade, and 15 days after you remove the Mobile Authenticator. Steam Support can't remove cooldowns (Holds FAQ, Restrictions FAQ).
Trade Protection
Counter-Strike 2's alternative to trade holds. CS2 items you receive in a trade are Trade Protected for 7 days, and during that time they "cannot be consumed, modified, or transferred". The owner can reverse recent Trade Protected trades, but the reversing account then can't trade or use the Market for 30 days (Trade Protected Items FAQ).
New device restriction
A 7-day block on trading and the Market after you sign in on a new device. It doesn't apply if you've had the Mobile Authenticator for at least 7 days. Clearing cookies or using a new browser can count as a new device (Restrictions FAQ).
Limited user account
A Steam account that hasn't met Steam's requirements for full access yet. The Restrictions FAQ says limited users "are prevented from accessing several features on Steam" and links to the Limited User Accounts article.
Public inventory
An inventory set to Public in your Steam privacy settings, so others, and tools like Steam Bulk Sell, can see which items you own. See how to make your inventory public.
Items
Marketable and tradable
Two flags on each item. A marketable item can be listed on the Community Market, and a tradable item can be sent in a trade. Items bought in-game or on the Market aren't tradable or marketable until the date shown on the item (Restrictions FAQ). Some items, like Dota 2 timed drops, are never marketable (Market FAQ). See why you can't sell an item.
Exterior (wear)
The condition of a CS2 weapon skin, shown in brackets in its name: Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested, Well-Worn or Battle-Scarred. Each exterior is a separate Market item.
StatTrak™ and Souvenir
Counter-Strike 2 item variants with their own Market names, such as "StatTrak™ AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested)" or "Souvenir AK-47 | Redline (Minimal Wear)". Each one is priced separately from the plain item.
Case, crate and key
Containers that drop in some games, and the keys that open them. For example, CS2 has the Fever Case and the Clutch Case Key, TF2 has the Mann Co. Supply Crate Key, and Rust has the High Quality Crate. Most are commodities. See the CS2, TF2 and Rust guides.
Workshop item
An item made by the community through the Steam Workshop and added to a game. On the Rust Market, most items Steam returned on October 26, 2026 were typed "Workshop Item".
Steam trading cards
Trading card
A Steam community item that drops for some games and goes into your Steam inventory, the "Steam" tab, rather than the game's inventory. You can sell cards, craft them into a badge, or turn them into gems. See how to sell Steam trading cards.
Booster pack
A pack of 3 trading cards for one game. Booster packs can drop to eligible accounts, and you can also make them from gems.
Foil card
A rarer version of a trading card. Foil cards can appear in booster packs, and a full set crafts a foil badge.
Badge
A profile item crafted from a full set of a game's trading cards. Each badge level gives 100 XP, and a game's regular badge can be crafted up to 5 times.
Gems and Sack of Gems
Gems come from turning community items, such as cards, backgrounds and emoticons, into gems from your Steam inventory, and they're used to make booster packs. Steam says gems "can only be placed on the Community Market after being packed up into a Sack of Gems", and a Sack of Gems holds 1000 gems. See the Sack of Gems section.
Ready to put this into practice? Load your inventory on Steam Bulk Sell and list your commodities in one Multisell batch.