Trade Safety
SkinBox is not the custodian of your items. Skins live in Steam.
When you sell, Steam sends a trade offer from a SkinBox bot to your inventory.
You must accept that offer within the Steam confirmation window or the sale
fails. That's the only safe path. Any other path is a scam.
Never do any of these
- Never accept a trade offer from an account you do not recognize. Our bots have documented names listed on the Help page.
- Never paste your Steam password or Steam Guard code on a website that isn't steamcommunity.com. SkinBox uses Steam OpenID. You will be redirected to the real Steam login — check the URL bar.
- Never DM trade with another SkinBox user outside the platform. The entire value SkinBox provides is escrow and dispute resolution. Side deals bypass both and are the single biggest source of loss on peer-to-peer markets.
- Never send items to a "middle man". There is no such thing on SkinBox. Our bots take the items, Stripe holds the cash, both release simultaneously on trade confirmation.
- Never trust a "support agent" who DMs you on Discord, Steam, or Telegram. Our only support channel is [email protected] and the in-app support form.
- Never install a browser extension that claims to inflate your SkinBox listings, auto-accept trades, or "boost" your earnings. These are keyloggers.
How to verify a trade offer is really from SkinBox
- After you click "Sell" on SkinBox, wait for a trade offer that appears in your Steam mobile app or the Steam desktop client.
- Click the trade offer and inspect the counterparty's profile. The SkinBox bot account will have: a Steam level we disclose on the Help page, a matching avatar, and a bio that includes your SkinBox order ID.
- Verify that the items in the offer exactly match what you listed. If a single item is different — even if the name looks identical — decline the offer and contact support.
- Accept the offer using Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator. Never accept via email confirmation alone.
What happens if a trade fails
- If the offer expires before you accept it, your listing returns to the queue. No money moves. No loss.
- If you accepted the offer but Steam put it on a 7-day trade hold, the cash in your wallet is also held for 7 days. After that it's released.
- If the bot is hacked (we defend against this with mobile authenticator + per-bot spending limits), we cover any confirmed loss up to our published insurance cap. This is the only case in which SkinBox covers skin losses.
Reporting a scam
Email [email protected] with:
- Your SkinBox username and the timestamp of the incident.
- Screenshots of the scam (trade offer, DM, email, whatever).
- The Steam profile URL of the scammer.
We triage within 24 hours and ban offending accounts from SkinBox. We also share scammer data with other marketplaces in the community.
What SkinBox can't do
We can't reverse a Steam trade after the 7-day hold. We can't compensate you for items you sent off-platform. We can't hunt down scammers in your jurisdiction. The best defence is prevention — and that starts with reading this page.