The "−% vs Steam" Badge: How the Discount Is Computed
Green badges saying "−31% vs Steam" do a lot of persuading, so you deserve to know exactly what's behind ours: which two numbers get divided, why Steam is the yardstick, and the handful of situations where the badge — any site's badge — will mislead you if you read it as gospel. Transparency post; short and precise.
The formula
One item, two numbers. Best cash price: the lowest live listing for the exact item name across the marketplaces in our comparison — the same one the card's price tag shows, from the venue the card badges. Steam reference: the item's current lowest listing price on the Steam Community Market, refreshed daily for the whole catalog and live for the most-viewed rows. The badge is simply (steam − best) / steam. A $1.02 case against a $1.70 Steam listing wears −40%. No averaging over time, no "suggested price", no marketing constant — two observable prices and a division.
Why Steam is the yardstick
Because it's the one price everyone can check in ten seconds, inside the game's own ecosystem, with the deepest order books in existence for these items. It's also the price the average player actually pays, which makes it the honest baseline for "what would this have cost me if I didn't compare". And because Steam runs structurally high — the locked wallet and the ~15% cut keep it there, per the Steam premium — it's a stable yardstick, not a flattering one we picked. Comparing against the second-cheapest cash venue would shrink every number; comparing against Steam describes the real alternative.
Where the badge can mislead
- Thin Steam books. On illiquid items, Steam's lowest ask can be one optimist listing at a fantasy price. The badge then measures distance to a price nobody pays. Glance at whether the item actually trades — order-book literacy helps.
- Stale reference hours. Catalog-wide Steam prices refresh daily; a sharp intraday move (update day, crash day) can make badges briefly over- or understate. Live re-checks on click catch this before you pay.
- No-supply days. If only one venue stocks an item, "best cash price" is really "only cash price" — the badge is true but the cross-market comparison did no work. The card's venue count tells you how much competition stands behind the number.
- Fees. The badge compares sticker prices; your checkout adds payment fees that vary by venue and method. For the number you'll actually pay, sort by effective price — on cheap items the difference is not academic.
- Float and pattern. For wear-sensitive skins, the cheapest listing may be the worst-looking copy. The badge prices the item name, not the specific float — fine for cases, caveat for knives.
How to read it well
Use the badge as a sorting instrument, not a verdict: it's excellent at surfacing which items and venues deserve a look today (sorting the cs2stack grid by best deal does exactly that), and the click-through re-checks the live price before money moves. Sanity-check outliers — a −70% badge is more often a thin-book artifact than free money, though motivated sellers do exist. Read honestly, the badge is the whole cross-market thesis in one number: the same item, priced very differently depending on where you look — and measured across the catalog, that difference averages out to real money.