> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://skinshark.gg/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Selling > Buy back CS2 items from your users into SkinShark-operated bots, paid out from house treasury. Selling is the inverse of buying: a user hands CS2 items to a SkinShark-operated Steam bot and their wallet is credited with a payout. You quote the user from our payout book, submit the sale at the exact quote, and the user accepts a single Steam trade offer from the bot. There's no marketplace listing involved — SkinShark is the counterparty. All three endpoints are sub-user-context, so from a merchant key you send `On-Behalf-Of: `. The user must have a **linked Steam account** — selling always targets their own saved trade URL and can never redirect items elsewhere. ## Mental model ```mermaid theme={null} flowchart LR user["User inventory"] -->|"receive-only offer"| bot["SkinShark bot"] bot -->|"sell_payout (house treasury)"| wallet["User wallet"] ``` ## The flow Read `GET /market/sell/inventory` (with `On-Behalf-Of`) to get the user's tradable items, each with our USD offer in `price`. Only items with `accepted: true` (a quote exists **and** the item is tradable) can be sold. To price without reading the inventory — e.g. to render a payout table — use `GET /market/sell/prices`, the raw payout book keyed by `marketHashName`. `POST /market/sell` with the items to sell. Reference each item by its encoded `id` (from the inventory read) or raw `assetid` — exactly one — plus the exact `price` you were quoted. The price is a **cent-exact lock**: if the quote moved, that submission fails with `PRICE_MISMATCH`, so re-read and retry. The Trade returns immediately with status `initiated`. No money moves yet. SkinShark picks an available bot and sends the user a **receive-only** Steam trade offer (the bot gives nothing, only receives). The user must accept it in Steam. Status moves `initiated → active` once the offer is live. After the user accepts, the items sit in Steam's trade-protection window and the Trade is `hold`. The payout — one `sell_payout` from house treasury — is credited **once**: at `hold` if your account's instant-credit setting is on, otherwise at `completed` when the hold clears. Watch `trade.*` WebSocket events or poll `GET /market/transactions/{id}` for the transition. ## Status lifecycle A sell trade uses the same [`TradeStatus`](/docs/reference/data-models) values as a buy, but travels a different path: | Status | Meaning | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `initiated` | Sale created; the bot offer is being sent. | | `active` | The receive-only Steam offer is live at the user — waiting for them to accept. | | `hold` | User accepted; items are in Steam's trade-protection window. Payout credits here if instant-credit is on. | | `completed` | Hold cleared; payout settled. | | `failed` | The offer couldn't be sent/accepted (e.g. it expired). No money moved. | | `canceled` / `declined` | The user canceled or declined the offer before delivery. No money moved. | | `reverted` | Delivered then recalled by Steam/support. **SkinShark absorbs the loss — the user's payout is never clawed back.** | ## Payout timing The credit is a single ledger post and lands exactly once: * **Instant credit on** — the user is paid at `hold`, the moment they accept. * **Instant credit off** (default) — the user is paid at `completed`, when the trade-hold window clears. `settledAt` on the Trade marks when the payout posted. `totalPrice` is the payout in the wallet currency, converted at an FX rate locked at submit time. ## Code template ```ts theme={null} async function sellForUser(input: { subUserId: string; // On-Behalf-Of target externalId: string; // your correlation id }) { // 1. Price the user's inventory const inv = await api<{ items: Array<{ id: string; price: number; accepted: boolean }> }>( "/market/sell/inventory", { headers: { "On-Behalf-Of": input.subUserId } }, ); const sellable = inv.items.filter((i) => i.accepted); if (sellable.length === 0) return null; // 2. Submit at the exact quoted price (cent-exact lock) return api<{ id: string; status: string; totalPrice: number; currency: string }>( "/market/sell", { method: "POST", headers: { "On-Behalf-Of": input.subUserId }, body: JSON.stringify({ items: sellable.map((i) => ({ id: i.id, price: i.price.toFixed(2) })), externalId: input.externalId, }), }, ); // 3. The user now accepts the Steam offer; watch trade.* events for hold → completed. } ``` With the [TypeScript SDK](/docs/guides/sdk): `client.as(subUserId).market.sell.inventory()`, `.sell.prices()`, and `.sell.create(items, externalId)`. ## Errors Beyond the shared [error codes](/docs/reference/errors), selling can return: | Key | When | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `STEAM_ACCOUNT_REQUIRED` | The user has no linked Steam account. | | `USER_NOT_TRADEABLE` | The user's Steam account can't trade (ban, limit, restriction). | | `INVENTORY_PRIVATE` | The user's Steam inventory is private or unreadable. | | `ESCROW_NOT_ALLOWED` | The user's account has a trade hold (escrow) enabled. | | `NO_OFFER_FOUND` | No payout quote for one or more of the submitted items. | | `ITEMS_NOT_ACCEPTED` | An item isn't in the inventory or isn't tradable. | | `PRICE_MISMATCH` | A submitted price no longer matches the live quote — re-read and retry. | | `NO_BOTS_AVAILABLE` / `PRICING_UNAVAILABLE` / `STEAM_UNAVAILABLE` | Transient — retry shortly. |