Open Tools
Mechanics explained

How R6 Marketplace trades actually work

Orders, not handshakes. The Marketplace never puts two players in contact — it holds two queues of intentions and settles them when they overlap. Once you understand that, the rules that feel arbitrary at first (holds, expiry, no friend trades, no gifting) all turn out to be the same design decision seen from different angles.
Start with orders
Run the simulator

The two order types

Everything on the Marketplace is one of these two things. There is no third mechanism hiding behind a menu.

Buy order

A standing bid

“Fill me at this price or better.” It sits in the book until something crosses it, you cancel it, or it lapses.
  • Fills at the resting ask, not at your maximum
  • Your credits are committed while it rests
  • A higher bid gets served before a lower one
  • Cancelling returns the reserved credits
Buying walkthrough
Sale order

A standing ask

“Take this at this price or better.” The item leaves your usable inventory while the order rests.
  • The fee comes off the matched price, not your ask
  • The item is reserved and cannot be equipped
  • A lower ask is consumed before a higher one
  • Expiry returns the item, unsold and undamaged
Selling walkthrough
▲BUY ORDERS
SORTED HIGH → LOW
9,000
first served
8,500
second
7,800
waiting
▼SALE ORDERS
SORTED LOW → HIGH
8,900
first served
9,400
second
10,200
waiting
SAMPLE BOOK9,000 BID CROSSES THE 8,900 ASK → FILLS AT 8,900 THE BUYER SAVES 100 THEY WERE WILLING TO SPEND

Two clocks govern every trade

Neither is visible until it blocks you, and they are the reason most “why can’t I sell this?” questions have nothing to do with the item.

The resale hold

Starts when an item enters your inventory. Until it clears, the item cannot be listed at all — it is yours, it is equippable, it is simply not sellable yet.

Commonly cited

15 days

Starts

On acquisition

Applies to

Newly received items

Our default

Editable field

It exists to make stolen-account liquidation slow. That is why a shorter one is unlikely and why the clock does not reset in your favour.

The listing lifetime

Starts when you post a sale order. If nothing crosses it before the window closes, the order lapses and the item comes back to you.

Commonly cited

30 days

Starts

On listing

On expiry

Item returns

Our default

Editable field

Expiry is not a penalty. The practical cost is the weeks the item spent unusable in an order rather than equipped on a weapon.

Both numbers are treated as inputs here, not facts

Hold lengths and listing windows are seasonal rules. A static site that bakes them in keeps answering confidently after they change, which is worse than not answering. The cooldown timer takes both as fields and returns calendar dates rather than day counts you have to add up yourself.

Reserved items and committed credits

An active order takes something out of circulation on both sides. Knowing which is which prevents the two most common panics.
WHAT AN ACTIVE ORDER DOES TO YOUR ACCOUNT
WHILE THE ORDER RESTSSALE ORDERBUY ORDER
Item usable in-game[X]Reserved[–]n/a
Credits available to spend[✓]Unaffected[X]Committed
Can be cancelled[✓]Yes[✓]Yes
Returns on cancelThe itemThe credits
Counts toward order limits[–]Yes[–]Yes
Visible in transaction history[✓]On completion[✓]On completion
“My skin disappeared”

It is reserved against your own sale order. Cancel the listing and it returns immediately. Nothing has been taken.

“My credits vanished”

They are committed against a resting buy order. The balance is spoken for, not spent — cancelling releases it.

What it holds

Completed purchases and sales, active orders, and items currently reserved against a listing. It is the ledger your cost basis has to come from.

Trading with friends: what is possible, and what is not

The most persistent misunderstanding about the Marketplace, and the source of a whole genre of scam.

Not possible

  • Direct transfers   There is no “send item to player” anywhere in the system
  • Gifting   You cannot give a tradable cosmetic to a named account
  • Choosing your counterparty   The book matches on price; identity is not an input.
  • Private prices   Every order is visible to the whole market, not to one friend.

What people try instead

  • Matched listings   Listing at an odd price hoping a friend takes it first. Anyone can take it, and often does.
  • Off-platform payment   Real money for a listing. Outside the terms, unenforceable, and the classic setup for a theft
  • Account sharing   Handing over credentials to “trade for you”. This loses accounts, permanently.
The “snipe it for you” arrangement is a scam pattern, not a favour

The pitch is that your friend or a helpful stranger lists an item at a low price at an agreed moment so you can catch it. In practice a bot or a watching trader takes it in the time it takes you to click, and the person who listed it has taken a real loss for nothing.

When it is a stranger offering, the loss is the point — you are being taught to accept arranged trades before the arrangement that costs you something. Read the safety guide.

Transaction history, and what you can do with it

The client keeps a record. It is the only authoritative one, and it is more useful than most people realise.

What it holds

Completed purchases and sales, active orders, and items currently reserved against a listing. It is the ledger your cost basis has to come from.

What no site can read

Yours. There is no public API for it, which is why no third party — this one included — can display your inventory, your history or your account value.

What to do with it

Copy your real fills into the portfolio tracker and you get cost basis, net value and per-item return at your own fee rate.

This is the honest version of an “inventory checker”. A tool that claims to scan your account either has credentials it should not have, or it is guessing. Ours asks you to supply the numbers, then does arithmetic you can check.

Scroll to Top