OPSkins Alternative

OPSkins is a third-party skin marketplace that offered various skin and cosmetic items services such as skin trading and buying and selling skins for different Steam games. OPSkins was founded way back in 2015 and like many other third-party markets, they had a rocky relationship with Valve, to say the least, and in June 2018, OPSkins was shut down at last. If you want to learn more about the company that was at the center of this as well as the reasons behind the shutting down of OPSkins, you can do so by reading one of the paragraphs below.

Yes, it is, or at least it used to be when OPSkins was an active website. OPskins used to provide skin trading services for the popular esports title CS: GO, and other Steam games. Before the site got taken down, it provided expresstrade services for all who wanted to acquire, get rid of, or exchange cosmetic items with bots. OPSkins also allowed its users to convert their earnings into real-life money by using any of the numerous different payment methods that were available at the time. Those who used to participate in the video game trading scene back then hold OPSkins dear to their hearts and think fondly of the site, its expresstrade services, and pro-consumer practices.

Not much information is available regarding this topic, however, there are little bits and pieces of information scattered around online which we can use to create a cohesive story of what happened to OPSkins which was perhaps the number one site that provided trading services. Those who wanted to use the site could trade their digital items with bots from anywhere in the world. Not much is known about the exact details regarding this whole ordeal, but based on all the information we collected, we do know the general gist about the quarrels between Valve and OPSkins that eventually ended up with OPSkins being shutdown.

Valve created their official Steam marketplace way back in 2013, and initially, buying, selling, and trading skins for various games was part of the experience and many users found it fulfilling to buy and sell skins for various esports titles online, however, it didn't take long for users to start having issues with the new platform. Even today, let alone in its infancy, the Steam market had its own fair share of issues and practices that were not very user friendly.

One of those unpleasant sides of trading digital items on Steam was the seven day period that players had to wait before they could sell or trade a specific skin. This practice applies when trading specific items even today and a lot of users found this unpleasant at least and very annoying at most, after all, they either received the item as a reward or bought it. It belonged to them so why should they wait. While Valve claimed that this seven day trading wait period was due to safety reasons, many were unsatisfied. This combined with additional restrictions such as users not being able to withdraw their money from the platform and were forced to spend their cash within the marketplace caused many to look around for other skin trading websites that offer services without the drawbacks, and OPSkins was happy to oblige.

People at OPSkins somehow found a way to circumvent the seven-day trade restrictions for every digital item and offered expresstrade for all CS: GO skins, which didn't sit well with Valve at the time. Eventually, OPSkins became a famous online community market and the website grew larger and more popular with every new trade. This news broke out and they didn't sit well with Valve so, in June 2018, the company took down the OPSkins website for violating the terms of service for circumventing the trade period.

OPSkins has not been providing trading services for CS: GO or any other games ever since and likely will not do so any time in the future. The marketplace that once used to have a huge digital trading community appears to be out of order for good, however, its story remains a piece of CS: GO, esports, and video game history.

Yes, it did, and if you search for information regarding this, you will likely see related media articles that claim that the main reason OPSkins got shutdown was gambling, however, gambling-related problems had nothing to do with it. The very popular alternative to the official Valve Steam Market got shutdown in 2018 for violating the official Valve terms and services agreement. This wasn't the first time Valve had done something like this and it probably won't be the last.