Money from sales arrives on your hold balance. You can buy CS2 skins with it right away, and withdraw it after seven days.
- You sold an item. The amount landed on the hold balance.
- You spend it here. When your main balance runs out, the system takes the money from the hold by itself — that covers up to 2,000 CS2 items on the marketplace.
- After 7 days you withdraw. If neither side cancelled the trade, the money moves to your main balance; this time may differ by an hour or two depending on when the trade was accepted.
Why the wait at all
A sold skin spends seven days under Steam's trade protection, and the deal can technically be reversed that whole time. If the money left right away, the buyer would be the one paying for it. Seven days close that window.
Money arrives here both from instant sales and from ordinary ones.
When the money has to go back to the buyer, the purchases made with it are cancelled too — the balance is restored.
It has no shelf life and no extra fee. The only differences from the main balance: you can't withdraw it straight away, and you spend it on CS2 skins.
You can see it in your wallet next to the main balance — the same place shows which part becomes available and when.
What to do if a trade was reversed after all is in the article on safety.