Our Rating Methodology

How We Rate CS2 Platforms

Every platform listed on SkinPulse goes through a standardized evaluation process. Our final rating (1.0 to 5.0) is a weighted combination of editorial testing and community feedback. Here is exactly how it works.

Step 1: Editorial Testing

Before any platform appears on SkinPulse, our team performs hands-on testing:

• Account creation: We sign up with a fresh account and verify the onboarding experience — KYC requirements, deposit methods, minimum deposits
• Deposit and play: We deposit real money (typically $20-50) and open cases or trade skins to evaluate the actual user experience
• Withdrawal test: We initiate a withdrawal and measure how long it takes to receive funds/skins — one of the most common complaints about case opening sites
• Provably Fair verification: We check whether the platform implements provably fair algorithms and whether the verification process actually works
• Customer support: We contact support with a test question and evaluate response time and quality

Step 2: Scoring Categories

Each platform is rated across five categories:

Category	Weight	What We Check
Trustworthiness & Safety	30%	Licensing, provably fair, SSL, reputation history, withdrawal reliability
Game Selection & Experience	25%	Number of cases/games, case variety, skin quality, UX/UI
Bonuses & Promotions	15%	Welcome bonus, promo codes, ongoing promotions, wagering requirements
Payment & Withdrawals	20%	Deposit/withdrawal speed, supported methods, minimum amounts, fees
Customer Support	10%	Live chat availability, response time, helpfulness, language support

Step 3: Community Voting

Every visitor to SkinPulse can upvote or downvote any platform. Community votes are a real-time signal of user satisfaction:

• Each user can vote once per platform per 3-hour window (enforced via localStorage)
• Community vote scores are displayed on every platform card
• Platforms with the highest community scores receive "Community Choice" badges
• Vote manipulation is monitored and suspicious patterns are investigated

Step 4: Final Rating Calculation

The final rating displayed on each platform card is calculated as:

• 70% — Editorial score (from Step 2)
• 30% — Community sentiment (normalized from vote scores)

This blend ensures that our expert evaluation carries the most weight, while community feedback can meaningfully shift ratings up or down.

Affiliate Disclosure & Independence

SkinPulse earns commissions through affiliate relationships with some of the platforms we review. We want to be transparent about how this works:

• Affiliate relationships never influence ratings. Platforms that are not affiliate partners are rated using the exact same criteria and process.
• Rankings are not paid placements. No platform can pay to be ranked higher.
• Promo codes are a service to users. When we display a promo code, it benefits the user (free bonus, deposit match) and generates a commission for us.
• All affiliate links use the rel="sponsored" attribute as required by search engine guidelines.

How We Source Skin Prices

Our skin database of 2,500+ CS2 skins uses live pricing data from three sources, updated daily:

• Steam Market: Official Steam Community Market prices via Steam API
• Skinport: Third-party marketplace prices via Skinport API (including items above Steam's $2,000 listing cap)
• Waxpeer: Peer-to-peer marketplace prices via Waxpeer API

Price history charts track daily snapshots, allowing users to identify trends over 7-day and 30-day windows.

Review Updates

We re-test platforms on a rolling basis. Any significant change (new ownership, major feature update, withdrawal issues reported by users) triggers a priority re-review. Our goal is to re-evaluate every active platform at least once per quarter.

Notice to Platform Owners

You cannot buy a higher ranking on SkinPulse. We do not accept payment for placement, inflated ratings, or suppressed negative reviews. Any attempt to offer compensation for ranking manipulation will result in:

• Immediate rejection of the request
• A public note on your platform's review page disclosing the attempt
• Potential rating downgrade reflecting the lack of integrity

If you are a platform owner and want to improve your rating, the path is straightforward: improve your product. Faster withdrawals, better provably fair implementation, responsive customer support, and fair RTP — these are the things that move scores up. Not payments.

We welcome legitimate business inquiries (affiliate partnership requests, factual corrections, feature updates) at info@skinpulse.pro.

Contact & Feedback

If you believe a rating is inaccurate or a platform has changed significantly since our last review, please contact us at info@skinpulse.pro. We take all feedback seriously and will prioritize re-reviews based on community input.