Blog / floats, patterns, trades
Blog
How floats, patterns and phases change a price, and how a skin actually gets from checkout to your inventory. Written for buyers.
M4A4 or M4A1-S: which rifle to skin first
The two CT rifles are two separate skin markets. How the suppressor changes what you see, why the lineups differ, and the popular picks for each before you spend on the wrong one.
AWP skins by budget: what to buy at each price
A ladder for the AWP from entry to top: honest picks per rung, how each one wears, and the float ranges that catch buyers out on this gun more than on any other.
AK-47 skins by budget: what to buy at each price
An honest ladder for the AK-47 from entry to top tier: one or two picks per rung, what wears well, and the float and pattern traps to check before you pay.
AWP | Dragon Lore: what you are paying for
Why the Dragon Lore costs what it does: a map collection that stopped dropping, the Souvenir split, the five wear tiers and the short list of things that set a fair price.
M4A4 | Howl: how one skin became Contraband
The copied artwork, the rework, the rarity Valve invented for it, and why a skin with no drop source prices the way it does.
Stickers on a skin: when a craft adds value and when it does not
Sticker wear, positions, matching sets and the reason most crafts sell for less than the skin and the stickers were worth apart.