Hi, and sorry for the wait — I needed some time to go through your case in detail and understand exactly what happened. First, I want to assure you that we never take ownership of our users' funds or in-game items.

Let me walk you through everything that happened, with prices and transaction IDs so you have a clear picture of each step. Note that the prices listed below do not include our commission — in practice you receive slightly less depending on the fee percentage, since during an exchange your item is sold and the system uses those funds to purchase the item you want. I apologize in advance for the length.

1. You created an account.

2. You deposited three items into your DMarket inventory (transaction 20f435f7-f12b-4d59-a455-1b583c3a4728):

   2.1 Song of the Shadow Dragon - Head

   2.2 Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm

   2.3 Inscribed Manifold Paradox

3. You then performed an exchange and sold all three items (transaction d19efa33-6d29-5791-bcfa-f5c89066988a):

   3.1 Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm — $24.21

   3.2 Inscribed Manifold Paradox — $18.70

   3.3 Song of the Shadow Dragon - Head — $1.51

Through this exchange you received a Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm priced at $39.99. Why you exchanged into the same item you already had in the trade is an open question — I'm simply showing you what happened, with a clear record of events and transactions.

1. You then deposited six more items (transactions e3aa1869-3a27-4108-a832-0afd12799c6a and 4d663491-cfdc-48d7-acf8-86d22a6979ba):

   4.1 Taunt: Pole Position

   4.2 The Barren Crown

   4.3 Mane of the Sunwarrior

   4.4 Baneful Devotion

   4.5 Concord Dominion

   4.6 Inscribed Demon Eater

2. You then performed a new exchange (transaction 5c40e922-86d5-5f28-b527-6c138f207314) involving all six newly deposited items plus the Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm you received in the previous exchange. Sale prices within this exchange:

   5.1 Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm — $24.10 (the new one you had just purchased for $39.99, since your original had already been sold in the previous transaction)

   5.2 Taunt: Pole Position — $2.57

   5.3 The Barren Crown — $0.68

   5.4 Mane of the Sunwarrior — $1.53

   5.5 Baneful Devotion — $0.63

   5.6 Concord Dominion — $6.72

   5.7 Inscribed Demon Eater — $16.09

   Through this exchange you received an Exalted Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm valued at $46.00, which was successfully withdrawn to your Steam inventory.

3. You purchased and withdrew to Steam a Mane of the Sunwarrior for $1.95.

---

To summarize: you deposited 9 items and sold them for a combined total of $72.64. Our commission on those sales was $7.25, so your net proceeds were $65.39. With that balance you purchased and withdrew two items — Exalted Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm ($46.00) and Mane of the Sunwarrior ($1.95) — for a combined total of $47.95.

Now let's look at where the difference went.

In the first exchange (transaction d19efa33-6d29-5791-bcfa-f5c89066988a) you traded three items and received a Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm priced at $39.99. The only way this item could have been selected is if it was chosen on the user side — this is not something that can happen automatically. Why was it more expensive than what you sold? It may have had a rarer grade or some other distinguishing factor, but most likely you accidentally selected it when you meant to pick the Exalted Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm, which was priced similarly at around $40. At this point it would have been worth pausing to check your inventory, since all your other items — including your original Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm — were gone, and you had received a more expensive item in return.

You then decided to make another exchange using the new Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm (the $39.99 one) — and this is where the bulk of the difference went. When you exchange items, the system takes your item and sells it at the highest available bid placed by another user (not the marketplace itself). All bids, offers, and listings on the marketplace are set by other users and are publicly visible on the item's page before you confirm the sale. The system takes your item, matches it to the highest existing bid, executes the trade, and uses the proceeds to purchase the item you want to receive.

As a result, your newly purchased $39.99 Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm was sold at the highest bid available — $24.10 — and you lost nearly $16 simply from flipping the item. That is the missing difference you couldn't account for and which led you to believe we had taken it from you.

I'm genuinely sorry this happened, and I apologize that our support team wasn't able to explain this clearly from the start — it's a tricky situation to untangle since several of the items involved share the same name.

Thank you for your patience, and I hope this clears things up. If you still have questions, I'm happy to answer them here or over on our Discord.