OpenSea is the biggest marketplace to sell, collect, or invest in NFTs at the moment. It is a decentralized exchange for Ethereum-backed NFT. We wrote this review to tell you the main things about the online platform. Let’s start with a brief overview of its pluses and minuses.
Advantages
OpenSea has reasonable transaction fees and more than 200 payment options. It does not charge fees to create NFTs in advance and allows royalties.
Disadvantages
The interface is less than intuitive. Customer support is very limited, practically nonexistent. Users have to have an Ethereum wallet to access the platform.
What does OpenSea do?
OpenSea lets users buy and sell custom NFTs or NFT bundles. Before your NFT is sold, you won’t be charged any gas fees. The marketplace’s sales commission is quite reasonable at 2.5%.
The marketplace supports transactions with a vast variety of digital assets even though many people perceive NFTs as collectible art. Users of the platform can buy “parcels” in blockchain-backed game items, alternative realities, art, and even domain names. Payments are in ether by default because OpenSea runs on the Ethereum blockchain. OpenSea also supports payments in fiat and stablecoins. A total of 241 payment options are available.
If you mint an original NFT through the marketplace, you can collect future royalties on secondary sales.
Minting NFTs on OpenSea
Artists and developers in general can “mint” NFTs by creating projects backed by the blockchain. You must pay a one-time fee in Ethereum to sign up on OpenSea. You need to open a crypto wallet. OpenSea works with MetaMask and many others. You download and install MetaMask or another wallet through the respective website, then send ether to the wallet. Now, you’re ready to open an account on OpenSea.
Upon sending ether to the wallet, you’ll be charged a gas fee. This charge comes from Ethereum and not OpenSea. This is something people new to cryptocurrencies don’t always realize. When the amount you transfer arrives to your wallet, it could be around 1% lower as a result.
To mint an NFT, you click on a little green dot “Create” by your profile picture. Under the pic, there’s a button “My Collections”, which lets you mint a collection of NFTs. You must name your NFT and upload it in the form of a file from your computer. You could also add a brief description of it. Since this is your first time minting, it’s best to leave the rest of the options as default.
It’s pretty straightforward, but if you have issues, the marketplace has a step-by-step guide to show you how to create an NFT. It is quite detailed and easy to follow.
Lazy minting
With the Lazy Minting option, creators can add NFTs to a storefront. Unless they are sold, they aren’t transferred on-chain. You don’t pay an upfront fee and your work will still be displayed on the marketplace. This does away with a big barrier to entry, but it also makes it less likely that someone will take note of your work.
Supported wallets
You might be able to select a buy option on some NFTs if you have money in a wallet. However, other products can only be purchased through auctions, meaning bids are placed. When a product is sold, the buyer pays the gas fees for fixed-price listings. When the seller accepts an offer, he pays the gas fees.
Investments vs. copies
The marketplace differentiates between investments and copies of NFTs. The former has real value, while the latter simply looks nice. Some NFTS on OpenSea are worth investing in. When the time comes to resell, there is no guarantee of the product’s costing more. You never know how an NFT’s value will change and whether it will at all. It’s important to exercise caution before investing in these digital assets.
Earning royalties
Upon creating an NFT, you get the full sale amount minus OpenSea’s small service charge. You can keep making money moving forward though because the marketplace allows creators to set a secondary fee. This makes it possible for them to collect royalties long after minting the first NFT. At present, royalties are limited to OpenSea. They aren’t paid out if you trade the NFT outside of the market.
Royalties provide important incentives for creators who want to create “tradeable” NFT that will change hands frequently and therefore earn more royalties.How Much Does OpenSea Charge For Its Service?
OpenSea’s fee of 2.5% is quite modest, relatively speaking. Analogical service providers like Nifty Gateway take 5% of every secondary sale and 30 cents on top of that.
The bottom line
At present, OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace. If inventory volume is important to you, then look no farther. On the downside, the site is not very intuitive and browsing can be a challenge. It tends to come with more checks and balances than other NFT marketplaces and tries to provide valuable advice to users, for example to tell the difference between valuable NFTs and valueless ones.
If you want a marketplace that’s easier to navigate, try Rarible or another alternative to OpenSea. People looking for concrete items from known sellers will appreciate the user experience on OpenSea.
OpenSea accepts 240 currencies apart from ether by default. The size of NFTs you upload is limited to 40 MB. Unlockable content is possible. The site supports images, video, audio, and 3D models and can integrate with any existing mainnet ERC721 project.
Supported wallets
- MetaMask
- Fortmatic
- Bitski
- WalletConnect
- Arkane Network
- WalletLink
- Dapper
- Torus
- Kaikas
- Authereum
- Portis.io
Last but not least, OpenSea allows NFT gifting, but no custodial services. A cryptocurrency wallet is required to this end. Only support tickets are available in the way of customer service. There is no mobile app and no promotions at this time.
