A Guide on How to Sell NFT
Written by Emilija - Reviewed by Ivana Finance
Table of Contents
As technology development is constantly on the rise, many life aspects are experiencing a digital transformation.
From the way we communicate, work, travel to the way we shop and entertain, technology has its fair share of shaping the way we live.
One popular trend supported by technology that has gained incredible popularity and made the world go crazy is the advent of NFTs.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are the new technology trend sweeping the world.
In recent years, more and more people have become interested in buying and selling unique pieces of digital art often associated with music, jpeg images, video games, photographs, videos, even Tweets.
It's no wonder NFTs are attracting attention, since the price can reach several million dollars, as in the case of "The Merge" NFT, which sold for over 90 million dollars, making it the number one most expensive NFT for 2021.
The technology behind NFTs is very complicated, but in this guide, we'll explain the basics so you can get a better understanding of how it all works in case you decide to sell one.
How do you buy and sell NFTs?
The first and most important thing to understand is that NFTs are bought and sold with cryptocurrencies.
Since trading NFTs takes place on the Ethereum blockchain, you must first buy a cryptocurrency before buying an NFT.
Similarly, to sell NFTs, you will need to buy cryptocurrencies to ‘mint NFTs’ (convert digital files into digital assets) to pay fees and receive the money from your buyers in your crypto wallet.
The fees that need to be paid are known as ‘gas fees’.
(If this sounds too confusing, the whole process is explained with screenshots at the end of this section.)
In short, gas fees are the units that measure how much computing power is required to conduct a blockchain transaction, which means that someone needs to pay for the resources ‘computers’ use so the transaction can go through.
Most transactions are done with Ethereum, although some platforms are starting to accept different payment options and use other blockchains.
After buying crypto, you'll need to connect your wallet to the NFT marketplace where you plan to sell, choose whether you want to set a fixed price or a timed auction if you want potential buyers to bid on your digital artwork.
Put this way, selling and buying NFTs is not that different from selling and buying items on Amazon and eBay.
While this is not far from the truth, the buying and selling process of NFTs is still confusing to many since it includes many untapped waters like blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
In addition, here is the step-by-step process with screenshots regarding everything we explained above.
1. Find an NFT marketplace
Assuming that you have already bought cryptocurrencies and created an NFT, the first step to selling it is to make a profile and connect or open a digital wallet to one of the NFTs marketplaces.
There are multiple marketplaces for NFTs like OpenSea, Axie Marketplace, Rarible, and so on, but for the sake of simplicity in our guide, we are going to use the OpenSea marketplace.
Once you get the hang of it, you can choose a marketplace that you think is the best.
2. Connect your wallet
Once you land on the Open Sea website, click on the "Create" button. If you don’t have a crypto wallet, you will be asked to create one.
Similar prompts will appear on other marketplaces for connecting your wallet and creating a profile.
3. Create your first item
Next, you will be asked to create your New item, which means that you will need to attach your NFT, type in a name, provide links, descriptions, and which blockchain to base the NFT on.
Setting up a description for your NFTs might increase the chances of getting them sold.
In addition, the artists that have created the art piece will get around 10% cut each time their piece is resold.
In the end, click Complete.
4. Make sure your wallet is funded
As we mentioned before, even NFT sellers need to have Ethereum in their wallets so that they can convert their digital art to NFT.
Some marketplaces offer an option to buy cryptocurrency directly from them, but if you have already bought it, you will need to transfer crypto to your NFT account.
OpenSea's new collection manager makes it possible for creators to create NFTs without incurring upfront gas fees, as the NFT isn't transferred on-chain until the first transaction occurs.
5. List your NFT for sale and set up an auction
Once your NFT is minted, you are ready to specify the details of the sale.
There are three ways between which you can choose to sell your NFT:
- Fixed price - This allows you to sell your NFT instantly at a fixed price.
- The Unlimited action - People will bid on your NFT until you accept one.
- Timed auction - The action that lasts for a limited set of time.
When choosing this option, users need to be aware of the price they set. Selling it too cheaply will cause money loss because of the high transaction fees we mentioned before.
For starters, you can set an optimistic price for 1ETH and set a timed auction - a limited amount of time for users to place their bids.
In the end, click on Complete listing, and the marketplace will calculate the gas fees you will need to pay.
In light of this, it should be noted that the gas fees fluctuate and are dependent on many factors, such as the level of activity on the cryptocurrency network at the time of listing and the request for payment from your wallet.
There is still much confusion over calculating the potential costs of the gas fees due to the complexity of the blockchain technology and the lack of transparency of the platforms, so for now, NFT creators will have to risk and see how much they will be charged after making a sale.
If you liked our guide, make sure to read about How to set your NFT as a profile picture on Twitter.
How is the price of NFT determined?
So after reading all of this, the question about ‘how can I make a bunch of money selling NFTs’ naturally appears.
This is again a complex part of the whole NFT story.
A simple answer would be that the NFT worth depends on utility, artists’ reputation, future value, and other subjective factors.
However, each of these factors is also influenced by other factors that may be too complex to explain.
In addition, many users are wondering about the value of NFTs and why anyone would buy digital art for such high prices.
The answer is in the name of the N of NFT.
Non-fungible or non-replicable tokens mean that there is only one piece of a specific ‘digital art’ online, and some people see a value and simply decide to make a purchase.
Buyers can also make money from reselling the NFT they have bought, which is a reason plus to buy NFTs.
But can I make a screenshot from an NFT?
You can, but that doesn't mean that you own the unique NFT, so you can't sell it for a higher price tomorrow.
5 most expensive NFT projects for 2021
- The Merge - USD 91.8 million.
- Everydays – The First 5000 Days: USD 69.3 million
- Human one - USD 28.9 million
- CryptoPunk #5822: USD 23.7 million
- CryptoPunk #7523: USD 11.75 million
Wrapping Up
As of today, NFTs are still a relatively new and not well-researched technology trend that is becoming increasingly popular.
Some NFTs are getting sold for enormously high amounts of money, which is making this trend even more desirable for many.
It’s hard to predict what the future holds for this trend; however, if you ever decide to create NFTs, hopefully, you will find this guide helpful in the selling process.
Glossary for NFTs
- NFTs- non-fungible tokens.
- OpenSea- NFT marketplace.
- Gas fees- The taxes needed to be paid to the Ethereum blockchain to perform an action.
- Mint an NFT- The process of publishing a token on the blockchain to make it purchasable.
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