The world’s market for new investment vehicles has only sped up in the last few years. From Bitcoin’s manic rise to power to other crypto assets like Ethereum and Dogecoin creating their own stamp in the market.
While these are the baseline currencies that make up the current market, the ability to actually use any of these currencies in transactions remains slim. NFTs, or Non-fungible tokens, provide an avenue for crypto-enthusiasts to spend and invest their hard-earned cryptocurrency into other types of tradeable assets.
OpenSea aims to help facilitate this growing market of NFTs by providing a platform for users to quickly jump on to make, purchase, and sell NFTs quickly. Let’s take a quick look at OpenSea’s features and pricing.
Before you continue, you may want to watch this video by Lite Liger on YouTube that gives a quick review. Afterward, you’ll want to read the rest of our article for a more comprehensive review of OpenSea.
What is OpenSea? OpenSea 2021
OpenSea was created by Alex Attalah and Devin Finzer in 2018. Both had extensive technology backgrounds at Google and Palantir. Not only that, but they’ve also previously worked on two successful businesses, Claimdog, and hostess.fm, which have been sold to larger parent companies since their inception.
OpenSea was created by CryptoKitiies in 2017, a 2017 crypto-asset which gave rise to the modern NFT. Through lean collaboration and a desire to invest in new and exciting technologies, OpenSea was developed into one of the largest general marketplaces for user-owned digital items.
What is an NFT Market Place?
An NFT marketplace allows you to buy and sell digitally-created goods. Like any good digital asset, they’re tradeable. They can be used across different platforms, but their Blockchain-induced scarcity makes NFTs unique.
Scarcity has long plagued the issue of digital goods due to the inherent capability to copy and duplicate any digital item, making the creation of digital art and other collectible memorabilia tricky in the sense that their scarcity is only limited either by release limitation or by platform controls.
You can manage scarcity with NFTs by creating a digital token that is non-fungible. This token can be attached to your creations to verify that it is the original. This functionality has opened the gate to how people can start buying, selling, and even investing in digital art they value. Since its soft inception in 2017, NFTs have grown in size and breadth. They now offer virtual experiences, sports memorabilia and digital clothing.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
What is OpenSea Doing Differently?
OpenSea’s primary focus is its drive to put this new technology within reach of all digital creators out there. OpenSea allows digital artists to list their work on the platform without any fees or commissions. This is similar to traditional e-commerce sites like eBay, where sellers can post items to sell regularly without paying any consignment fees.
OpenSea is a great choice for artists and other creators because of its sheer size. Since its inception, it has grown to be the largest NFT market available online, increasing the chances for interested buyers to find and invest in your work. You can even transact from your mobile device with the mobile app for iOS.
Managing said transactions is much easier with OpenSea’s Collection Manager, giving users the ability to mint and sell NFTs with no attached fees.
Does OpenSea Have Any Costs?
Of course, OpenSea needs to generate revenue somehow to maintain its operations and keep the platform running. As is typical with other NFT marketplaces, OpenSea charges a percentage of the NFT’s price as an additional selling fee on top of any transaction. The buyer usually pays this additional fee, which allows sellers to enjoy the full value of their NFTs. This fee comes in at about 2.5% on top of the listed price of the NFT, meaning a $100 NFT will cost the buyer $102.5 to purchase.
Sellers may charge an additional fee if the artist is a worthy buyer. They don’t want to add additional fees. They can opt for the NFTs’ built-in royalty system. This means that your NFT will continue to generate royalties at a maximum of 10% for every subsequent sale after the initial sale.
Take note, though, that, unlike other NFT marketplaces, OpenSea does not accept payment in the form of bank deposits, credit or debit cards, and Paypal. OpenSea transactions require you to have an existing wallet that is compatible with the Ethereum network. The list of available wallets is long, but some of the more common ones include Coinbase, MetaMask, and TrustWallet.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
Is OpenSea Easy to Use?
OpenSea’s platform is pretty user-intuitive in that it can showcase bids and auction times in varying ways. You start off with a gallery page of different NFT art available. You can either purchase them using the standard auction method or opt for a more instant “Buy Now,” similar to how eBay treats its sales.
You can also follow and view different artists. Some artists may have additional biographies or anecdotes about the meaning and purpose behind their work. You can also see information on each listing’s price, offers made, and even the artist’s price history.
If you want to create your own NFT, a process called NFT Minting, you can do that through Open Sea as well. Click the Create function on the OpenSea homepage, and then click “Create A Collection.”
Once you are here, you can design the overall logo, banner, and other design elements of your collection and the name for the NFT and even URL layout. Make sure to include any relevant social media links and portfolios to lead prospective buyers to your other work.
Now you can set your royalties up to 10% and decide which Blockchain you want to add your NFT to (as of writing, the current Blockchain’s available are Ehtereum or Polygon). You can then designate what token you’d like to accept payment in, either EtH, WITH, DAI, or USDC. To allow buyers to pay you, you will need to verify the transaction using your wallet. OpenSea 2021
Click Create to watch your collection space grow. Once the collection is set up, you can add items to it and upload your work up to a maximum of 100MB per file. You can add a name and description to each item that you upload, then mark it as for sale. The NFTs cannot be stored in OpenSea, but in your wallet. Make sure your wallet can support web3!
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
How To Open An Account
You’ll need to make sure you have a good wallet on hand to properly set up an account. This is a prerequisite to opening an OpenSea Account. However, it is easy to do.
Register with your email and set a password. Then, personalize your account by adding a banner or your personal bio. The OpenSa FAQs has the dimensions guidelines for banners. OpenSea 2021
You used to need to verify the validity of your collection. Still, OpenSea has since removed this requirement, expanding the searchable items on their website. High-traffic profiles have the advantage of having a “verified status” (signified by a blue check) that indicates the authenticity of their account.
Is OpenSea Safe?
As with all the different crypto platforms, safety is always a concern (especially when dealing with potentially large transactions). Like all crypto transactions, OpenSea transactions are secured on the Blockchain. Specifically, Ethereum’s smart contracts allow the platform to instantly facilitate transactions with no needed oversight from third-party auditors. OpenSea 2021
OpenSea is also what you would call a non-custodial marketplace. This means that OpenSea does not hold any of your crypto funds on its platform, only moving cryptocurrency from one wallet to another when a transaction takes place. This is all thanks to the above-mentioned smart contracts, keeping everything secure and verifiable.
Last words
OpenSea is an essential stop for any NFT creator or investor. It is a great marketplace because it offers the largest number of NFTs and has a very simple interface for minting. It also has additional checks and balances to ensure your purchases are secure.
> > Click Here to Explore OpenSea < <
Frequently Asked Questions OpenSea 2021
What is an NFT?
An NFT, or Non-fungible token, acts as a certificate that you can attach to digital goods that indicate their authenticity and generates a sort of scarcity on your item. This helps improve value in things, almost to astronomical prices, and reduces the chances of pirated or inauthentic work popping up around different platforms.
Although it isn’t perfect, it has allowed digital artists to start earning from projects that they previously struggled to solve.
What is the Blockchain?
The Blockchain would be the backbone of the entire process that surrounds the making and transacting of any crypto-asset currently in the market. While NFTs mostly use the Ethereum blockchain (utilizing their smart contracts function in the process), other crypto assets have their own blockchains in which their own transactions occur.
A blockchain is an automated leger, which is supported by crypto miners. It can manage, record and execute transactions between parties. This would require third parties to verify each transaction in traditional financial environments. Modern technology is almost instantaneous, but back-end operations still rely on audits to ensure that each transaction was conducted in good faith.
The way the Blockchain is set up is that it removes the need for third-party authenticators by having its entire transaction system revolve around the previous transactions. To defraud or duplicate trades within a blockchain, you must decouple and undo all the other transactions that succeeded. Blockchain and the crypto market in general are fascinating because they serve as stepping stones to automated transactions between parties.
Can Anyone Make an NFT?
Because it allows an art market that was previously very closed and exclusive to be opened up to potential disruptors, NFTs are known as the “people’s token”. They allow for quality artwork to be created and distributed to fans.
The best part about NFTs is that these distributions would be controlled. Every piece of art will be marked with an NFT token, indicating that it is authentic. This does mean that anyone can also label anything as their own by attaching an NFT receipt to it, regardless of how truthful they may be. However, abusers can also be found in any new technology. So let’s take the good with the bad.
Does OpenSea have Customer Support?
Let’s say you need assistance with your OpenSea account or transactions. In that case, you can easily send an email to support@opensea.io. Make sure to include in the email a subject line indicating the nature of your problem and any particulars about your account. They also have a ticket system that you can use to send an email.
If you have simple problems, it may be good to check out the FAQs currently listed on their website. One of their many entries may already have the answer to your concern.
