Where to Buy & Sell Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Hedge With Crypto aims to publish information that is factual and accurate as of the date of publication. For specific information about a cryptocurrency exchange or trading platform please visit that provider’s website. This information is general in nature and is for education purposes only. Hedge With Crypto does not provide financial advice nor does it take into account your personal financial situation. We encourage you to seek financial advice from an independent financial advisor where appropriate and make your own enquiries.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have reached the FOMO period with record sales prices for unique pieces of art, collectibles, and trading cards, to mention a few. In this article, we outline how to buy NFTs and which platforms are the best for buying, selling, and creating non-fungible tokens.

What Are NFTs?

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Tokens, which are unique digital tokens that can represent real-world physical items such as art, music, collectibles, trading cards, and games that are managed on a blockchain network such as Ethereum. The tokenized assets can be traced on the blockchain to ensure the item is unique and can't be forged or replaced with another replica. NFTs can be created, bought, and sold on marketplaces using crypto or fiatcurrency,y depending on the platform.

Where To Purchase Non-Fungible Tokens

Based on our opinion, these platforms are the best marketplaces to find NFTs to buy and sell:

1. OpenSea (best NFT platform overall)
2. Nifty Gateway (best for celebrity collections)
3. Rarible (best for community)
4. Mintable.app (best for customizable stores)
5. SuperRare (best for exclusive NFTs)

How To Buy Non-Fungible Tokens

NFTs are purchased on a marketplace where creators can sell art, music, collectibles, and other unique items using an open and digital platform for willing buyers to browse and purchase individual or groups of NFT collections. Here is a quick guide on how to purchase NFTs using a marketplace: 

1. Purchase Ethereum (ETH) using an exchange such as Coinbase
2. Download an ETH wallet like Metamask and transfer the coins
3. Create an account with an NFT platform and connect the wallet
4. Browse the marketplace to find a non-fungible token to purchase
5. Select an NFT to purchase and place a bid
6. Once a bid is successful, the NFT ownership is transferred to the buyer

Where To Buy & Sell NFTs: 2022 Reviews

Several NFT platforms allow individuals to buy and sell NFTs for different types of collectibles. The most common NFT marketplaces are OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, SuperRare, Foundation.app, Rarible and Mintable. Each marketplace can operate slightly differently in terms of the available NFTs, method of payment (e.g., fiat and/or crypto) and purchase method (auction or set price). 

1. OpenSea

OpenSea has become one of the most popular and liquid marketplaces to buy and sell NFTs. Founded in December 2017 by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, the NFT platform has grown to almost 120,000 active users with a reported 518 million in trading volume across their collection of user-owned scare digital assets. OpenSea's marketplace allows individuals all over the globe to buy, sell, and discover exclusive digital assets such as digital arts, music, domain names, trading cards, and other collectibles using the open-source Ethereum network.

OpenSea supports over 150 digital currencies which can be used to buy NFT's from the marketplace. The most commonly used payment currency is Ethereum (ETH) or Wrapped Ethereum (WETH). Both ETH and WETH hold the same value and can be exchanged directly on the platform. Other digital tokens that can be used on OpenSea include USDC, UNI, DAI. There is currently no option to purchase NFT's using traditional fiat currencies such as the USD or Euro.

Digital art creators on OpenSea can decide on the fees or commission to charge on any items which can be levied on the buyer or seller. OpenSea does charge a fee for providing the marketplace which is 2.5% on each sale price.

2. Nifty Gateway

Nifty Gateway is owned by the Winklevoss Twins that founded Gemini Exchange, a popular cryptocurrency platform in the USA. The marketplace is slightly different from OpenSea which is based on the Ethereum network, with the former Nifty Gateway a centralized platform that is USD-backed for buying and selling nifties. This allows the platform to be accessible by anyone that wants to purchase limited-edition collectibles. 

Artists are eligible to receive a commission on every item sold on the marketplace which is a percentage of the sale amount. The creator can decide on the percentage for each secondary sale. Nifty Gateway's fees are 5% in addition to 30 cents of every secondary sale.

3. Rarible

Rarible is widely considered as a premium marketplace to mint, buy, trade, sell and gift digital NFTs and assets such as arts, collectibles, games and memes. The platform was launched at the beginning of 2020 as an open-source market place that resides on the Ethereum blockchain network to allow buyers and sellers to exchange digital goods directly without an intermediary. Rarible is non-custodial by design and does not hold the rights to any NFT's minted on the platform.

A unique aspect of Rarible is the ongoing development of the platform is placed in the hands of creators and collectors. Users on Rarible have the opportunity to propose and vote on upgrades to the marketplace. This allows users to voice their opinion and feedback to the community to improve the platform and the NFT experience for all buyers and sellers to benefit from.

The NFT exchange often features digital art and collectibles of a limited edition from celebrity artist, musicians and brands. Nifty Gateway creates scarcity by offering each collection at a specific time which is available for a limited time only. NFT's have been dropped on the platform by famous personalities such as Eminem and Steve Aoki. Overall, Nifty Gateway is best suited for investors and collectors that are looking to purchase rare and limited edition NFTs from top artists, brands and celebrities.

The marketplace is well designed for collectors to browse digital creations and collections by category. The process to mint digital items on Rarible has been simplified and does not require any coding knowledge. This opens the doors to a wide variety of artists that can sell NFT's on the platform with little technical experience of the blockchain. Similar to OpenSea, an Ethereum compatible wallet needs to be connected to Rarible such as Metamask, Coinbase Wallet, MyEtherWallet or WalletConnect.

The marketplace fee on Rarible is 2.5% per transaction which is used to support the platform. This fee is incurred for buying and selling NFT items which will total 5% of the total sale price.

4. Mintable.app

Another popular NFT platform that is built on the Ethereum network is Mintable.app. Mintable allows users to create, distribute, buy, sell, and trade digital files on the secure blockchain through NFTs like the examples above. Customers can connect their Ethereum wallet such as Metamask to Mintable to participate in the NFT market place. The platform has recently stopped supporting the Coinbase wallet integration to the website.

Digital creators that mint their own NFTs using Mintable can create a fully customizable store to advertise, promote and trade digital items to earn crypto. This adds a personal touch where the seller can create their own individual NFT brand and promote on the open market place to sell digital artwork, collectibles, video and music.

Another nice feature with Mintable is each NFT item shows a view count, which can be useful to see which items are gaining popularity. There is also the option for advertising on the website to increase exposure and across their social media and discord channel which could be advantageous for companies or brands.

The standard fee on sold items is 2.5% which is paid by the buyer in addition to the gas fees on the network. Items that do not have a gas fee will incur a 5% transaction fee which is comparable to OpenSea and Rarible.

5. SuperRare

SuperRare is a peer to peer marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks from leading artists and creators around the world. The user interface has a similar look and feel to a social media platform such as Instragram that will appeal to many individual to quickly and easily browse collections in the market. Users can connect an Ethereum wallet such as Metamask, Fortmatic and Wallet Connect to begin buying and selling NFTs.

For sellers, listing NFT's to SuperRare can be a little tricky. Each digital item is carefully curated by the SuperRare team before it is listed on the marketplace. This means the staff at SuperRare will determine which items are listed based on their own opinions and not the creator. However, this is ideal for buyers as it can remove low-quality NFT pieces from the marketplace to reduce oversaturation and encourage exclusivity within the market with high-quality items only. 

SuperRare charges a flat 3% transaction fee on all purchases which are paid by the buyer which is slightly higher compared to OpenSea. For digital art creators, there is a 15% commission of which 85% is passed on to the seller for the first digital piece sold. Creators will receive a 10% commission in the form of a royalty which can generate passive income for subsequent sales on the secondary market.

Frequently Asked Questions