How to buy and sell NFTs on OpenSea

OpenSea is the premiere NFT marketplace where anyone with a crypto wallet can buy and sell anything from high-brow photographs and portraits of mutant apes to tokenized rare Pokémon cards and electronic music. What more could you want?

While the blockchain technology behind NFT trading can seem complicated, getting set up on OpenSea and exploring the platform is about as easy as creating an account on any other website.

How to sign in to OpenSea and set up an account

Assuming you already have a crypto wallet like Metamask set up, connecting it to OpenSea and building an account is a breeze.

• From the OpenSea homepage, navigate to the top right-hand corner of the site and clock on the wallet icon. OpenSea will prompt you to connect to a wallet service of your choice. Once you’ve done that, your account is live!
• After connecting a wallet, OpenSea will bring you to your account’s profile page where you can view any NFTs you’ve collected, created, or favorited on the site for potential purchase.
• Your default account will be “Unnamed” until you navigate to the settings cog to the right of your profile picture to customize your account. OpenSea will hit you with an extra security prompt at this point, asking you "Sign" a quick agreement before you can continue. Once you’re through this prompt, you can customize your profile. Pick a username, pen a quick bio and add a secure email address to your account.

Now you’re ready to roll and can explore the OpenSea marketplace with your wallet full of currency, ready to make some offers on one-of-a-kind artworks.

How to buy NFTs on OpenSea

There are two options for sellers listing NFTs on OpenSea — they can set a fixed price for an NFT or set up an auction where any number of buyers can make offers on an NFT (they can also use both options, similar to eBay). We’re going to walk you through both types of purchases.

Buying items with a fixed price on OpenSea

• Find an NFT you’d like to purchase by exploring the marketplace.
• Review all the collected information about the NFT. For rarer and collectible NFTs, there can be specific properties that are more valuable. And you’ll want to check the price history if you’re looking to get into the trading aspect of the marketplace.
• When you’re ready to make a purchase, simply click the “Buy Now” button.
• You may be prompted by OpenSea to review a few details about your purchase before finalization. This is to ensure you know exactly what you’re buying and to help you avoid scammers creating similar, but not authentic versions of popular NFTs.
• If everything looks swell, you’ll proceed to a checkout pop-up where you can review the final cost of your purchase. You’ll be asked to agree to OpenSea’s terms of service, then you’re free to click the “Checkout” button to finalize your purchase.
• Hitting “Checkout” will open your wallet where you’ll get a final cost including applicable gas fees depending on your blockchain choice, Click the “Confirm” button and you’re the proud new owner of an NFT.
• To see the NFT in your wallet, return to your profile, and select “In Wallet” on the left side of the page. There might be a slight delay until it shows up due to processing time.

Making an offer on an NFT

Some NFTs are going to have an auction option. This gives sellers a chance to set a minimum price threshold and pit buyers against each other. The process for making an offer is quite simple.

• Find an NFT you’d like to make an offer on.
• Review all of the information on the NFT page, including current offers to make sure you can place a bid. Bids must be at least 5 percent higher than the previous bid.
• Click the “Make Offer” button on the NFT page.
• Again, you might be prompted to review some details on the NFT to make sure it's authentic.
• Select the currency you'd like to make your offer in. There may be one-off fees if you offer a currency you’ve never made a purchase with before.
• Enter the amount of your offer and an expiration date. The expiration date allows you to pull your offer at that time, giving the seller a timeframe to make a decision on accepting an offer on non-competitive NFT auctions.
• You can see a list of all offers you’ve extended by returning to your profile and finding the “Offers” tab in the led-hand sidebar.
• Once you’ve made an offer, you’re set. Just kick back and wait for the seller to accept your offer. Of course, if you’re making an offer on an NFT you really want and there’s a lot of action, you’ll want to stick around to keep upping your offer.

How to sell NFTs on OpenSea

Whether you’re flipping an NFT you just purchased or putting up an NFT you created, selling NFTs on OpenSea is pretty straightforward.

• From your profile, select the NFT you would like to sell from your wallet.
• Click the “Sell” button in the upper right-hand corner of the NFT page.
• Here, you’ll be prompted to ​​choose the price, type of auction, and other preferences. You can set your NFT as a fixed-price sale, or start an auction with a variety of settings including a start price, price threshold, and timed expiration.
• When you’ve worked out how you want your sales settings to look, click the “Post Your Listing” button.
• There are no direct fees for listing one of your NFTs for sale, although there are some fees once the sale goes through, which are listed out here. You’ll also be prompted to initialize your wallet if this is your first time selling. There might also be a few extra review prompts to click through if the NFT you’re selling wasn’t minted on OpenSea.
• After all of this, you’ll be asked to finalize the listing, confirm all the details, and post your NFT on the marketplace.
• You can view all the NFTs you have up for sale by returning to your profile and selecting the “Activity” tab on the left-hand sidebar.

These are the basics of buying and selling NFTs on OpenSea. Obviously, the more you get into trading NFTs on this marketplace, you might have more specific questions. Luckily, OpenSea has a fantastic help center on its site with plenty of answers to FAQs and tutorials.