Open sea is the world’s leading marketplace for buying and selling NFTs. With over a million transactions each month, it is head and shoulders above dozens of similar platforms. Maybe you browsed their product categories and thought, “How can I Yo Create an NFT? If so, the article is for you.
We’ll explain how to mint your first piece of art, or any other digital asset, on OpenSea.
There is no better place to sell artwork today than OpenSea. Doing so has many advantages. For example, you get more visibility while maintaining real ownership of your work. Plus, you receive a commission every time someone resells your NFT. The more the value of your NFT increases after resale, the more you will profit from it.
To mint NFTs on OpenSea, you will need to purchase some Ethereum, create and link your crypto wallet to your OpenSea account, and upload your NFT. Below is a detailed guide on how to perform all these steps.
Buy Ethereum
After Bitcoin, Ethereum is the most popular cryptocurrency that exists today. In fact, most NFTs are bought and sold with it. The first step to acquiring Ethereum is to create a crypto exchange account. If you don’t have one yet, you can try it. Coinbase, the most popular crypto exchange platform. From here, you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.
The amount of Ethereum you will need to start minting an NFT varies depending on the gas fee required at that time; A good starting point is a mini. The notion of a gas fee may seem a little complicated, but essentially it is about how much Ethereum is needed to pay the cryptocurrency’s miners. Unfortunately, OpenSea does not control gas fees, instead they are based on things like account registration fees associated with a new account, Ethereum payment type, and more.
Therefore, the amount of money you will need to invest initially depends on the two gas fees associated with your account registration and item access permission. The current 2.5% service fee and a 10% royalty fee for the transaction involving your NFT, which is not charged until after payment anyway, are not required upfront. This is discussed further in the FAQ section.
How to create a crypto wallet to use on OpenSea
After purchasing some ETH, the next step is to create a crypto wallet. You will use this wallet to pay and sell NFTs on OpenSea.
MetaMask It is among the easiest wallets to use and is the preferred choice on OpenSea. It is available as a browser plugin and works best with Google Chrome and Brave. Once you install it, you will be able to use it to store Ethereum and Ethereum-based tokens such as NFTs.
Connect your wallet to OpenSea
You can connect your wallet to OpenSea with a few simple steps:
- Open the MetaMask extension in your browser and unlock it by entering your password.
- Navigate to http://www.opensea.io/ in the same browser and select Profile from the upper right corner.
- The website will ask you to connect your crypto wallet; choose MetaMask.
- Accept the terms and conditions and enter your email and username to verify the account.
- Follow the verification email you receive.
That’s all! Now you are ready to mint your first NFT. If you use another crypto wallet, start from Step 2 and select the appropriate option during Step 3.
Create your first NFT
After setting up a wallet and connecting it to OpenSea, you are now ready to create your first NFT. The best way to do this is by creating a collection. Why create collections when you can just upload an inpidual file? Well, NFTs receive the most visibility and sell best as part of a collection. You can create different variations of an NFT with inpidualized colors, shapes, and more.
To create a collection, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to your Open sea profile and choose My collection.
- Select Create to make a new collection.
You can consider this collection as your digital artwork portfolio. You are free to add your latest designs, memes or even drawings of adorable kittens. You may be surprised to know that there is a category on OpenSea dedicated to “cryptokitties,” cat stickers that are sometimes bought and sold for tens of thousands of dollars.
Mint the NFT
Once you make your first collection, it’s easy to add an NFT to it. Simply follow the steps below:
- Open the collection you just created.
- Click on Add item.
- Upload an NFT and give it a name.
- Fill in the item’s properties, levels, and other descriptions.
- Click Create when finished.
That’s all! You can now see your NFT in your collection. You can choose to keep it for display or sell it to the highest bidder.
Check your storage
Another thing worth keeping in mind before uploading your first NFT is the storage situation. NFTs stored on centralized servers are prone to technical problems. Instead, you’ll want to store them on blockchain or platforms like weave and IPFS.
Additional FAQs
What are NFTs?
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have taken the world by storm over the past year. These digital assets represent real-world objects, such as art, game elements, music, images or videos. Users can buy or sell NFTs with cryptocurrencies.
How much does it cost to mint an NFT on OpenSea?
OpenSea requires all first-time sellers to pay two fees before their first sale. These rates are not a fixed price and you can control them if you know how. So what’s the secret?
Well, these fees are transactions that run on the Ethereum blockchain. For this reason, some processing power is needed to create them. To compensate for this energy, a “gas fee” is paid. Depending on the price of gas at that time, the rate may be higher or lower.
The first fee to initialize your account to start selling costs between $70 and $300. The second transaction that gives OpenSea access to your NFTs costs between $10 and $30.
Naturally, to save money and pay the lowest rate, you want to set up your account on days when gas prices are lowest. Luckily, there is a website called Gasoline now which allows you to track gasoline prices. The best days to pay dues are those when the number drops below 100.
OpenSea fees are paid in Ether. This means that the cost also varies depending on the current value of the cryptocurrency compared to your currency.
In addition to the two fees for the first sale, you must also pay OpenSea 2.5% of the price of the NFT when it is sold.
Please note that OpenSea does not charge fees for minting NFTs after the first sale.
You can use a variety of payment tokens to sell NFTs. The platform recommends the following cryptocurrencies:
Ethereum
WETH
DAI
USDC (cryptocurrency meaning US dollar currency, not to be confused with the US dollar)
Minting your first NFT on OpenSea
OpenSea is the leading marketplace for buying and selling NFTs. Minting these digital assets anywhere else means less visibility and lower chances of closing the deal. That is why most sellers present their best works on this platform. With a little research and creativity, you can do it too. And now you know how to start.
What categories do you want to create in OpenSea? Do you mint NFTs to display or sell? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments below.
