OpenSea

OpenSea is the first and most popular peer-to-peer(P2P) marketplace for rare digital items, crypto-collectibles, and of course, NFTs. 

Overview

NFTs, which stand for non-fungible tokens, are one-of-a-kind digital assets. NFTs are collectible digital items like art pieces, trading cards, avatars, and in-game assets. Like any asset, they can be bought and sold on marketplaces designed for selling NFTs. 

OpenSea is arguably the most popular NFT marketplace in the crypto space today. According to data from Dune Analytics, OpenSea generated more than $1 billion in monthly volume in January alone. You can think of OpenSea as the Amazon of NFT, where you can find different types of NFTs such as collectibles, arts, sports, music, utility-based NFTs, and trading cards.

OpenSea is a fully decentralized platform that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Since it is decentralized, users interact with it using smart contracts. In addition, OpenSea logs all trades on a blockchain ledger making the transactions safer more secure and giving the creator more recognition. 

On OpenSea, governance tokens, which embody the ethos of blockchain trade, are accessible, allowing the owner to influence choices and make changes to the NFT project they invest in.

Low transaction fees, over 400,000 monthly users, an established team of developers, and over a million NFTs listed on sale are some of the reasons why everyone uses OpenSea.

Product Detail

OpenSea is perfect for creating and setting up your first NFT collections. Setting up your first NFT collection is as simple as ABC with OpenSea. First, you go to the OpenSea website, create an account, then from your profile page, click on "create."

You can upload your NFT file (Jpeg, MP3, etc.) on the creation page and add a name and a description. You can further customize your NFT by adding properties stats levels or adding it to an existing collection. You can specify the number of copies a wallet can mint and the blockchain you want it on. 

OpenSea lets you see the rarity and ranking of your favorite NFT collection. The rankings page is a crowd favorite on OpenSea as it shows you the top-performing project on OpenSea. Click on the stats tab from the top right corner on the homepage, select “rankings” from the drop-down menu, and it’ll take you to the rankings page. You can also sort the different projects by category, chain, and timeframe. 

OpenSea supports multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Klaytn, and Polygon. For NFTs, Ethereum is the most crucial blockchain on the planet. NFT artists, engineers, and collectors have already given Ethereum the crown, much like decentralized financial projects.

However, Ethereum has weak scalability, which dampens the overall Ethereum experience. For example, transactions involving NFT sales and transfers are notoriously expensive due to high gas expenses.

OpenSea's Polygon integration is especially welcome given Ethereum's existing flaws. Polygon is a blockchain that allows users to transfer Ethereum tokens, such as NFTs, quickly and at a cheaper rate. They also support Klatyn, so you can expect to see Klatyn NFTs, collectibles, and more.

OpenSea lets you send NFT as gifts to your friends and family. Gifting an NFT is pretty much you transferring an NFT from your wallet to theirs. OpenSea has a "gift" button to clarify what you are about to do. You don't need to buy an NFT from OpenSea to use this service, but you must connect your wallet to OpenSea. If you're gifting an NFT to someone who's never had one before, you'll need to think about how to introduce them to the world of NFTs. If you're worried about gas costs, try looking for NFTs on other blockchains. 

OpenSea gives you the lowest transaction and gas fees for the best minting experience. OpenSea takes 2.5% of all sales that occur. Among all the major marketplaces, which is by far the lowest. Some platforms even collect up to 7.5% and a 3% charge on the sales price. Buyers do not have to pay a service fee on OpenSea; there are no hidden charges anywhere. It's all transparent. 

Platforms like eBay collect up to 12% of your profit, while Gumroad charges as much as 7%. However, thanks to blockchains and digital currency, the fees associated with trading digital products have dropped immensely.

OpenSea accepts multiple cryptocurrencies as payment. OpenSea's default currency for selling items is Ethereum (ETH), but they take other currencies, including stable coins and other social currencies. Some of the currencies accepted on OpenSea include; MANA, SAND, wBTC, WHALE, USDC, DAI, MEME, etc. 

OpenSea lets you choose how you list your NFTs for sale. OpenSea supports various listings such as the fixed-price listing, highest-bid auctions, dutch auctions (also known as declining-price listings), and bundles. 

Fixed price listing puts your NFT for sale at a  set price. It is a simple and effective way of selling an NFT. All you do is pick a price and a currency. With the Dutch auction or declining-price listing, bids start from highest to lowest price. For each sale, you'll need to establish a starting price, a finishing price, and an auction length. Then, the original price falls over time until it reaches the predetermined floor price.

The highest-bid auction listing option is similar to a traditional English auction. You just set a minimum price for your NFT and then allow buyers to bid on it. You also have the option of selecting a reserve price and accepting any bid that comes your way. If you want to sell more than one NFT to the same buyer, bundling your NFTs is an excellent option. When you bundle many NFTs, you simply have to make one transaction rather than multiple transactions, saving you money on gas. Bundling is a great way to sell off a collection in one go.

Recap

OpenSea has quickly developed one of the largest NFT marketplaces. You should expect to hear a lot more about OpenSea in the future, given the amount of cash they've raised, their active user base, and the general buzz surrounding NFTs.