When and Where to Buy NFTs

NFTs are since 2020 the buzzword of the block. Especially art-related NFTs can go for high prices. Some collections have an insane floor price. For instance, the BAYC’s current floor price is around 80 ETH. But not all NFTs fetch these prices.

Therefore, to be successful with NFTs, you need to know a few basic rules. So, we’re going to have a look at when and where you can buy NFTs. 

When to Buy NFTs?

The best moment to buy NFTs is before their value starts to rise. You can flip them now, which means, sell them for a higher price. You can also hold on to them and see how far the price goes up. However, before you buy an NFT, you need to look out for a few specific factors.

• NFT Unique Properties—Most collectible NFTs come as part of a collection. For instance, BAYC, Pudgy Penguins, or Adam Bomb Squad. They are all individual artwork with different properties. You want a rare version, and the properties will tell you about this. See the picture below.
• Transaction fees—How high are they, and who needs to pay them? Buyer or seller, or both?
• Liquidity and market volume—NFTs are not as liquid as cryptocurrencies. An alternative is to fractionalize an NFT. You split your NFT up in many small parts.
• Verify the seller—On OpenSea, you can have a blue verification tick, indicating you’re the real deal. Make sure you buy from verified sellers. There are plenty of scammers out there. Also check a seller account. This gives you info on how his other NFTs perform.
• Gas fees—Ethereum can have high gas fees. Maybe Solana or Polkadot marketplaces are an alternative.

Source: OpenSea

Where Buy NFTs?

In general, you buy NFTs on an NFT marketplace. There are plenty of options out there, with OpenSea being the biggest. Most of them are on Ethereum. However, for cheaper gas fees, you may want to check out alternatives in other chains. Marketplaces also come in different sorts. For example:

• Open—A mix of everything.
• Curated—Specialized.
• Collectibles—For instance, a focus on sports.
• Games—For online gaming.

Moreover, here are some marketplace samples:

• OpenSea—The largest marketplace of all. Open marketplace on Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana. Accepts over 150 different tokens for payment.
• Magic Eden—An open and the largest marketplace on Solana. 
• ThetaDrop—For collectibles on the Theta chain. Minting and transactions are cheap. It is 100x faster than Ethereum.
• NBA Top Shot—For collectibles on the Flow chain and officially licensed by the NBA.
• Foundation—Curated and on Ethereum. Currently, this is by invitation only.
• Nifty Gateway-Curated and on Ethereum. Now part of the Gemini exchange. Many celebrities sell here, like Beeple. Fiat payment options.
• Axie Infinity Market—For games on the Ronin and Ethereum chains. For Axies, land, and other in-game items.

Are NFTs Bought With Real Money?

Yes, they are. The dollars people spend on NFTs are real. 

On most NFT marketplaces, you need to pay with cryptocurrencies. Therefore, MoonPay offers an alternative to this. It’s an app that allows you to pay with a credit card. However, it requires you do to a KYC check. This confirms your identity, with an official ID. For instance, Sorare, OpenSea, and SolSea offer this. This makes buying an NFT a lot more convenient. It cuts out many steps compared to buying with a crypto wallet. See the picture below.

There are also a few NFT marketplaces that allow you to pay with fiat. For instance, Nifty Gateway, which is part of the Gemini exchange, allows this. The Winklevoss brothers own this. There are other marketplaces that allow credit cards. For example, Rarible offers this for fixed price listings. For a crypto auction on Rarible, you need to pay with crypto.

Source: Moonpay

Are NFTs Bought With Ethereum?

Ethereum hosts the majority of NFT marketplaces. On most of these marketplaces, you will have to pay with Ethereum. We did mention that other payment options are available. For instance, by credit card, but this is not commonplace yet. As we know, one of the Ethereum problems are the high gas fees.

However, there are more NFT marketplaces surfacing. They build on different blockchains. As a result, they offer lower gas fees. They also ask you to pay with their native tokens. So, in the Cosmos ecosystem, this is ATOM. On Polygon, it’s MATIC and on Solana it will be SOL.

Conclusion

We covered a few factors that you need to be aware when buying NFTs. For example, when and where to buy them and how to pay for them. This should help you to be more aware when buying NFTs.

In a follow-up article, we discuss a few more factors, related to buying NFTs.

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