How to Sell NFTs in 2023

Updated: November 1, 2023
Published: August 16, 2022

Let’s say you own a unique or rare digital copy of something in the form of a non-fungible token. It doesn’t matter how you got the NFT, whether you created it yourself or with the help of an art studio or another company, bought it on the marketplace, or minted it as part of an event that took place on a platform like Premint or Project Galaxy.

You can do anything with this NFT: keep it in your wallet, transfer it to another user, or sell it on the marketplace, for example, if the price and demand for the token increase. In this article, we will explain how you can sell your NFTs on specially created marketplaces.

What Is NFT

NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens are a type of digital token on the blockchain, each instance of which is a unique, indivisible and irreplaceable copy. This means that two copies, even if they belong to the same collection, are different copies that cannot be immediately exchanged on the market.

For example, you can exchange Bitcoin or Ethereum for another cryptocurrency at any time at the current market price on exchanges. These coins are divided into millions of parts, and each unit of this cryptocurrency is always worth the same as another unit. But each NFT from a collection can differ in value from other specimens.

Moreover, Non-Fungible Tokens have their own blockchain standards, such as ERC-721 or ERC-1155 on Ethereum and BEP-721 or BEP-1155 on BNB Chain (ex-Binance Smart Chain). The classic tokens on these blockchains have ERC-20 and BEP-20 formats, respectively.

How to Sell an NFT

First, we will briefly describe the main steps that you need to go through in order to sell an NFT, and then we will show you how to do it using an example.

Choosing a platform

The first thing you need to do is to choose a platform (marketplace) where you will offer your non-fungible tokens for sale. This depends on the network you have created (bought) or want to create (buy) your token on. NFTs are currently available on many blockchain platforms other than Ethereum and BNB Chain: Solana, Cosmos, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum and others.

Choosing a platform is an important step that should not be neglected. On the one hand, there is a large number of users on the leading NFT marketplaces, and you can find many people willing to buy your token, which will allow you to sell it at a high price. However, there is also a lot of competition among the authors and creators of NFTs on such platforms.

On the other hand, on secondary marketplaces, there are not so many buyers, and the demand is low, but there is less competition. It is unlikely that you will sell your first NFT at a high price, but you can probably sell it faster than on large marketplaces.

Not only the platform for trading NFTs play an important role, but also promotion: in the end, a lot depends on the latter.

Here is a list of popular NFT marketplaces where you can sell NFTs:

OpenSea is the most popular NFT marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain, as well as Solana, Polygon and Kalytn.
Magic Eden is one of the leading platforms in the Solana ecosystem.
LarvaLabs is the marketplace of the studio that released the most famous and one of the very first CryptoPunks NFT collections.
LooksRare is another popular marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain.
Stargaze is the first major NFT marketplace in the Cosmos IBC ecosystem.

A more detailed list of marketplaces can be found on the corresponding page. DappRadar is a popular decentralized application monitoring service.

Creating a profile

At this stage, you need to connect your crypto wallet to the NFT marketplace and fill out a profile. With an empty profile, you have little chance of selling NFTs, especially at a high price, as users are unlikely to trust you. The same is true for new wallets. Expensive NFTs are valuable because of their history. Who created them, how and when, under what circumstances and so on?

Deployment

After preparing the profile, you will need to place your NFTs individually or at once (the entire collection). We described the second method in a separate article.

NFT Promotion

The success of your enterprise depends on promotion: the more you invest in marketing, the higher the chances of selling the token for a high price. Therefore, instead of promoting NFT on your own, the best solution would be to entrust it to a team of professionals.

An Example of an NFT Sale

At this stage, you need to connect your crypto wallet to the NFT marketplace and fill out a profile. With an empty profile, you have little chance of selling NFTs, especially at a high price. The same is true for new wallets. Expensive NFTs are valuable because of their history. Who created them, when and how, and under what circumstances?

The creator of the NFT also receives a percentage of each sale, even if they no longer own the NFT. This is why it is beneficial to create your own NFTs rather than trading someone else’s. Although, for the successful sale of your token or collection, you need professional promotion.

By following these simple steps, you can quickly and easily list your NFT on any marketplace.

Connecting a Wallet to an NFT Marketplace

Before you interact with a platform to sell NFTs, you must connect your wallet and sign the transaction so that the marketplace smart contract can interact with your wallet.

To connect a wallet, go to the OpenSea marketplace and click on the wallet icon in the upper right corner:

Then select the wallet you want to connect to. OpenSea supports MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet (mobile only), Phantom, Glow, Formatic, and a number of other popular crypto wallets. You can also connect any mobile wallet using the WalletConnect feature as long as it supports Ethereum, Polygon, or Solana blockchains.

For example, we used the MetaMask plugin, the most popular wallet that offers flexible features for developers and testers but still has a simple user interface. In MetaMask, users can add custom blockchain networks and perform transactions on them.

Then it remains only to sign the transaction.

Important: Read what you sign carefully. For example, hackers can break into a marketplace and inject malicious code that requests unlimited access to your crypto wallet. If you sign, all assets will be extracted from your wallet. In July, that happened with the popular NFTminting site Premint.xyz. According to various sources, NFTs worth between $375,000 and $500,000 in ETH was stolen. However, the company reimbursed the victims of the attack.

If everything is in order, sign the transaction by clicking “Sign”. The screenshot shows what such a transaction should look like:

If you find that the message is significantly different from the image, do not sign the transaction in any case! If you have successfully connected to the marketplace, you can now create your profile.

Creating a Profile

Before you post an NFT for sale, it would help to fill out a profile so that buyers are not put off. Make your profile look presentable and make it clear to buyers who you are.

To create a profile, go to OpenSea and first go to the “Profile” section:

Then fill in the required fields:

Username – one word without spaces. Can contain only Latin letters, numbers, “-” and “_”
Profile Image and Profile Banner – images for your profile
Bio – a brief description of you or your company
Email Address
Social Connections – you can connect your Twitter account if you wish
Links – you can add links to your Instagram profile and website
Wallet Address (filled in by default).

A profile is not required, but it will increase the credibility of your profile and, as a result, increase the chance to sell your NFTs. It is best to sell tokens from a wallet you are actively using and not from an empty one. Users can check your address before buying, and if they do not find activity in the wallet, they may refuse to buy.

Filling out a profile (example):

After filling in all the fields, click on the “Save” button.

It looks much better than an empty profile without images, descriptions and links, right?

Uploading the File to Opensea

This step depends on how you got the NFT. You can either sell an existing NFT or create your own from scratch. If you bought NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace, you could skip this step. If you created a token yourself or bought it on another marketplace — welcome!

NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea are platforms where you can sell both purchased non-fungible tokens and those you create yourself. If you don’t know how to create your own NFT, we have detailed the steps in these guides:

To add an NFT to the OpenSea marketplace, click “Create” in the upper right corner:

And fill in the required fields:

Image, Video, Audio, or 3D Model – upload the file you want to place on the NFT marketplace
Name (required field) – enter a name for your NFT
External link – a link to your NFT on your website or in another marketplace
Description – a brief description of your Non-Fungible Token
Collection – select the collection the NFT belongs to. If you are loading a single instance, skip this field
The rest of the fields (Properties, Levels and Stats) are for advanced users. If you are not one yet, also skip those
Supply – indicate the number of your NFT
Blockchain – select the network in which the NFT was created. OpenSea supports Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Klaytn.

Once everything is filled in, click “Create” at the bottom of the page and complete the captcha to verify that you are not a robot.

Congratulations! You have successfully placed your NFT on the OpenSea marketplace, and now you can sell it!

After placing an NFT on the marketplace, it will have a unique link that you can send to potential buyers. Here is a link to the NFT we posted for an example.

Before selling the added NFT to the site, you first need to perform a few more simple steps. Let’s move on to the next step.

Adding a Position in the Marketplace and Selling NFT

The last step is to create a position, as if you are selling a product on eBay, setting the price and other parameters, after which you will only have to find your buyer.

To sell your non-fungible token, go to your NFT page on the marketplace and click on the “Sell” button.

Select the type of sale: fixed price or auction format. In the first case, the token will be sold exactly at the price you set if there is a buyer. In the second case, you will sell the token at the highest price offered by the buyer at the end of the auction. For example, we will choose a fixed price.

Specify the cost of the NFT. The OpenSea marketplace does not allow you to set a fixed price that exceeds 6.8 ETH ($10,000 equivalent). If you think you can sell your NFT for a higher price, try choosing an auction format.

Select the period during which the token will be offered for sale. After the time expires, the lot will be removed, and users will not be able to buy NFTs, but you can put it up again. If you are not sure that you can sell at the current price, do not set too long a period: you will not be able to change the format of the sale until the listing time expires.

If everything is done, click “Complete listing”.

Sign the transaction.

Done! You have placed your NFT, and you can look for a buyer. Here’s what your listing will look like once it’s published:

Actually, this is just the beginning. In order for your NFT or collection to be in high demand, for you to be able to sell tokens at a high price, you need to launch a marketing campaign or promote your lot in some way.

Here are a few options for how you can promote your NFT:

Suggest to Friends: send your listing to friends, colleagues or acquaintances who are interested in blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Perhaps they will see the potential in you and become your first customers, and you will receive the first profit from the sale, which will motivate you to do it again and again.
Share the link to the lot on social networks. Users actively hunt for valuable and unique NFTs and are willing to buy them, especially if they are inexpensive. You can also offer to buy your NFT on forums, thematic sites and other places on the Internet.
Post flyers with a QR code that contains a link to your NFT. This is an additional way to draw attention to your collection.
Buy ads. You can advertise NFTs or collections on various platforms: GoogleAds, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Twitter and many others. You can even attract influencers if your budget allows.
Order promotion from a company. This is the best option since companies specializing in crypto, including NFT promotion, are capable of completing a genuinely comprehensive project to create a high demand for your tokens. By contacting the company, you get a chance to sell NFTs at a price that you could not even dream of.

Finally, you can give away your first NFT across various groups and channels to build an audience for future sales of your tokens and collections.