Crypto Academy Week 12 - Homework Post for @levycore | Buying and Selling NFTs

Hi everyone, it’s another beautiful new week! Another week to learn about NFTs! In last week’s discussion we looked briefly into NFT. Today’s topic is going to be more practical, as we’d go through how you can buy and sell NFT on a popular NFT market.

What’s NFT?

If this is the first you’ve heard of NFT, it is type of token that makes it possible to buy and sell digital assets that are trackable on a blockchain network. An NFT could be a photo, drawing, audio, video or several other file formats. What makes it stand out is that it is unique and it utilises blockchain technology to know the origination of the asset.

A popular distinguishing factor between NFT and other token types is that it is rare. It is stored on the blockchain with a unique number, just the way individuals have unique social security numbers. So with that number the NFT can be identified.

Rarible Marketplace

The marketplace we’d consider in-depth is the Rarible marketplace. Rarible Marketplace is an art-based marketplace. You’d find mostly art assets on the platform. Creators can also launch their own digital assets.

Whether it is art, memes, music, games, domains, metaverses, or even domains, such NFTs can be sold and bought on the platform. The platform displays a preview of the NFT to every user, but only those that purchase the asset can get the full access.

Rarible marketplace rewards users with its own token, RARI token. When a user buys or sells NFT on Rarible platform, the user is rewarded with RARI token. Hence, the token is an activity-based token.

A total of 75,000 RARI tokens are distributed amongst Rarible users every week. Users get their tokens on Sundays. According to the co-founder of the project, this distribution of RARI tokens will last for the four years, counting from the day of token launch.

Verification on Rarible

Users can also get verified on the platform, despite unverified users can also buy and sell. Once a user gets verified, the verification badge will be displayed on his or her profile. That helps to send signal to prospective buyers that the assets the user sells are authentic.

For users that are not verified, whenever their assets are about to be purchased, a notice that they are unverified is displayed.

The platform takes about 4 four weeks to confirm a user’s verification.

Royalties

Royalties can also be selected when creating and selling an asset on Rarible. This is simply the amount that would come to you, if a buyer sells your asset on a different market. If 10% royalties is imputed when selling the asset, it means that whenever a copy of the asset is sold, 10% of the amount would be yours.

Key takeaways

According to the DappRadar, Rarible platform is the fourth largest NFT marketplace according to market volume.

In the last 24 hours, Rarible had a traviding volume of $716,000 and over 800 traders on the platform. With about 50% decline in volume and 30% decline in traders.

How to Buy NFT

1 Go to Rarible.com with SafePal Wallet or Trust Wallet dApp enabled browser

2 Click the CONNECT button at the bottom of the page

3 Connect your wallet (i.e. click on WalletConnect button)

4 Click on “Trust,” that’s because I’m using Trust Wallet

5 Confirm the transaction on Trust Wallet app

6 Yah! The wallet is now connected

7 In order to buy an NFT, you have to select one from the marketplace

8 Click the BUY button at the bottom of the page

9 Proceed to checkout by clicking the “I understand, continue” button at the bottom

10 Approve and confirm purchase. Approve by clicking the “Start” button

11 Confirm purchase now

How to Create and Sell your own NFT

Since we’ve already connected Trust Wallet to Rarible.com, we can skip that step

1 Click the create button at the bottom of your screen

2 Select between Single and Multiple collectible type

3 Upload the file; whether it is in image, video, or song file formats. And tick “put it on market place”

4 Write out the price you want to sell the NFT in ETH and choose the collection type

5 Choose a name, description and specify royalties and properties

6 Then hit the blue “create item” button

After clicking the “create item” button a pop-up would appear to confirm transaction and pay gas fee. It is best mint NFT when the gas fee is not too high, in order to reduce costs.

Advantages of Rarible Marketplace

RARI Tokens

The RARI tokens distributed by Rarible is it greatest strength. The platform chose to do so when the other popular NFT marketplaces where not rewarding their users. That kind of rewards encourages users to participate actively on the platform either by buying or selling.

The rewards from Rarible is one reason the marketplace is currently one of the top 5 marketplaces. If the market should rebounce then this market place is likely to contest for top three once again.

NFT minting

On Rarible, anyone can mint NFT tokens. That’s another reason the platform is very popular. In other marketplaces, like Makers Place and SuperRare, the only artists selected by the platform can mint tokens. Hence, the minting feature is not open to everyone.

As Rarible makes the feature available for everyone, both new and already established artists are open to use the platform.

Drawbacks of Rarible Marketplace

Fees

The fees are very high as it is based on the ethereum blockchain. You can pay a fee of $30 to mint a token that would be worth below $20. Because of such high charges some other NFT marketplaces are exploring other blockchain networks with lesser fees.

Verification and Impersonation

Users do not need to get verified before buying or selling NFTs on the platform. On the other hand, the process for verification involves submission of social media handles. While that it is easy, it is also one of its drawbacks. As a result, a user impersonated a popular artiste some months ago, even getting his fake profile verified.

Due to that impersonation experience, Rarible has tried to tightened the lose ends in the verification process. While its biggest competitor, OpenSea does not have a verification process. OpenSea simply puts a caveat for users to do their own research.

With a new verification process, Rarible can fight off fraudsters that want to use artists works on the platform. That can help to prevent real artist from getting ripped off from those crooked users. Due to previous impersonation attempts, artists tend to check NFT marketplaces to check if their works are minted by crooks.

Conclusion

While NFT concept is interesting, NFT marketplaces have the during of ensuring genuine NFTs are minted. Today, platforms like Rarible marketplace makes it possible for creators to sell their arts and for art lovers to purchase such minted arts. While the tokens minted on this platform are similar to other other tokens in some ways, they are unique, indivisible and non-fungible.

If you are looking for a platform to buy, mint and sell NFTs, then I’d recommend Rarible. You simply need to have an ethereum wallet to connect to the platform. Charges and payment transactions would be on this wallet address.

Thanks to professor @levycore for continuing this lesson on NFT. We definitely do not want to miss out. :)