Hello Steemians, Welcome to week 12 in the Steemit Crypto Academy. I'm having with the growth of the academy and the efforts put by the professors in educating us on cryptocurrency technology. Today's lesson was delivered by professor @levycore on Buying and selling NFT. In this post, I will be discussing Rarible.

Rarible

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Rarible is an open-source platform built on the Ethereum network for the minting, selling and buying of non-fungible tokens (NFT). Rarible is a decentralized platform and the market place is available for anyone to access. Similarly, users can create their own collectables easily on Rarible without any programming or coding knowledge. Also, collectables like artworks, memes, photographs, games, music, domains can be bought by users and users can create their own digital arts without any restrictions on the platform.

RARI Token

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Rarible has a native token named RARI which was launched in July 2020. RARI is the governance token on Rarible which gives community members voting power on the platform to make decisions on the upgrade, trading fees and participation in the activities on the platform. RARI token can be earned by participating actively on the platform and also through market place liquidity mining. This is the aim of Rarible to build a decentralised Autonomous Community where rights and decision making are bestowed on the users. Voting rights are earned on the platform by holding or staking RARI token for a specific period. RARI token cannot be purchased on the marketplace, but it is available for purchase on cryptocurrency exchanges.

How Rarible Marketplace Works

Rarible enables users to create their own collectables on the platform Similarly, users can browse the marketplace to buy or collect collectables created by other users. NFTs created on Rarible can be listed for sale or can be gifted. Furthermore, the NFTs created on the platform can be listed on the OpenSea marketplace. To purchase and create collectable on Rarible, Eth is required which means you need to connect an Ethereum supported wallet like metamask, trust wallet, myether wallet etc.
We all know the main of decentralization which is to eliminate third party and middlemen and bestow control on the user. Rarible is a decentralised platform where buyers and sellers connect and carry out trades on NFTs without any middleman. This happens through a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain which guarantees trust and transparency among users.
When users mint and create their own collectables on Rarible, an NFT is generated and recorded on the blockchain which is unique and can't be tampered with by anyone. The NFT minting platform in Rarible has attracted a lot of celebrities and artist to create their unique files which can't be interchanged or tempered.

How to Sell or Create NFTs on Rarible

Before I talk about this, let me talk about how to open an account on Rarible. To open an account with Rarible, you need to connect your Ethereum support wallet to the platform. Once this is done, an account is generated automatically which will be used to navigate the platform. Rarible can be easily accessed through a wallet that interacts with Dapps and browser. An example is Trust wallet and Metamask. In this study, we will be exploring the Rarible marketplace from Metamask wallet.

How to connect your wallet and Open an account on Rarible marketplace

Step 1:

• Open Metamask wallet and click the 3 dashed bar at the top left corner.
• Click on Browser to be taken to the interface to connect on browsers and interact with Apps. This is shown below.

Step 2:

• At the browser interface, click on the search bar and enter Rarible.com.
• After that, you will be redirected to the Rarible marketplace as shown below.

Step 3:

• Now we have accessed Rarible market place from Metamask wallet, click on the drop-down menu at the top right corner and click Connect

• After clicking on connect, supporter wallets will be displayed. Click on Metamask as shown in the image below.
• After that Click on Connect
• Accept Rarible terms and condition by ticking the box and click Proceed

Step 4:

• Congratulations, you have connected your wallet to Rarible marketplace and an account have been generated automatically for you. Click on the icon at the top right corner to visit your account page.
• On the account page, you can edit your profile, set your display name and set a profile picture. After that click on click on Update Profile to confirm changes.

The picture below shows that I have successfully imported my Metamask wallet to Rarible, Edited my profile by setting a display name and also updating a new profile picture.

How to Sell or Create NFTs on Rarible Marketplace

We have successfully connected a wallet to Marible marketplace and have opened an account. Now I'm going to explain how to sell and create NFTs on Rarible marketplace.

Step 1:

• Click on the icon on the top right corner. After that, click on Create collectables.
• After that, the next page pops requesting to select either single multiple copies of your NFT you want to create. In this case, I will select Single.

Step 2:

• Upload your file. Rarible accepts PNG, GIF, WEBP, MP4 and MP3 with a file size limit of 30 Mb.
• Enter the price for NFT to be purchased instantly on the platform. This price can be fixed, time auctioned or Unlimited auction. If you decide not to put an instant sales price, your collectable will go into an auction where bidding takes place.
• Click on the arrow for available currency. But I will select Eth. Rarible charges a 2.5% service fee of the price of the collectable.
• Consider the Unlock once purchase feature. With this feature, the creator is allowed to share a discount code and digital keys, URL to file exclusively to the owners of the NFT.

• Create a new collection for your collectable or better still, keep it in Rarible collection
  Chose a name for your collectable and edit the description.
• You can choose royalties to get commissions on consequent sales on your collectable. this can be 10%, 20%, 30%.
• Input properties of your like file size and format.
  Step 3:
• After setting the parameters for your collectable, click on Create.
• You will be requested to confirm the transactions at a certain transaction cost. After that, the token is minted and lastly, you sign the sell order. After that, the minted NFT is found under Collectibles on your profile page. This NFT created can be sold or gifted.

Note: Due to high gas fees on the Ethereum network, I was unable to complete the final process of this guide. But the full steps have been well explained.

How to Buy NFT on Rarible Marketplace

I have explained how to Sell and Create NFTs on Rarible. I will explain how to Buy NFTs on Rarible.
Note: Due to high gas fees on the Ethereum network, purchasing NFTs is very costly but I will detail the steps involved in Buying NFT on Rarible Marketplace.
Step 1:

• Navigate on Rarible marketplace and click on explore to search for collectables listed on the marketplace. After you have found an NFT you will like to buy, click on either **buy now or bid price. Some creators allow you to bid on price why some do not. For example, while exploring the marketplace, I found this CryptoCavies named Shaggy and liked it.

Step 2:

• Click on the collectable and you will be redirected to the owner's page to proceed with buying it.
• You can click on bid for price or you can Buy now.

Step 3:

• The next step is a two-step process to sign the transaction and confirm the purchase. Click on Start to make payment from your wallet.
• A request for payment of NFT pops up with the gas fee and cost of NFT. Click on **Proceed to payment.
• After that, a message pops up showing you have successfully purchased an NFT.

After you have successfully purchased an NFT on Rarible market place, go to your account and click My items. The NFT will be included in your item where you can place it for sale or gift it out. Mind you, you are just the owner of the item and not the creator. The original creator of the NFT is recorded on the blockchain and cannot be interchanged.
Similarly, whenever an owner of NFT makes a sale of the item, the creator gets a commission based on the loyalties set on the item. This can be 10%, 20%, 30%

The picture above shows that the creator will get 10% of any sale on the item.

Advantages of Rarible Marketplace

• Rarible offers users the ability to create their own NFTs without any knowledge of programming or coding. Creating NFTs in Rarible is very simple and can be done within few minutes.
• There's a large market available for creators to list and sell their items. These markets are easily accessible and are open to everyone. Similarly, creators enjoy loyalties on their NFT and this is secured and guaranteed through a smart contract.
• Rarible platform is community-driven which leave the governance and control of the platform in the hands of the active users on Rarible. Hopefully, Rarible will integrate a good Decentralized Autonomous Community(DAO) structure which will bestow power and decision making on the users.
• Rarible marketplace is designed to be simple and user friendly, thus making it very easy for anyone to access.

Disadvantages of Rarible Marketplace

• There's no project whitepaper or roadmap. This leave users and investors sceptical about the future of the project or the goals of the project as the project is still in its development stage.
• The platform only supports the Ethereum network and Eth is the only token used for transactions.
• Due to the platform using the Ethereum network, gas fees are very high which makes transaction fees very costly.
• In a bit of accumulating RARI tokens, wash traders try to buy their own items to falsely receive RARI token rewards from the liquidity mining which can lead to devaluation of the project.

In conclusion, there's no doubt that Rarible is one of the leading NFT marketplaces that is community-driven. The platform features a simple design that makes it user-friendly and easily accessible to anyone. This project is amazing and it has attracted the attention of investors and artists around the globe. But a major concern of this platform is the high gas fee which can serve as a weak point against its competitors like OpenSea.

Thank you Professor @levycore for this amazing lesson.