Creating your first NFT on Opensea

So, you’re wanting to make your first Non-fungible Token? NFT’s are an authenticated or “official” copy of your digital creations that can be verified on the blockchain. You are selling an authentic token that represents your work. That token can be bought, sold, and traded by collectors. Here’s how the craze exploded.

I jumped down the NFT rabbit hole and I’ll be sharing the basics of how I created my first token. My goal is to share; 1. Where to sell, 2. What wallet to use, 3. Ways to fund your wallet.

Where to mint and sell your work?
I considered a few services to mint and list my work, but I decided on Opensea. Here are a few key points that helped me make my decision:

Opensea has:
• Good FAQ and documentation
• A large marketplace
• Royalties on secondary sales up to 10%
• Gasless or free minting (Gas fees)
• A storefront for collections (one time gas fee to initialize account)

Documentation & resources for OpenSea:
• The beginners guide to creating & selling digital art NFTs
• Create NFTs for Free on OpenSea
• Terms of Service (see: User Content and Copyright)
• Opensea Help Center

What wallet to use?
I setup my wallet through MetaMask. You’ll need a wallet to sign into (or connect) with Opensea. You also need the wallet to mint (or authorize) new work, pay setup/gas fees, and to get paid from sales. MetaMask is a browser extension that functions with the Opensea website. MetaMask also has an app to access your money. Setup a strong password and be extra careful to secure your password and seed phrase.

Documentation & resources for MetaMask:
MetaMask website
MetaMask FAQ page

Ways to fund your wallet
1. If you already have some Ethereum (ETH), you can simply send some crypto to your MetaMask wallet to get started.
2. MetaMask has a third-party service that allows you to deposit funds into your wallet using a debit card. This is a debit card option, not a credit card.
3. You can signup for a crypto exchange, like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken. Add some USD to the exchange, convert it to ETH, then send funds to your MetaMask wallet.

Here is a diagram of the flow of accounts and why you need them all:

Here is the big question that can be elusive: How Much? Here is my approximate cost breakdown of what I spent to setup my account:
I paid a small fee to convert USD to ETH (less than $5).

I paid a few dollars in transaction fees to send the ETH to my MetaMask wallet (less than $10).

Once you have money in your MetaMask wallet, you are ready to create your first listing and “initialize” your Opensea account. You will pay two fees at the same time. One is large and the other is very small. This depends on gas prices. My TOTAL fees were approximately $93 to initialize my account on Opensea. After that, I have not paid any additional fees to list my work for sale. I’m still in the process of adding new work.

Note: I transferred ~$200 worth of ETH into my MetaMask wallet to get started. I was not entirely sure how much the startup cost was going to be. I’d read from others it costs around $100 for setup, but gas fees vary.

Final thoughts
Be prepared for a learning curve. I’m kind of geeky and enjoy learning new things, so the NFT process was fun to learn about. I spent a couple weeks reading about NFT’s before I made any decisions. I would suggest taking some time to familiarize yourself with the NFT movement, Cryptocurrency, Wallets, and NFT Marketplaces. First, get your funding source setup. Second, fund your wallet. Lastly, refer to the Opensea resources I shared for listing your work. The setup process can be a little work, but once it’s done you can relax and focus on your creations.

If you want some inspiration on how to approach your work and need some general tips for your collection, check out this helpful article for new NFT artists.

Checkout my first collection on Opensea:
JamieC [Digital Art]

Was this info helpful? Please leave a comment and say hi! I’m still new to this so if you have additional tips, please share.

Update
Since writing this, Opensea has released NFT’s on the Polygon blockchain. From Opensea, “OpenSea supports NFT trading across multiple blockchains. This guide explains how to use our Polygon marketplace to create and sell NFTs without paying any gas fees.“

View the help article here.