How To Buy An NFT: The Ultimate Guide

Updated 10th Feb 2022.

As the NFT market’s value continues to climb past the billion-dollar mark, many more people are looking to get involved in this growing industry. The hype is indeed real; just look at this stunning piece from Beeple called ‘Ocean Front’ that sold for an astonishing $ 6 million.

Whether you’re a digital artist, trader, or just curious about the ‘hype,’ this guide will take you through the process of buying your first NFT. But before we get started with the guide, let’s admire some of the most popular, bizarre, and expensive NFTs to date. 

The Diverse World Of NFTs

NFTs come in all shapes and sizes; there is something for everyone from digital art to memes. Let’s take a look at some of the most well-known NFTs.

Beeple’s ‘The First 5000 Days’

It’s impossible to talk about NFTs without acknowledging this revolutionary digital art piece. Beeple created a new piece of work every day starting in May 2007 to create the ‘5000 days’ NFT. The piece became the most expensive NFT ever to be sold, fetching $69 million at Christies’ auctions house.

Dmitri Cherniak’s ‘Ringer #109’

The Canadian artist and coder Dmitri Cherniak’s ‘Ringer’ NFT collection has taken the NFT community by storm. The pieces take inspiration from wrapping string around pegs, which creates somewhat hypnotic shapes. Ringer 109# sold for a whopping $6.9 million on the OpenSea marketplace.

Jack Dorsey’s ‘First Tweet’ 

Digital art isn’t the only money-maker in the NFT sphere, as demonstrated by the former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, who sold an NFT of his first Tweet for $2.9 million. 

Chris Torres’ ‘Nyan Cat’ Meme 

Before NFTs, memes found value in the joy they brought to netizens but financially had little to no value. Nyan Cat set the bar for making money from memes when it was sold as an NFT for just under $600,000.

The NFTs above just scratch the surface of the increasingly impressive NFT ecosystem. However, looking at these pieces of art, memes and Tweets gives you an idea of the talent and money that has flooded into NFTs. 

If you want a piece of the action, you’ll need a crypto wallet. 

In the following sections of this guide, we explain the process of buying NFTs in a more detailed way. 

Buy Your First NFT

The first step in buying an NFT is setting up a cryptocurrency wallet. There are dozens of options to choose from, but the best place to start is with an Ethereum compatible wallet.

Ethereum is currently the dominant blockchain network in the NFT sphere, and it gives you access to the biggest marketplaces and, therefore, the most NFTs.

Set Up A Crypto Wallet

To buy an NFT on the top marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible, you’ll need to pay using ETH, the Ethereum networks cryptocurrency.

Most crypto wallets support ETH, but the most user-friendly and easy to set up is the MetaMask wallet. To set up the wallet, follow these simple steps:  

1. Download: Visit the MetaMask site and install the wallet on your browser.

2. Set up a wallet: Press the create a wallet button and follow the instructions to get your account set up and ready to go.

3. ETH address: Now you’ll need to find your ETH address by pressing the buy button and the view account.

4. Fund MetaMask: Transfer send ETH to your MetaMask address. If you are familiar with crypto transfers this shouldn’t cause any issues if not follow the funding steps below.

If you aren’t sure how to buy and send ETH don’t worry – trading crypto no longer requires you to be a computer whizz. To buy ETH, you’ll need to use a cryptocurrency exchange such as Coinbase or Binance.

We’re going to focus on Binance as it’s currently the biggest and most accessible exchange. 

Follow these steps to buy ETH on Binance and send it to your MetaMask wallet: 

1. Set up Binance: Head over to the Binance website and set up an account.

2. Fund account: Deposit some fiat currency (Dollars, Euros, Yen Etc.) by pressing the Buy Crypto option.

3. Exchange ETH: Swap your fiat currency for ETH by pressing the buy crypto option on your Binance account.

4. Transfer ETH: Send ETH from Binance to MetaMask by pressing the withdraw crypto button on Binance. On the withdrawal screen copy your ETH address from MetaMask and press send.

Your MetaMask wallet is now loaded with ETH, and you’re ready to buy your first NFT. You’ll now need to choose the right NFT marketplace. The reasons for using a marketplace to pick up your first NFT include:

• Ease of Use: NFT marketplaces make buying and selling NFTs as easy as shopping on Amazon or Ebay.
• Security: Many marketplaces have invested heavily in keeping customers safe.
• Variety: Some of the biggest names in the NFT world can be found on marketplaces.

Which NFT Marketplace is right for you?

The best way to decide on a marketplace is to consider these variables:  

• What type of NFT are you looking for?
• What fees are charged by the site?
• Is the marketplace user-friendly?
• Is the marketplace secure?

Let’s take a look at the marketplaces most likely to fulfill your criteria.

OpenSea 

OpenSea is the biggest NFT marketplace with trading volumes exceeding millions of dollars every week. 

OpenSea thinking points:

1. The popularity of the platform has drawn some of the biggest NFT collections onto the site such as CryptoPunks and Mutant Ape Yacht Club. With over 100,000 NFTs for sale, there is something for everyone.
2. The user-friendly nature of OpenSea is ideal for beginners. Once you have a crypto wallet set up you can register and start buying NFTs with minimal hassle. 
3. OpenSea is decentralized which makes it safer than some of its centralized competitors. 
4. OpenSea charges buyers a 2% fee and sellers 2.5% and you can make purchases with ETH and MATIC. 

Rarible

Rarible is a top marketplace and often sees over a million dollars change ‘hands’ in NFT trades every day. 

Rarible thinking points:  

1. The marketplace has a huge variety of NFTs including sports collectibles, trading cards, digital art and music. 
2. Rarible works with the MetaMask wallet making it user-friendly for newcomers to NFT trading.
3. Rarible charges a 2.5% service fee and payment is only possible with ETH. 

 Nifty Gateway

Nifty Gateway is the marketplace for anyone looking for high-quality NFT art on a premium website. 

Nifty thinking points:  

1. Unlike other sites NFTs on Nifty are governed by a team of curators who only allow high-quality art to be auctioned on the site. 
2. There’s a huge variety of impressive artwork on Nifty which will surely appeal to art-buffs but you won’t find any funny memes on this site. 
3. It’s possible to pay with credit and with debit cards as well as ETH on Nifty. 
4. Nifty is centralized and this makes it more vulnerable to hacks than decentralized platforms. 

All three of these marketplaces provide a fantastic service but if you’re just getting into NFTs OpenSea is the best choice with its huge collection of NFTs and user-friendly layout. Let’s take a detailed look at how to buy NFTs on OpenSea. 

Buying an NFT on OpenSea with ETH

You’ve now set up a crypto wallet, funded it with ETH and you’ve decided to pick up your first NFT on OpenSea. Follow these steps to make your first purchase:

1. Brows OpenSea: Visit the OpenSea marketplace and press explore to start hunting for the NFT of your dreams or search for a specific item.

2. Bid: Place a bid on the NFT that you want to buy. Your MetaMask wallet will open up and before placing a bid your ETH will be converted into WETH.

Jargon: WETH (Wrapped ETH) is exactly the same value as ETH but it can be used for bidding on NFTs amongst other things.

3. Collect your NFT: If you are the top bidder then the NFT is yours! Check your collections page on OpenSea to check up on your NFTs.

Jargon: A Decentralized transaction means that the transaction did not involve a central authority like a bank or institution.

Congrats! If you followed the instructions and submitted a winning bid, you have purchased your first NFT using ETH. This is a good moment to reflect on what shopping with ETH really means. 

When you make a purchase using ETH the process is not same as spending money with your credit card on the weekly shop. What makes ETH transactions unique: 

1. ETH is transferred over the Ethereum blockchain which means the process is decentralized. 
2. Once an ETH transaction is carried out it cannot be reversed. 
3. Transactions on the Ethereum network are not free so you’ll have to pay a transaction fee known as a gas fee everyone to want to send ETH. 
4. The Ethereum network can be slow due to congestion and sometimes transactions fail. 

The Ethereum network clearly needs some work, and you might now be asking yourself if you can buy NFTs without using cryptos other than ETH. 

Alternatives to ETH

There are two main alternatives to using Ethereum Polygon, Solana or Binance. We’ll cover the benefits of using these alternatives but bear in mind that Ethereum remains the most secure option and its blockchain has proven time and again to be the most resilient to attacks. 

Polygon (MATIC) is a decentralized blockchain that acts as a transaction layer on the Ethereum ecosystem. Polygon aims to interact with Ethereum to reduce processing fees and increase transactions speed. 

Polygon and its native token MATIC are a cheaper and faster alternative to ETH and as it operates a bridge to the Ethereum chain it gives you access to a wide variety of marketplaces including: OpenSea, ZestyMarket and TreasureLand.  

Polygon maybe cheaper and faster but remember it is less secure than ETH. In addition, on some marketplace such as OpenSea only some NFTs can be purchased with Polygon. 

Solana (SOL) is a layer-one blockchain project that has repeatedly been touted as an Ethereum killer due to its blistering TPS and low fees. Solana has been moving into the NFT sphere as it looks to dislodge Ethereum from the top spot. 

Jargon: TPS stands for transactions per second. Blockchain networks often compete to achieve the highest speeds.

Using Solana to buy NFTs is faster and cheaper than both Ethereum and Polygon. However, SOL in not supported by some of the biggest marketplaces such as OpenSea or Rarible. Luckily more and more Solana compatible marketplaces are starting to appear, the most notable are Solsea, MagicEden and Metaplex.

Solana’s transaction costs and speed are impressive and a clear threat to Ethereum’s dominance, but security remains a concern for the network. In February 2022 Solana was hacked and an estimated $320 million SOL was stolen. 

Binance (BNB,BUSD) has created its own NFT marketplace where you can buy NFTs in BNB, BUSD and ETH. Binance is the biggest crypto exchange in the world and launched the NFT marketplace in 2021.  

The Binance marketplace has grown very quickly since it launched and has an enormous selection of NFTs. Furthermore, if you’re familiar with the Binance crypto exchange using the Binance NFT marketplaces will come naturally. 

If the Binance marketplace continues to grow the use of BNB and BUSD to buy NFTs as supposed to using ETH will become increasingly viable. 

Despite the growing number of cryptocurrencies you can use to buy NFTs, you might want to go a step further and avoid using crypto altogether. Some marketplaces make it possible to buy NFTs with your credit or debit card. 

Avoiding Crypto Altogether

Maybe you’ve been impressed with NFTs, but you aren’t interested in buying cryptocurrencies. Luckily, there are some marketplaces where you can pick up NFT art and memes using your bank card. 

Your options are somewhat limited but let’s explore two marketplaces: Mintable and KnownOrigin. 

Mintable is one of the top NFT marketplaces and offers a decent variety of NFTs such as digital art, music, collectibles and music. 

Buying an NFT on Mintable using your bankcard is simple but not a simple as spending money on sites like Amazon and Shopify. These are the steps you’ll need to follow: 

• Wallet: Connect a wallet such as MetaMask to Mintable.
• Browse: Explore the marketplace and select an NFT. 
• ETH or Credit Card: Select buy with credit card when checking out. 
• Verify: Confirm your identity using an ID card. 
• Details: Enter your card details, phone number. 
• Confirm: Complete the transaction and check-out your NFT by heading over to your wallet. 

Buying an NFT on Mintable with a credit/debit card is straightforward but its not anonymous like using ETH and expect to pay your bank some fees for paying with your card. 

KnownOrigin is a less well-known marketplace that focuses on high-end digital art, so if you’re looking for memes and collectibles this isn’t the site for you. 

Purchasing NFTs on KnownOrigin involves almost identical steps as Mintable. You’ll need to: 

• Wallet: Connect a crypto wallet to KnownOrigin. 
• Shop around: Find an NFT. 
• Buy: Select buy with card.
• Verify: Just like with Mintable you’ll need to verify your identity. 
• Details: Enter your card details. 
• Confirm: Complete the transaction and the NFT will be sent to your wallet. 

Buying NFTs with a credit card is a relatively new possibility and although it allows you to bypass the use of crypto it does limit your options. However, as NFTs go mainstream it’s likely more marketplaces will support credit card purchases. 

Regardless of whether you’re buying NFTs with crypto or fiat there is a huge selection to chose from. If you’re finding it hard to choose an NFT you can let fate decide what NFT you end up with by buying a mystery box. 

Feeling lucky? Why not pick up a Mystery Box? 

Mystery Boxes contain random NFTs from specific collections. If you’ve found a great collection but can’t decide on which token to buy or they’re too expensive try your luck with a mystery box. 

Boxes can be purchased on OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare and Binance NFT by following the same steps as buying a normal NFT. 

You never know what you’re going to get but it’s possible that your box will contain a super rare NFT which would mean fate has sent some serious profit to your war. 

 

Whether you tested fate and picked up your NFT through a mystery box or played it safe and purchased it directly you will want to reassure yourself that it’s authentic.

How Do You Make Sure You’re Buying Authentic NFTs? 

While NFT tokens are inherently counterfeit-proof it is still possible to create fake NFTs and sell them. Buying a fake NFT means that the original is already registered on the blockchain and the one in your wallet is a valueless copy. Here are some tips to avoid fooling for fakes: 

• Blockchain History: Several marketplaces including OpenSea make it easy to check the address history of an NFT.
• Google is your friend: Use the ‘Search Google for Image’ tool by right-clicking on the NFT and make sure there aren’t copies of the NFT on other marketplaces. 
• Social Media: Check the artist’s social media pages and make sure they have mentioned the NFT you are planning on buying. 
• To good to be true: If the NFT is part of a well-known collection and the price is very low this should make you think twice about buying. 
• Taking some time to guarantee the authenticity of your NFT is extremely important, and if you’ve found yourself in possession of a very valuable NFT such as HAPE #5113 you’ll want to know how to sell it.

The Best Way To Sell An NFT 

Once you’ve mastered buying NFTs selling them won’t be much of a hassle. The easiest way to make a sale is to use an online marketplace. We’ll look at OpenSea as an example as it provides a huge potential customer base, but most marketplaces work in a very similar way. 

Follow these steps to sell on OpenSea:

• Sign in: Visit the OpenSea website and sign in by linking your crypto wallet. 
• Select NFT: Enter your account page and open up your collection.
• Sell: Press the sell button that appears just above your NFT. 
• Auction type: Select whether you want to set up a fixed price or timed auction.
• Details: Set the price and time frame of the auction. 
• Complete: Press the complete listing button to kick off the auction. 

After you’ve paid the auction fees your NFT will be up for sale. Spread the word about your auction by using the share on social media option. 

If you’re more of an artist than a trader getting your hands on a valuable NFT to sell might be less interesting than making your own. 

Mint Your Own NFT

The best approach to minting your own NFT is to use a marketplace like Mintable, OpenSea or Rarible. We’ll stick to OpenSea again because of its user-friendly layout and size. Follow these steps to mint your NFT: 

• Create: Press the create button on the OpenSea homepage. 
• Link: Connect a crypto wallet such as MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet to OpenSea. 
• Upload: Attach the file that you want to NFT. 
• Details: Fill out the information boxes. 
• Complete: Press the create button to finish the process. 

Remember to top up your wallet with ETH before minting as you’ll need to pay the minting fee. Once the transaction is completed your NFT will appear in your collection. 

Final Thoughts

NFTs are offer something for everyone, whether you’re a budding digital artist looking to make money from your passion or a trader hoping to profit from an investment. Investing in NFTs is far simpler than you would expect and hopefully, this guide has given you the confidence to jump in and pick up your first NFT. 

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Buy Cryptocurrency

What are some examples of NFTs?

An NFT can be a spectacular piece of digital art, a funny meme, a piece of virtual real estate or even a famous person’s first Tweet.

What tokens can you use to buy an NFT?

The tokens you can use to buy NFTs will vary depending on the marketplace. However, the most widely accepted token is currently ETH although alternatives such as SOL and BNB are starting to gain traction.

Why should you buy NFTs through marketplaces?

NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea and Rarible provide the simplest and safest way to purchase NFTs. These sites have created thriving communities of NFT artist and therefore offer an incredibly wide range of NFTs to choose from.

Can you buy an NFT without crypto?

Some marketplaces such as KnownOrigin and Mintable allow you to purchase NFTs with a credit or debit card. However, most sites still require you to pay in crypto.

How to sell an NFT?

The best way to sell an NFT is to use a marketplace like OpenSea which has developed a user-friendly and secure auction procedure.

When selling an NFT always remember that once its gone its gone and you can’t reverse the transaction. Furthermore, profits from selling an NFT may have implications for your taxes.

Why is minting your own NFT a good option?

Minting your own NFT gives you the opportunity to bring your digital art, memes or even music onto the blockchain. Once minted your NFT will be safe from forgery and marketplaces will help you kick start a potentially lucrative career selling your work.

How can you buy an NFT mystery box?

Buying an NFT mystery box is very similar to buying a normal NFT. You’ll need to visit a marketplace that supports mystery boxes such as OpenSea or Binance NFT and purchase a mystery box using a compatible cryptocurrency.

How do Ethereum transactions work?

During an Ethereum transaction the networks ETH token is transferred between wallets. This transaction is irreversible, and you’ll need to pay for the transaction’s gas fee which varies based on how busy the network is.

How can you make sure an NFT is authentic?

Making sure an NFT is the real deal can be challenging. Here are some steps you can take to make sure you aren’t being sold a fake:

• Use a Google image search to browse the web for copies.
• Check the NFTs address history.
• Check the artist’s social media pages.
• Look at how much other NFTs in the collection cost if the price seems too good to be true it could be a fake.