OpenSea NFT Marketplace Review 2023

GOBankingRates Score

4.1
SCORE
GOBankingRates Best Banks 2023 scores and rankings are objectively determined by our research/editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors that differ from category to category depending on what consumers want from varying products and banks.
Quick Take: OpenSea is the leading marketplace for non-fungible tokens. The platform lets users buy and sell NFTs on the secondary marketplace and also create their own NFT collections to sell on the primary marketplace. The OpenSea marketplace is easy to navigate, with a filter feature to help you find the NFTs you need.
  • Usability
    4.3
  • Digital Experience
    4.5
  • Security
    4.0
  • Fees
    3.5
How did we calculate this?

Pros

  • Low fees and gas-free transactions
  • Many payment options
  • Large variety of NFT collectibles

Cons

  • Crypto wallet required
  • Only accepts payments in cryptocurrency

What Is OpenSea?

OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace that allows users to buy and sell non-fungible tokens. Founded in 2017, the NFT exchange initially began as a market for CryptoKitties but has expanded beyond collectibles. It’s currently a marketplace for a wide variety of digital assets, including art, domain names, game items and music.

OpenSea is built on the Ethereum blockchain, so you should have an Ethereum wallet to buy and sell NFTs on OpenSea. OpenSea supports over a dozen wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase and Trust Wallet. OpenSea also supports several blockchains, including Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Polygon (MATIC) and Klaytn (KLAY). Although you can use a large number of cryptocurrencies to pay for OpenSea transactions, the core cryptocurrencies are ETH and WETH, SOL, AVAX, USDA, BNB and DAI. The marketplace doesn’t support non-crypto currencies.

Make Your Money Work For You

How Does OpenSea Work?

As a decentralized marketplace, OpenSea uses smart contracts designed for buying and selling unique digital assets. Smart contracts allow users to protect the custody of their NFT collectibles in the platform, thus offering security for the creator’s work. OpenSea facilitates the NFT transfers, but you make transactions directly with other users on the blockchain after linking OpenSea to a supported Web3 wallet like MetaMask.

OpenSea makes use of the open-source blockchain Ethereum in addition to ERC721 and ERC1155 to confirm that NFT collectors own the assets they’re listing on the marketplace. What’s more, the company has introduced compatibility with Polygon, Solana, Avalanche and other blockchains to allow fast, low-cost trading.

Features

The OpenSea NFT marketplace comes with several noteworthy features, including:

NFT Gifting

OpenSea allows its users to send NFTs as a gift to other OpenSea users. If you don’t find your friend’s username on OpenSea, you can transfer an NFT gift to their ETH address so they receive it directly in their wallet. You can also receive NFT gifts from friends on any platform.

NFT Minting

OpenSea also allows the minting of NFTs. OpenSea doesn’t currently charge a fee for minting NFTs, but you will pay a one-time gas fee to create a collection on Ethereum. Otherwise, you’ll just pay a 2.5% gas fee when you accept a buyer’s offer.

Make Your Money Work For You

Cost

It’s entirely free to set up a marketplace on OpenSea, but OpenSea does charge a 2.5% service fee for each sale. Compared to other NFT marketplaces, this fee is relatively moderate.

Supported Wallets

There are various wallets you can use with OpenSea. Here’s a full list of wallets supported by the platform:

  • MetaMask
  • MetaMask Mobile
  • Coinbase Wallet
  • Trust Wallet
  • Portis
  • Dapper
  • Bitski
  • Authereum
  • Fortmatic/Magic
  • Kaikas
  • Torus
  • WalletConnect
  • Opera Touch
  • Venly
  • Phantom
  • Glow

How To Use OpenSea

Here’s what you need to do to start using OpenSea:

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Visit a cryptocurrency exchange to purchase the ETH you’ll need to pay for your transactions.
  2. Select the “Create” button on OpenSea.io.
  3. Select a wallet from among those listed, and follow the prompts to install it.
  4. Add ETH to your crypto wallet.
  5. Find the NFT you want to buy and click on its thumbnail image or name. You can also search for it using keywords or filtering by categories like rarity, timestamp and owner.
  6. Verify the purchase details before clicking “Buy Now” or “Bid.”
  7. After submitting your request, you will be prompted with a form where you enter your payment details. Pay close attention to the NFT token address and the amount of ETH you will be charged.
  8. Verify the transaction by entering your private key or seed phrase and click “Submit.” As long as the transaction is still pending on the network, you can cancel it and restart it later by clicking “Cancel Transaction.”
  9. OpenSea will show your purchased NFTs on your dashboard.
  10. If you get stuck at any point, head to the Help Center to search for the information you need or click the “Submit a request” button.

Is OpenSea Worth It?

OpenSea remains one of the biggest decentralized NFT marketplaces. It’s worth using for anyone who wants to buy or sell NFTs. Just make sure you know what you’re doing and double-check your transactions to avoid being scammed.

OpenSea has been implementing additional safety features to protect users. For example, the company has rolled out a copy detection system to help find flips, rotations and other “copymint” variants of authentic NFTs. The company also uses a verified customer support system to thwart scammers posing as OpenSea employees to gain access to users’ cryptocurrency wallets.

OpenSea FAQ

If you're new to NFTs, a marketplace like OpenSea can be a little intimidating. The answers to these frequently asked questions can help you get started.
  • Is OpenSea safe?
    • Generally speaking, yes. OpenSea has measures in place to watch for malicious content and scams. However, it suggests that you research creators before you purchase their NFTs, and stick with verified collections when you're buying NFTs from high-profile public individuals fraudsters might be tempted to mimic. Also, always verify that you're navigating to OpenSea.io, and never share the secret recovery phrase for your wallet.
  • What is NFT art?
    • NFT art is digital art you can buy and sell on a blockchain like Ethereum or Polygon.
  • What currencies can I use on OpenSea?
    • You can use any of the 150-plus cryptocurrencies supported by OpenSea, including its core tokens: ETH/WETH, USDC and DAI. $UNI and $WHALE are also supported.
  • What wallets does OpenSea support?
    • OpenSea supports over a dozen wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase and Trust Wallet.
  • How do I open an account on OpenSea?
    • To open an account, select the "Create" button on OpenSea.io, select and install a digital wallet, and link the wallet to OpenSea. You'll need to purchase ETH from a cryptocurrency exchange to pay for transactions.
  • How do I sell on OpenSea?
    • From your profile, select "Create." Follow the prompts to upload and name your file and write a description for it. Indicate how many copies can be minted, select a blockchain and then click "Create" to finish the process.
Make Your Money Work For You

Daria Uhlig and Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.

Information is accurate as of Jan. 10, 2023.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.

DIVE DEEPER

Discover the Best Banks of 2024: Unveiling Our Top Picks!

We've compiled a list of the top banks for this year!

TAKE POLL

TAKE ACTION

Here Are the Pros and Cons of Using Multiple Banks

Shot of a woman using a laptop while going through paperwork at home.

Many banks are one-stop-shop financial institutions...

BEFORE YOU GO

See Today's Best
Banking Offers