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Create an account on a cryptocurrency exchange
The first step in creating your NFT – or anything in crypto – is to create an account on a cryptocurrency exchange such as B|inance or Huobi. Cryptocurrency exchanges are places where you can easily buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
You need a crypto exchange account because you need to buy Ethereum to pay a one-time fee to create your NFT – we’ll explain that in the next section.
And, yes, if your NFT is sold, you can cash out your earnings, convert to another cryptocurrency, or do other things that the crypto exchange allows you to do.
Buy Ethereum
Ethereum is the blockchain on which most NFTs are built. Ethereum, or ETH, is also the name of the network’s own currency. So when you sell and buy NFTs, you are likely to use Ethereum.
Ethereum is listed on almost all cryptocurrency exchanges (after all, it is the second largest cryptocurrency), so you will have no problem buying it.
But why buy Ethereum to sell NFT?
In order to buy and sell NFTs, you will usually use NFT markets, which are something similar to eBay or Amazon, but for NFTs. By far the largest of these is OpenSea, which as of November 2021 accounts for 97.8% of all Ethereum NFT trading. This is the market we’ll look at here.
Signing up for OpenSea costs Ethereum.
You’ll need to pay for what’s called “initialization,” a one-time fee paid to Ethereum to register on the platform.
How much Ethereum will you need? Well, the price of gas (that’s what the Ethereum transaction fee unit is called) fluctuates a lot, so there’s no good answer. Depending on the conditions of the network (how busy it is) it can range from $30 to $300.
Get a cryptocurrency wallet
NFT marketplaces like OpenSea work with cryptocurrency wallets. There are many Ethereum wallets available. But by far the most popular is MetaMask.
MetaMask is a browser plugin that works best with Google Chrome or Brave. Once installed, it allows you to store Ethereum and Ethereum tokens (including NFT).
Setting up a cryptocurrency wallet may seem like a daunting task, but it’s quick and easy. Download and install MetaMask through their website and follow the instructions.
When the little fox logo appears in your browser, click on it. It will take you through a few quick steps. You’ll come up with a password. Separately, MetaMask will assign you a “Secret Recovery Phrase” (Seed Phrase), a 12-word phrase that generates your wallet.
You will need to keep the phrase in a safe place, such as a piece of paper in a safe place, as anyone with the Seed phrase will be able to access your wallet and the funds in it.
It is also possible to buy Ethereum directly from MetaMask, which we do not recommend because of the higher commissions than the exchanges.
Send Ethereum to your cryptocurrency wallet
Now that you’ve bought Ethereum from a cryptocurrency exchange and you’ve set up and run MetaMask, it’s time to load some Ethereum into your cryptocurrency wallet.
To send Ethereum from your exchange, go to the “send” or “withdraw” page, which allows you to transfer funds to your cryptocurrency wallet. You will need to fill in:
- The amount in Ethereum you want to send
- Your public Ethereum address.
When you set up MetaMask, it automatically generates an Ethereum public address for you. It appears at the top of the MetaMask pop-up and starts with “0x”. Think of your Ethereum address as your blockchain bank account number.
Sign up for OpenSea using your cryptocurrency wallet
First, click on the little fox logo in your browser and enter your password to unlock MetaMask.
Then go to opensea.io (use the same browser that has MetaMask installed). Once on the website, click the “Create” button in the upper right corner.
A new page will open, inviting you to connect your cryptocurrency, choose MetaMask:
OpenSea will ask you to accept the MetaMask terms. This means that your wallet is successfully connected to MetaMask! Click “Sign” if everything is OK.
Your “unnamed” profile has been created! You will need to enter your username and email address to confirm your account. You can include additional information, such as social media, but it is not required.
Follow the link from the email (which came to the Email you specified). That’s it, your account is ready! It’s time to create your NFT.
Create your NFT
To create an NFT in OpenSea, click “Create” next to your profile image (in this case it’s just a green dot!) In the upper right corner.
Or, if you want to create multiple NFTs as part of a collection, click “My Collections” under your profile image.
But for the remainder of this article we will focus only on “Create”, which is for one NFT.
You can download a supported file from your computer as an NFT. You will need to name your NFT, but no other details are required. But it’s a good idea to write a brief description.
For your first experiment, you can leave the rest of the default settings. After loading the file and naming the NFT, just scroll down and click “Create”.
As an example, we’ll take a digital image – a photograph.
And voila. This is what your NFT will look like in OpenSea:
But it’s not for sale yet. To put your NFT up for sale, click “sell” in the upper right corner, the following page will appear.
You can sell it at a fixed price or put it up for auction.
When listing at a fixed price, you will not incur any gas fees (remember that any transaction in Ethereum carries these transaction fees). Instead, the buyer will bear the gas commission.
In auctions, gas is paid for by sellers. Let’s set an ambitious goal of 1 ETH for this picture.
Remember that OpenSea will charge a 2.5% commission when you sell your NFT.
When you’re ready, click “complete listing.”
Before it goes up for sale, OpenSea will ask you to sign a few things through your MetaMask wallet.
Since this is your first sale on OpenSea, you need to initialize your wallet. This is where you can spend the Ethereum you bought and transferred to your wallet!
When you initialize your wallet, MetaMask will calculate the fees for you. If you don’t have enough money in your wallet, the “confirm” button will not appear (like in the picture above). If you have enough money, just click “confirm” and in a couple of minutes you will be initialized!
OpenSea will also ask you to approve the item for sale and ask you to confirm the price at which you want to put it up for sale. All you have to do is just sign them through MetaMask.
That’s it – congratulations on creating your first NFT!
