Okay, so you’re asking where can I get an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. If you don’t know what I mean by that, rather than me trying to explain it in this article, I’m going to just give you this link to another article.
That’s the one hat will teach you all about what an NFT is, why NFTs are so important to some folks, and ultimately why you want to know where to get your digital hands on one.
NTFs aren’t hard to get. Per this article at least three routes will lead you to digital token ownership.
Before I get started, please understand that this isn’t a deep dive into the world of crypto-assets. You certainly won’t achieve “expert” status after reading this. You’re reading a very basic and over-simplified explanation how to acquire NFTs
A Cautionary Tale:
I bought an NFT. I did no research. I knew nothing about crypto assets. At the time, I didn’t even know what I was buying was called a non-fungible token.
All I knew was that some of these digital creations have value to certain individuals. My plan was to wait for one of these individuals to come calling seeking my NFT and offer me 5-10 times what I paid for it.
My job there after was only to find an accurate cryptocurrency-to-fungible currency converter. After I bought it, I was able to put the NFT up for sale immediately. I wondered how long it would take for the profits to start rolling in.
Turns out I am still waiting for those rolling profits to this day.
After much deeper and much more thorough research, I learned that taking this course of action proves that I am dumb (literally, this is what one NFT influencer called blindly jumping into something you know nothing about).
That same individual went on to emphasize that the only way to sell this shiny new NFT with any hope of profiting (or simply breaking even) was to find a buyer that was even dumber than me.
With this cautionary tale in mind, I will move on to the first option you can take to buy NFTs.
Join a Community
An NFT community is not that complicated of an idea. It’s an online community, popularly found on Twitter or on a Discord server, made up of members with a shared common interest.
Obviously, NFTs are at the heart of that shared interest, but for some of these communities shared interests can go deeper:
• common experiences
• common struggles
• collective support for an artist or creator.
These communities tend to be comprised of a very specific collection of individuals whose interests align very closely. As such, these people engage in discussions, post news, and notifications, and of course, buy and sell NFTs.
Interactive groups with dedicated founders and dedicated members can become very tight-knit as an online family.
So what’s your point, Mister?
The point is that if you join a community you don’t have to be the Dumb Guy who owns an NFT, and all he can think to do with it is trying to impress the Starbucks barista with it.
Me: “Hey, Gorgeous. I own a Derrick Rose non-fungible token.”
Redheaded Barista: “That’s nice. Do you want whipped cream and sugar?’
Me: “Say, this is your lucky day, Dollface. I’ll sell my non-fungible token to you for only a small mark-up.”
And at that point, I am asked to leave the establishment.
Okay, so that’s not a true story. Even I’m not dumb enough to think I can pick up chicks with Derrick Rose NFTs. But the advantage of joining an active and interactive community is this:
You get to learn what you are doing without jumping into the deep end first.
People’s focus within all of these communities directly or indirectly revolves around NTFs.
1. You can ask questions
2. You can listen to discussions from knowledgeable and experienced members
3. You can get tips
4. You can learn what to avoid
5. And you can buy an NFT
Buy an NFT because you know what you are doing, not because you think the pretty Redhead at Starbucks is going to be impressed.
Joining a community can be time-intensive, especially if all you want is to grab-n-go.
I’ll assume you know what you’re doing when I make this next suggestion.
You can go to marketplaces
Yes, you can find NFT marketplaces where you can buy and sell NFTs, without necessarily having to be an active part of a community.
Open Sea – a general marketplace.
Among NFTs featured, you’ll find:
• game items
• collectibles
• virtual land
• artwork
• other stuff
Open Sea is one of the oldest and most varied marketplaces. This platform offers a rankings feature that gives you (the buyer) some idea of what’s popular, what’s going up or down in price, as well as what’s been on market without much movement sales-wise.
I’ll reiterate that you shouldn’t use the “Dumb Guy” model I used and just pick something that looks nice. That’s not really the idea. In theory, you want something that will increase in value.
But in order to sort through NFTs that may one day make you rich, you need to do the legwork to educate yourself.
Nifty Gateway – another marketplace where you can buy and sell NFTs.
Nifty Gateway offers auctions (as do many others), updates on new drops (NFTs recently listed), and a menu to scroll through and explore.
This platform prides itself on allowing people like you to make purchases without gas fees (similar to transaction fees), as well as peace of mind that not all is lost in case you lose your password.
NOTE: Losing your NFT collection password and authentication code is basically disastrous, but this is another story for another day.
SuperRare – an artists’ platform.
Much more niche-focused, artists come to this marketplace and others like this one, they go through an approval process and then can create NFTs of their individual artworks and list them for sale. Many times these same artists build communities to grow followings and increase support.
Maybe you have a friend who’s an artist and you want to support him or her by purchasing artwork. Maybe the Redhead at Starbucks has artwork for sale and you can buy your way into her heart (that’s a joke. Don’t attempt that).
NBA Top Shot – another niche-specific example of an NFT marketplace is NBA Top Shot.
This marketplace brands itself as the “Largest Hoops NFT Marketplace.”
I already know what you’re thinking . . .
“Hey, Mister, is this the marketplace where you went for the Derrick Rose NFT?”
Yes, it is. And from personal experience, I can tell you how this marketplace works.
With NBA Top Shot, you’re essentially buying virtual trading cards. These NFTs are called “Moments” – these are short video clip highlights featuring whichever player is in the NFT. A pack of 3 moments can be had fairly cheaply.
I paid $3.00 for mine.
The caveat is that you don’t know what you’re getting until after you’ve paid and you open them. The hope is that your pack has a rare (and very desirable) moment within.
Since the marketplace allows you to immediately list your newly gotten Moments for sale at whatever price you want, you can make a quick profit fairly easily – if the NFT has value.
If not, you need to go to the “Dumber-Guy-Than-Me” strategy that I’m still applying to this day. Yes, it’s like gambling. It’s essentially like buying a scratch-off ticket – you don’t know what you’re going to end up with. You just hope it’s valuable.
Make Your Own
The third way you can get your digital paws on some NFTs is to make your own.
“Hey, Mister,” you say. “You make is sound so simple.” Well in all actuality creating and listing a NFT is fairly simple if you want to go the easy route.
Will people come busting down your digital door to throw all of their money at you? Never say never, but probably not. You will be the sole owner of your own NFT nonetheless.
Artists, designers coders and digital marketers are all involved in coming up with professional and popular NFTs. Cyber Punks and Bored Apes are NFT collections that are incredibly popular and ridiculously valuable.
It’s not impossible if you want to got that route. More on that in a bit.
For those who want to create a NFT on the path of least resistance, grab yourself a photo, or an audio, or an image. Bearing in mind that just about anything can be an NFT, you aren’t limited here. You just need something you can upload into an NFT marketplace.
Head over to a place like Open Sea and you can turn your photo (or whatever) into an NFT, and leave the technical headache to the system.
Registering your creation to the blockchain, and adding the contract code that’s going to pay you royalties if your NFT starts to sell and resell – all of that is taken care of within the system. And after a short simple process you will have at least one NFT live an available for purchase. Add two or three more unique images to that same platform, and you have a collection. It’s really not too complicated.
Again if you are doing this the idea is that you are planning (or hoping) to sell your NTFs. Creating NFTs on platforms like Open Sea, which use the ethereum blockchain, come with a price.
A Gas (our fancy crypto-speak for transaction fees) will be charged to you so you may enter NFT sales space. These fees range from $70-$400. Other popular marketplaces also hit you with a gas, but it may not be as high.
Broke and cheap people have options to create and list for free in NFT marketplaces like Polygon and Flow Blockchain. “Free” does include limitations and restrictions – no auctions. No collections – things like that.
Also, the clear advantage of paying the gas and using Open Sea or the Like is that
1. The more popular the marketplace is, the more eyeballs land your your NFT.
2. Buyers who purchase on ethereum blockchain marketplaces have a much easier time and experience buying your NFT.
Yes your NFT is live and available in this space. Marketing your NFT is up to you.
As promised, more on the professional NFTs.
People who create these are serious artists/creators. Chances are good that the most successful creators didn’t create their collections without a lot of help. I’m never going to be That Guy who tells you that you can’t do something. If you want to attempt to create a NFT like the Pros do it, go for it.
Just be prepared to spend a lot of time, conduct a lot of research, and potentially a spend lot of money throughout the process.
• NFT artwork elements
• Layering and design components
• Coding (including the smart contract code that dictates royalties)
all are steps included in creating an NFT – especially a token that you hope to build a community or an business around.
There is no way I am going to get into the details involved in creating and NFT in this article. It’s too much.
If you want to get into some of the intricacies of creating and listing your NFT, I feel no remorse in subjecting you to one of the same long, boring, technical videos I had to sit through to get this information.
Here it is: https://youtu.be/AaCgydeMu64
After you watch a few of these videos and decide you can’t do it, your next step is to hire someone to do it for you (again, keeping in mind you plan to do something with this NFT that’s worth spending money on)
It’s all about the ROI, Baby!
For serious creators, this doesn’t just end when you have your finished NFT or collection. You have to market your creation. That is a whole another animal. Remember the communities you read about earlier?
This is when you look into building your own:
• Creating it
• Growing it
• Keeping members engaged
• Ultimately minting (selling) your collections.
I had more information about the marketing side, but rather than turn this article into a full-length novel, I would just advise you to watch a starter video.
I’ve included a link to a starter video below about marketing your NFT collections.
Your research will lead you to more information – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JTIC8YR5Gk