Minting NFTs on OpenSea? Avoid These 10 Noob Mistakes!
How to mint NFTs on OpenSea and get it right the first time.
OpenSea.io is currently the largest NFT marketplace on the web and a great place to get your feet wet for anyone new to minting their own NFTs. Here are some stepping stones to help you avoid noob mistakes.
Minting NFTs on OpenSea: 10 mistakes to avoid
Recently, I posted an article about how to mint music NFTs on OpenSea.io. At the end of the article, I added some tips to help readers not make noob mistakes. I decided that the topic deserves an article of its own.
Here are the top 10 noob mistakes that people make the first time out minting NFTs on OpenSea.
1. Don’t be in a hurry to mint NFTs!
Minting and managing your NFTs can be exciting. But it’s important to not be in a hurry. On my first time out, I personally lost a small bit of ETH by being too quick to sign an ETH transaction. I thought I accepting an offer. At the time, gas fees were over $100 so I jumped at what looked like a $10 gas fee not realizing that it was for something else — I know not what to this day.
Slow down. Triple-check every form and every popup, and stare down every wallet action before you click “sign.”
2. Don’t sell your NFTs until you’re done listing a collection.
First, you have to create a collection for your NFTs on OpenSea. Then you add the individual NFTs within that collection. And the moment you sell the first NFT on OpenSea, the entire collection goes onto the Etherium blockchain. Adding more NFTs after that costs more ETH. (You can also use the Polygon blockchain.)
It’s important to get all of your existing NFTs into your collection before you list any for sale. As you add each item, it shows up in the marketplace even if it’s not listed for sale. If someone really wants to buy it before you get the entire collection ready, they can make an offer — hopefully one you can’t refuse.
3. Set higher prices for your NFTs than you’re willing to accept.
On OpenSea you can never increase the price of your NFT. You can only lower it. If you really need to raise the price you have to delete the listing and relist — both actions accrue gas fees. Start with the highest price you think anyone could possibly be willing to pay.
Most NFT shoppers on OpenSea know that they can make an offer on your NFT that’s lower than the list price. Also, Keep in mind the dollar value of ETH is a moving target. It’s tempting to lower the price of your NFT as the price of ETH/USD goes up, but it could plummet at any moment.
One ETH could conceivably be worth $3,000 one day, $5,000 the next week, and then $1,000 again the week after that. As that happens, the price of your NFT in U.S. dollars goes up and down with the current price of ETH.
So, again, set the price high and leave it there. Maybe make it clear that you’ll entertain offers.
4. Don’t accept an offer from someone you know.
When anyone makes an offer on an NFT on OpenSea, there are gas fees to make, accept, or counter the offer. However, instead of accepting the offer, you can lower the price to match the offer without paying gas fees. But you should only do this if you are in contact with the buyer so that you can let them know you’ve lowered the price.
5. Don’t pay high gas fees.
Hopefully, ETH gas fees will come down soon. However, at the time of writing, the gas fees have been hovering around $100 or more. If you’re not in a hurry — and you shouldn’t be — then wait until the gas fees are low before you create the collection. Typically the fees are lower late at night and in the early morning. There’s no sense in paying more than you have to.
Better yet, you can mint NFTs on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain using OpenSea with no gas fees. However, there are gas fees for converting ETH to MATIC.
6. Don’t expect to sell a lot of NFTs right away.
The saying, “If you build it they will come,” might be true for baseball diamonds, but unfortunately, it’s not the case for NFTs. People generally don’t buy NFTs from unknown artists. And fans who aren’t already into NFTs are unlikely to jump into OpenSea head first. You will need to promote your NFT collection to your target audience — that is NFT collectors. You need to convince NFT collectors that you have an angle and a following and will be around for the long haul.
Look for NFT collector groups on sites like Discord and Reddit and work with them. Also, reach out to NFT-focused media with your story.
7. Don’t go it alone.
There are plenty of online communities dedicated to minting and selling NFTs. There are some trolls lurking, but many of the members of these groups are extremely supportive of each other. Show your NFT collection to some folks in these groups and get some feedback before you fire away. You might be surprised by some great advice that makes a big difference.
8. Mint multiple copies on OpenSea.
You can mint a single copy of an NFT, and set the price really high. Or you can mint several copies and call it a “limited edition.” If you mint 101 copies of an NFT, just put 100 up for sale. Hold onto the first and most valuable limited edition copy.
As of the time of writing, the default “create” page on OpenSea only lets you mint one copy of your NFT. If you want to sell more than one copy on OpenSea, you need to add this text to the web address of the page:
?enable_supply=true
Or just click this direct link to mint multiple copies of an NFT on OpenSea: https://opensea.io/asset/create?enable_supply=true
9. Triple-check everything before you freeze your metadata.
In order to start selling like a pro, you’ll need to “freeze” the metadata on your NFTs. Metadata are the variables such as the title, description, and properties of the NFT.
Serious buyers want to know that the listing will not change after they buy your NFT. However, once you freeze the metadata it can never be changed. If the item doesn’t sell, it can be deleted and re-minted, but that costs more gas fees.
10. Dress for success.
If you want to stand out in the crowd, you need to polish your collection to a sheen. It shows that you’re a serious business person as well as an artist. If you can’t do it yourself, then hire someone to create nice art for the account, the header images, and the individual NFTs. NFTs with really nice graphics get far more attention.
That’s a good start. Keep in mind, it might take days or it might take years to sell your first NFT. But this is the way of the future. Get started early and 10, 20, 30 years down the road, your NFTs just might fund your retirement.
Good luck with your adventure into NFTs!
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Read more: How to sell music as an NFT
