When you need to buy meat for your tea, you head to the butcher's and when you fancy a piece of jewellery, you shop at the jewellers'. If you have time to shop you might amble around Sainsbury's but if you're in a hurry, any Tesco Express will do.
In all, consumers are a fairly picky bunch. Not only do we have our favourite brands and preferred stores - no matter what we're looking for, but commerce is set up to distinguish our preferences. To wit, you wouldn't barter for a diamond ring with your butcher anymore than you would pick up a pound of bacon at the goldsmith's.
Therefore, the question "Where's the best place to buy NFT?" isn't the whole question.
It overlooks all of the qualifiers: the type of NFT you're looking for and its intended usage; the price range to suit your budget; your level of skill at navigating blockchain and crypto; even whether you intend to try your hand at creating generated art, eventually.
Like any other shop, NFT marketplaces are targeted to specific consumers:
| The best NFT marketplaces: |
|---|
| 1. OpenSea: top trade volume. |
| 2. Binance: low fees |
| 3. NBA Top Shot: best for sports NFT |
| 4. SuperRare: top market for high-value collectables. |
| 5. Foundation: best marketplace for new digital artists |
With these distinctions made clear, Superprof explores the top markets targeted to specific NFT interests, as well as a few that, were they of brick and mortar, might be considered department stores.
The Best Overall
OpenSea is consistently touted as the best overall platform for all things NFT. Not just because it boasts the largest collection and enjoys the highest trade volume of any marketplace, but because it is so user-friendly, both for NFT creators and consumers.
If you know how to buy NFT in the UK - how to set up your wallet and fund your account, you're three-quarters of the way to buying your first token. But OpenSea isn't just great for buyers.
Anyone who creates generated art or has any other type of NFT to mint will enjoy how easy it is to upload and trade on OpenSea. There, you can preserve:
- documents
- music and other audio files
- videos
- photographs
- trading cards
- collectables
- real-world assets
Adding to OpenSea's universal appeal is its adherence to Ethereum's ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards, meaning that any token you might buy with that standard from another marketplace can be traded on OpenSea.
This marketplace has one more huge selling point: no gas fees.
The bane of digital artists is having to pay to mint their collections. Likewise, buyers are growing more frustrated that every transaction demands gas. OpenSea's cross-blockchain access makes for a gas-free environment, freeing both buyers and creators from these onerous fees.
The Most Versatile
Binance is better known as the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange (as measured by volume of daily trades). This platform has a history of legal troubles - the Financial Conduct Authority recently ordered Binance to stop regulated activity in the UK. Around the same time, the platform launched its NFT market.
All of that happened in June 2021. Since then, Binance has jetted to the top of the NFT marketplace heap, not the least because transaction fees are set at 1%.
Another reason that Binance is a heavy favourite is its ease of access, especially the broad array of payment methods it supports. While most marketplaces accept only Ether or their own crypto, Binance will let you pay with any coin as well as your debit or credit card.
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A final reason why Binance rates so highly: you can transfer your non-fungible tokens to the Ethereum blockchain.
As versatile as the Binance NFT marketplace is, it's easy to see how one can make money from NFT.
The Most Exclusive
Imagine, for a moment, that you own a few pieces of art you'd like to auction off; maybe at Christie's. They won't send a lorry to your home, pick up the works and put them up for bid at the next auction; perhaps not even if you have documents authenticating the works.
Instead, they will send appraisers who will inspect the pieces, determine their value and, more importantly, their salability before they accept your commission. The lorries will only cart your artworks away if those worthies deem them of sufficient calibre to suit the tastes of their clientele.
SuperRare operates on the same principle.
Whereas on most platforms, generated art gains acceptance and popularity through community up-vote, the SuperRare stewards decide what will be accepted and popular. Thus, buyers are assured of quality art from qualified artists.
Some contend that this system is undemocratic; contrary to the spirit of NFT communities. Still, buyers don't seem to mind; the marketplace's sales receipts tally at over $150 million for the past year.
The Best for Gamers
With millions of players engaging daily, Axie Infinity's popularity is not up for debate. The game launched in 2018 to rave reviews that have only grown since then.
The Axie in question are non-fungible tokens; they populate the game and liven it up through battles and trades; breeding new Axies, as well as raising them like any parent would raise their young. Getting into the game requires buying three Axies,
NFT games allow game developers to monetize their creations. It works on the same principle as any other game developer who releases a new version of a game that players must pay for, or charging for in-game accessories such as weapons, potions and outfits - but with a crucial difference.
More and more, NFT games are taking the 'pay-to-earn' approach. The more the player engages on the platform, the more rewards they receive. Nobody seems to mind having to pay. Last year, the Axie marketplace had grown to take second place for most-visited platform.
The Best for Sports Fans
Well, mostly for basketball fans.
NBA Top Shot has taken the traditional trading card into cyberspace by loading their marketplace with their digital version of these cards - not scanned copies, as well as video clips from select games featuring fans' favourite players.
Remarkably, you don't have to own any crypto to buy a piece of basketball memorabilia; you may access their trove via google and pay with a standard credit card. However, beware that the transaction fee is rather steep; over 5% of the sale amount, plus a flat $.035 fee.
As the site's name indicates, this is a National Basketball Association initiative, meaning all profits go straight to the NBA. Enthusiasts don't seem to mind adding to the association's bottom line, though. And the marketplace's success has spurred other sports leagues to make their move into the NFT ecosphere.
Join the discussion: what can you do with NFT?
Rounding Out the Top Ten NFT Marketplaces
So far, we've presented a balanced mix of marketplaces to suit all sorts of interests, but that's not enough for you to consider yourself properly informed. Let's expand the field a bit.
Mintable
Ethereum-based and backed by Mark Cuban, Mintable is so user-friendly that it consistently attracts crypto and NFT novices. Not just buyers, either! Mintable is great for creators who benefit from not having to pay any fees when they sell one of their pieces.
You may opt to trade on one of their three platforms: standard, gasless and printable, all of which contain a diverse collection of digital art as well as videos and other collectables.
Rarible
Although not quite at the level of success other marketplaces have found, Rarible prides itself on its ease of use and strong community support. Indeed, the platform is community-owned; acknowledging their decentralized ethos.
Rarible focuses mainly on art collectables, though you can find different types of NFT, too. Also, whether you buy or sell on Rarible, you will be rewarded with Rari, the platform's own token.
Foundation
If you're contemplating a career as a digital art creator, this is the marketplace for you. Granted, it doesn't get as much traffic as some of the others we've featured but it still records a respectable number of sales.
And if you see yourself more as an NFT investor, you should still browse this marketplace to pick up art at relatively low prices from so-far unknown artists. By doing so, you will boost their renown which, in turn, will raise the value of your tokens.
Foundation was where Edward Snowden launched his collection. You might know of him; he's the American whistleblower now living in exile in Russia.
Nifty Gateway
As Foundation can be called a safe haven for novice digital artists to discover their chops, Nifty could be characterized as the place to put works on display to maximum effect and for maximum return.
It's known for its exclusive art collectables as well as music. Grimes dropped quite a few tracks on Nifty; so did The Weeknd.
And, if you keep up with news coverage of NFT, you'll know about Beeple, whose Everydays collage heralded two NFT-world firsts. One of his earlier works, CrossRoads, sold for $6.6 million on Gateway.
Crypto.com
If you're still uncertain whether investing in cryptocurrency or NFT is right for you, this is the marketplace to turn to.
Like Binance, Crypto jumped into the NFT scene last year but it's still promoted as a cryptocurrency exchange with no mention of their NFT marketplace, or even of it being a hybrid site. That's a shame because Boy George, Snoop Dogg and many other artists have dropped collections here.
Crypto gives you ample material to review, both crypto and art. Their exchange handles over 20 cryptocurrencies and allows you to pay with your debit or credit card - for art and for coin.
So, while you'd have to know how to code to launch your own cryptocurrency on Crypto.com, you only need to know how to make an NFT to be seen with the likes of Axel Mansoor and Murda Beatz.
And also, to start earning faster.
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