Open in app

Sign in

Write

Sign in

Fees for the Top 5 CryptoArt Sites

Kimberly Parker
8 min readMar 28, 2021

I made this with the intention of surfacing the fees for the most popular NFT gallery sites so that artists selling on these platforms can have a clear idea of how much money they may lose. Fees that come out of the buyer’s pocket are listed here, although they have not been factored into the example calculations as I want to focus on the artist’s experience. This work focuses on Primary Sales, although Secondary Sale information is included.

Gas fees have been marked with an * and are an average, please see the section labeled Gas Fees for more information on how these have been calculated.

I have included examples under each gallery site that show a fee breakdown and net profit for 4 different sale price points: $20, $100, $500 and $1000. Dollars are always in USD.

The intent of this document is to be as accurate and transparent as possible. Where possible I’ve tried to find sources that are from direct, first-person experience by artists using these platforms, from the gallery site’s Terms of Service, or dedicated gallery forms. In some cases this information has been extremely difficult to find. If you notice something has been miscalculated, misinterpreted, or missed please let me know and I’ll correct it! I intend to keep this updated with new information as often as possible. For corrections or additions DM me on Twitter @thatkimparker.

For simplicity this work focuses on single editions. For multiple editions, see Multiple Editions note at the end.

Foundation

  • Gas fee* to mint
  • Listing fee*
  • Claim fee*
  • Primary Sale: -15%
  • Secondary Sale: 10%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $20
Mint cost: -$70*
Listing fee: -$80*
Claim fee: -$20*
Foundation takes $3
Fee total: -$173
Artist net profit: -$153
% of Sale lost to fees: 865%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100
Mint cost: -$70*
Listing fee: -$80*
Claim fee: -$20*
Foundation takes $15
Fee total: -$185
Artist net profit: -$85
% of Sale lost to fees: 185%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500
Mint cost: -$70*
Listing fee: -$80*
Claim fee: -$20*
Foundation takes $75
Fee total: -$245
Artist net profit: $255
% of Sale lost to fees: 51%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $1000
Mint cost: -$70*
Listing fee: -$80*
Claim fee: -$20*
Foundation takes $150
Fee total: -$320
Artist net profit: $680
% of Sale lost to fees: 32%

Superrare

  • Gas fee* to mint
  • No listing fee
  • Primary Sale: -15% (-5% fee for buyer)
  • Secondary Sale: 10% (-5% fee for buyer)

eg. Primary Sale Price: $20
Mint cost: -$70*
Superrare takes $3
Fee total: -$73
Artist net profit: -$53
% of Sale lost to fees: 365%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100
Mint cost: -$70*
Superrare takes $15
Fee total: -$85
Artist net profit: $15
% of Sale lost to fees: 85%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500
Mint cost: -$70*
Superrare takes $75
Fee total: -$145
Artist net profit: $355
% of sale lost to fees: 29%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $1000
Mint cost: -$70*
Superrare takes $150
Fee total: $220
Artist net profit: $780
% of sale lost to fees: 22%

Rarible

  • Gas fee* to mint
  • One-time “wallet approval” fee*
    This fee allows Rarible to connect with your wallet
  • No “List for Sale” fee for auction items
  • “List for Sale” fee* for fixed price items
  • Gas fees* are charged to the buyer on purchase of fixed price items
  • Gas fees* are charged to the artist when an item is sold at auction
    For example, a piece sold for $5 may require $40-$80 in gas fees
  • Collection creation fee*
  • All Sales -2.5%
  • Artist can set Secondary Sale %

The following examples assume this is an artist’s first primary sale and include the one-time “approve wallet” fee. To determine the fees for all subsequent primary sales, subtract $15* from the fee total.

I’ve broken Rarible examples into two sections, Auction and Fixed Price.

Auction
eg. Primary Sale Price: $20 (auction)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint Cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $0.50
Artist pays $70 gas fee* when sold
Fee total: -$155.50
Artist net profit: -$135.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 777.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100 (auction)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes: $2.50
Artist pays $70 gas fee* when sold
Fee total: -$157.50
Artist net profit: -$57.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 157.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500 (auction)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $12.50
Artist pays $70 gas fee* when sold
Fee total: -$167.50
Artist net profit: $332.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 33.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $1000 (auction)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $25
Artist pays $70 gas fee* when sold
Fee total: -$180
Artist net profit: $820
% of Sale lost to fees: 18%

Fixed Price
eg. Primary Sale Price: $20
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Fixed Price List for Sale fee: -$15*
Rarible takes $0.50
Fee total: -$100.50
Artist net profit: -$80.5
% of Sale lost to fees: 502.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100 (fixed price)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $2.50
Fixed Price List for Sale fee: -$15*
Fee total: -$102.50
Artist net profit: -$2.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 102.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500 (fixed price)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $12.50
Fixed Price List for Sale fee: -$15*
Fee total: -$112.50
Artist net profit: $387.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 22.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $1000 (fixed price)
One-time Wallet Approval Fee: -$15*
Mint cost: -$70*
Rarible takes $25
Fixed Price List for Sale fee: -$15*
Fee total: -$125
Artist net profit: $875
% of Sale lost to fees: 12.5%

OpenSea

  • One-time account setup fees
    Initialize account fee: -$60*
    Wallet access fee: -$10*
  • Gas fees are charged when the piece is sold
    For example, a piece sold for $5 may require $40-$80 in gas fees
    The artist pays if they accept a bid before the auction is over
    **unless the piece is sold for 1 ETH or more, then OpenSea covers the artist’s gas fees (at the time of writing, 1 ETH = $1689 USD)
    The buyer pays if the buyer wins the auction
  • Listing removal fee*
  • Bid placement fee* for buyer
  • Bid cancellation fee* for buyer
  • Primary Sales -2.5%
  • Artist can set Secondary Sale % (paid out biweekly)

The following examples assume this is an artist’s first primary sale and include the one-time account set-up fee. To determine the fees for all subsequent primary sales, subtract $70* from the fee total.

eg. Primary Sale Price: $20
Account Setup Fee: -$70*
OpenSea takes $0.50
Fee total: -$70.50
Artist net profit: -$50.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 352.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100
Account setup fee: -$70*
OpenSea takes $2.50
Fee total: -$72.50
Artist net profit: $27.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 72.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500
Account setup fee: -$70*
OpenSea takes $12.50
Fee total: -$82.50
Artist net profit: $417.50
% of Sale lost to fees: 16.5%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $1000
Account setup fee: -$70*
OpenSea takes: $25
Fee total: -$95
Artist net profit: $905
% of Sale lost to fees: 9.5%

Makersplace

  • Gas fee* to mint
    Currently there is a program in Beta for “select artists” to defer gas fees until their NFT is sold. Unlike OpenSea I could not find an option for the buyer to pay the gas fees, so presumably this deferral means the fee is paid by the artist.
  • Primary Sales: -15%
  • Secondary Sales: 10% (Makersplace takes a 2.5% service fee)

eg. Primary Sale Price: $20
Mint cost: -$70*
Makersplace takes $3
Fee total: -$73
Artist net profit: -$53
% of Sale lost to fees: 365%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $100
Mint cost: -$70*
Makersplace takes $15
Fee total: -$85
Artist net profit: $15
% of Sale lost to fees: 85%

eg. Primary Sale Price: $500
Mint cost: -$70*
Makersplace takes $75
Fee total: -$145
Artist net profit: $355
% of Sale lost to fees: 29%

eg. High Primary Sale Price: $1000
Mint cost: -$70*
Makersplace takes $150
Fee total: -$220
Artist net profit: $780
% of Sale lost to fees: 22%

A Note on Nifty Gateway

  • Fees for this platform are unknown — it seems to be the case that Nifty’s only interaction with the blockchain is to mint the NFT — all other transactions occur off-chain — but it isn’t clear to me if they charge the artist for those fees or front it themselves. I cannot find mint fee information anywhere, but there are several press releases from spokespeople claiming there are “no gas fees.” Artist membership on the platform is intensely curated and there are no tutorials by any artist that I can find. I don’t feel comfortable surfacing a breakdown of their fees until I am absolutely sure that the information I have is accurate, but I am extremely open to anyone who would like to share that info with me!

*Gas Fees

These are hard to give exact numbers for two reasons:
1) the price of gas fluctuates
2) the more money you pay for gas, the higher the chance the transaction will be included in the next block as this is what incentivizes miners

There have also been documented problems if you are doing a time sensitive transaction because if the price changes too much before your transaction is picked up and processed the transaction may fail. You will still need to pay for the gas fees for that failed transaction.

I’ve given an average for these, based on first-hand accounts and research listed in the Sources section below. To summarize:

  • Gas fees seem to be in the $40-$100 range leading most sources to average it at around $70
  • Opensea account setup fees seem to be in the $50–90 range, I’ve averaged that to $70 here
  • Foundation Listing fees seem to be in the $60-$100 range, I’ve averaged that to $80 here
  • Foundation Claim fee seems to be in the $20 range based on this source
  • Rarible Fixed Price List for Sale Fee seems to be in the $10-$20 range, I’ve averaged that to $15 here
  • Rarible Approve Wallet Fee seems to be in the $10-$20 range, I’ve averaged that to $15 here.
  • Rarible collection creation seems to be in the $600-$1400 range

Multiple Editions

For multiple editions, multiple sales can usually be made while only having to pay the mint fee once. To calculate the fees for multiple editions, subtract the mint fee only once. You may still have to pay a claim fee, sale fee and other gas fees for each individual sale in your multiple edition, depending on the platform’s fee structure. The percentage that each platform takes from your sales applies to each individual sale in your multiple edition.

Updates & Corrections

  • Changed Rarible’s “Listing Fee” to “List for Sale” fee, for clarity on 29.03.2021
  • Added “Approve wallet” fee* for Rarible and a supporting Source on 29.03.2021
  • Added another source for Rarible’s Fixed Price List for Sale fee* on 29.03.2021
  • Added Fixed Price examples to Rarible on 29.03.2021
  • Added a $20 Claim fee* to Foundation’s fees on 28.03.2021
  • Added note clarifying this document focuses on single editions and added “Multiple Editions” section on 28.03.2021

Sources:

Nft
Cryptoart
Fees

--

--

Kimberly Parker

Written by Kimberly Parker

163 Followers

Canadian concept artist

Help

Status

About

Careers

Blog

Privacy

Terms

Text to speech

Teams