How To Buy NFTs in 2023: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide

A complete comprehensive guide on How To Buy NFTs in different places, including the NFT marketplace. Learn the different methods and ways to buy and sell NFTs:

NFT marketplaces are the common places to buy NFTs currently, although they can also be traded on a peer-to-peer basis. The most popular marketplaces today are Decentraland, OpenSea, Axie Marketplace, Larva Labs/CryptoPunks, NBA Top Shot Marketplace, and Rarible among others.

NFTs are mostly traded using Ethereum cryptocurrency on most of these marketplaces, but you can also buy them using other digital assets. NFT stocks or companies that deal in NFT trading and investments are also another way of investing in NFTs. This is in addition to NFT ventures and indexes.

This tutorial dwells on a step-by-step guide on how to buy and sell NFTs in different places, including designated NFT marketplaces, peer-to-peer methods, NFT blockchains, centralized crypto exchanges; and stock markets. We will also discuss methods and ways of buying NFTs; what they are; how to invest in NFTs, and the benefits of doing so.

How To Buy NFTs – Complete Guide

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What is NFT

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An NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable digital asset of value based on blockchain and which can be traded. Before indulging in how to buy Nas NFTs, we should mention that NFTs come in several types but are mainly dependent on the following types:

• Collectibles NFTs can be minted from scratch or can represent other digital or physical collectibles. Examples include Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cryptopunks, Cat Colony, Meebits, and others.
• Artwork NFTs represent other digital or physical arts. They can be issued by artists although anyone can. They include Beeple’s digital artwork and many others.
• Sports Memorabilia–These are used to represent sports digital or physical assets, including limited edition clips of sporting moments, player cards, and other online assets. Examples include The LeBron James Dunk and Throwdowns series.
• Assets from video games–These are NFT-based video games in which contestants compete for prizes like cryptocurrencies, video game assets, and other games. Examples include Cryptokitties, Gods Unchained, Sorare, etc.
• Virtual land–These encompass both video games and metaverse. This includes virtual assets like avatars, etc.
• Tokenization NFTs–These NFTs are used to represent real-world assets like real estate, precious metals, and gold, or for real-world event tokenization such as tournaments, competitions, etc.

NFT Frequently Asked Questions

Q #1) What does NFT mean?

Answer: These are individual digital tokens based on blockchain and carry valuable information in them. NFTs are used to represent other digital or physical art assets like music, real estate, event tickets, avatars, gaming assets, domain names, videos, movies, and art.

However, they can also be minted from scratch as they are not representing any other artwork. They are unique and cannot be interchanged between themselves. However, they can be traded just like cryptocurrencies.

Q #2) What is an example of NFT?

Answer: CryptoKitties, Bored Ape, CryptoPunks, Sandbox, VeeFriends, Doodles, and Cool Cats are just some of the most popular NFTs. You can find thousands of NFTs on NF listing sites, marketplaces, and websites like Binance NFT, OpenSea, Decentraland, Axie Marketplace, Larva Labs, NBA Top Shot, and Raible, SuperRare, and Foundation.

Q #3) Is Bitcoin an NFT?

Answer: No, Bitcoin is not an NFT. An NFT is a digital asset that is un-interchangeable with another NFT unit, is unique, and can also be traded.

Although NFTs share similar characteristics to Bitcoin, the latter is not an NFT. They are both digital assets of value stored in digital wallets and tradable on crypto exchanges or on a peer-to-peer basis, although NFTs are also listed in other marketplaces that do not sell crypto.

Q #4) Are NFTs a good investment?

Answer: NFTs are a good investment based on what NFT you are dealing with. For those asking how to buy an NFT, most are complete scams, even with widespread approval, but quite a number are worth the investment.

Many collectors have made money trading NFTs capitalizing on the boom. You can invest directly in NFT companies, marketplaces, renting out of NFTs, NFT royalties, trading, NFT farming, and minting or design.

Q #5) Can you exchange NFTs?

Answer: No, they can’t be exchanged like-for-like the same way you can do for Bitcoin. For those looking for information on how to buy an NFT, each carries a peculiar authentication certificate and signatures. However, each NFT can be stored in a crypto wallet and sold and bought like cryptocurrencies or other digital assets.

Q #6) How do I start trading NFTs?

Answer:

• Sign up with an NFT marketplace or crypto exchange offering one. Alternatively, you can follow events, artist news, websites, and listings to find artists or brands that issue one-offs or occasional NFTs.
• Create NFT and crypto wallets: These wallets are used to store the corresponding digital assets. NFTs and cryptos can also be stored on Metamask or other Ethereum-based wallets. Some marketplaces, e.g., Binance and Coinbase NFT marketplaces, also offer hosted wallets for NFTs and crypto.
• Buy Ethereum or another crypto – Most NFTs are bought and sold in Ethereum cryptocurrency. If buying NFTs on a crypto exchange, you can easily deposit fiat on the exchange and buy NFT directly with fiat.
• Deposit fiat or crypto in the NFT marketplace: In addition to allowing purchases with crypto, several marketplaces now accept direct NFT purchases using fiat payment methods.
• Buy NFT – scroll through NFT lists to find your taste, buy from specific users on peer-to-peer, or buy based on recommendations or categorization.
• NFTs can be sold in the same marketplaces and exchanges or transferred for listing in other marketplaces.
• You can also try bidding platforms depending on your interests.

Researching NFTs Before Buying

Top NFT marketplaces:

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• Assessing the value of NFTs – For anyone looking for information on how to buy NFT tokens, most NFTs are inflated in value just because they are associated with artists, celebrities, events, and brands or promoted by them. They are scammy because their value drops as soon as the artists sell them.
• Gaming NFT event tickets are worth checking like Euro, World Cup, and FIFA event NFTs depending on the issuing authority.
• When dealing with event-specific or time-based NFTs, ensure you buy and sell them before the hype quells. These NFTs may have expiry dates. The value of the NFT may be tied to things like who is attending the event, the number of attendees, event importance, and popularity.
• The value of NFTs is based on multiple factors, including authenticity or originality, and rarity – this one can make value last for a good duration of time. Check utility – NFTs can be used to tokenize metals, real estate, movie characters, rare gaming assets, unique cards, or just valueless things. This affects value in the long run.
• If the NFT represents real-world assets, check how valuable and tangible the assets are.

Suggested Reading => Most Popular NFT Development Services/Companies

Researching NFT Marketplaces Before Buying

Looksrare NFT marketplace lets you list, buy, and explore listings.

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• The best NFT marketplaces are those that have more NFT followership and traders wondering how to buy NFT tokens of different kinds. Such markets need to deal with trading crypto, list various types of and many NFTs, and of course have procedures to safeguard NFTs and cross-check NFT originality and value before listing.
• Check the pricing. For instance, on Binance, you can buy NFTs for as low as 1%. Crypto.com charges zero commission, Hodooi.com 15%, Sorare 0%, SuperRare 15%, Ethernity marketplace 10%, and NFT Showroom 10%. Venly Market charges 4%, Rarible 2.5%, Decentraland 2.5%, Cryptokitties marketplace 3.75%, and NFT One 2%.
• Research on NFT marketplace payment methods – Some only allow for crypto payments, others only fiat. For those asking how to buy NFT tokens with fiat, check marketplaces that support buying with USD, Euro, or your local payment currencies.
• Research NFT purchase procedures. Check out the diversity of NFTs they sell.

NFT Marketplaces

Features

Every NFT marketplace provides a way for users to either display, list, or advertise their NFTs or have users exchange them directly by sending them from one wallet to another. While some marketplaces allow for peer-to-peer trades between one user and another, others provide centralized listings of NFTs.

In the latter, a user does not trade with other peers but from a broker. Peer-to-peer marketplaces let users receive or transfer NFTs in their wallets.

Nevertheless, most NFT marketplaces provide wallets in which users can store these digital assets. Several of these marketplaces also let users mint NFTs from scratch for sale or gifting. Some marketplaces do not provide any hosted wallets.

Not to fail to mention that NFTs can be accessed as mobile, Mac, desktop, and other applications. Some are accessible only over a web browser and some are cross-platform.

How to Buy NFT Art from NFT Marketplaces

OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace.

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Step 1: Research NFT marketplaces: Find the best ones as per pricing, variety of listings, number of listings, popularity, and starting ones. Each has its own advantages.

Step2: Visit the marketplace and create an account: Marketplaces like OpenSea run on a mobile app but also on a browser like Firefox and you can visit them by typing on the address on the address bar. For those that run on a mobile or PC application, you will need to download it to create an account. Almost all NFT marketplaces require you to create an account to trade.

Step 3: Write down and store away the private key: When creating an account or wallet on NFT marketplaces, you can secure an account with a private key as a downloadable file or writable 12-word passphrase. Store it away offline safely because losing it is akin to losing your digital NFTs.

Step 4: Create a wallet or generate one from the marketplaces:

NFTs, like other digital wallets, are stored on wallet addresses. For marketplaces that do not host a wallet address, it will be imperative to create one using a different app. NFTs are a form of decentralized digital assets based on smart contracts. Therefore, you will need a wallet that supports those crypto features.

Currently, the majority is based on Ethereum, which is a dominant smart contract platform, although other blockchains with smart contracts like Cardano are already supporting them.

For those marketplaces that do not offer a hosted wallet, include Metamask, Math Wallet, AlphaWallet, Trust Wallet, and Coinbase Wallet. For those that offer a hosted wallet – especially native crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, you will get an NFT wallet either automatically on creating an account or by specifically visiting their in-house NFT marketplace.

Creating most of these FT wallets like Metamask is easy. Simply head over to the website.

Step 5: Buy and deposit crypto or deposit fiat: The majority of NFT marketplaces support buying only with cryptocurrency. On these, you need to exchange your money for Ethereum or the payment token with which they let you pay and then use ordinary procedures to deposit the crypto to the marketplace.

Some let you buy NFTs directly using fiat. For instance, on a majority of native crypto exchanges that have in-house marketplaces, you can deposit USD, Euro, or another fiat and then exchange it with crypto to then trade NFTs.

An example is the Binance NFT marketplace that lets you deposit fiat and convert to BUSD, BNB, or ETH to buy NFTs. On Coinbase and OpenSea, for instance, you can directly buy NFTs using fiat as payment in addition to crypto.

Any marketplace that integrates the MoonPay payment gateway allows buying NFTs with credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and other payment methods. You can also buy using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, SEPA, Faster Payments, Wire Transfers, Open Banking and ACH.

Rarible.com also supports buying NFTs using a credit card.

Step 6: Browse through NFT listings:

The NFTs to buy depending on your taste and preference, go through the list of NFTs and find the NFT to buy, click on it, and proceed to pay.

For tips on buying types of NFTs, it could depend on use cases. Many NFT marketplaces list NFTs for sale based on classifications – gaming, etc. They could also list them based on popularity, pricing, purchase popularity, user rating and ranking, publication time, and other factors. If you are looking for inspiration on collecting NFTs, you could also check recommendations.

The actual buying procedure depends on the specific marketplace.

Step 7: Transfer to an external wallet, hold, or trade.

NFT Auction and Regular Bidding Places

Upcoming NFT auctions on Sothebys:

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Auctioning is one of the common methods through which users buy NFTs online as an alternative to picking and buying them as happens in some other marketplaces. There are native auction NFT marketplaces and those markets that host regular or occasional auctions.

The largest NFT bidding or auction platforms include Nifty Gateway, SuperRare, Async Art, MakersPlace, KnownOrigin, Foundation, Zora, and OpenSea. Christie and Sotheby also hold regular auctions as well.

Auctions involve sellers and buyers agreeing on the price of a being-auctioned NFT. The seller first sets a floor price below which buyers cannot bid. The NFT sells to the highest bidder at the end of the bidding sale period.

Further Reading => Most Popular Online Auction Websites

How to Buy NFT Art

#1) On a Bidding Site, App, or Platform

NFTs under auction on Artsy:

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Step 1: Research NFT bidding platforms: Most common ones are listed above. Get to know their fees – most charge 15% as service fees. This will be added to the final sale price.

Step 2: Create an account on the bidding platform and search for and research bids. 

Step 3: Place a bid on the bidding platform: The countdown commences once the first bid has been placed. Depending on the platform, it may be specified that the second and subsequent bid should be some percent higher or higher by a given amount of crypto for which it is sold.

Funds will be locked until the closure of the bidding sale and some platforms do not allow you to edit the bid. A few platforms allow editing of bids, including removing and adjusting prices.

This is crucial because the seller will receive better bids as they keep promoting the sale on social media and the platform itself. The seller can also edit sales, including removing editing pricing on some platforms.

Step 4: Wait for the closure of the bidding period when the winning bidder is announced. After winning, you can save it to a hosted or external wallet.  

Most platforms will include NFTs in your collections from where you can access the NFTs.

#2) Through Mystery Boxes

NFT mystery Boxes on sale:

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Mystery boxes contain surprise NFTs so you wouldn’t know what NFT is inside when buying it. There are five types of NFTs you can find — super, super rare (SSR), super rare (SR), rare (R), and normal (N). The rare items in them can vary from rare gaming assets to virtual lands, skins, or other collectibles and gift items.

These boxes can be bought on different marketplaces like Binance NFT or sold by blockchain gaming platforms like Axie Infinity, DeHero, Metamon, etc. Some users will get these items and put them on sale at NFT marketplaces.

Step 1: Visit Mystery Box listing or selling platforms and sign up: These platforms include Binance NFT Marketplace, Blind Boxes, DeVerse, Gate.io, Cross, HeliconNFT, NFKings, and OpenSea, among others.

Step 2: Scroll through or search Mystery Box: Most of these platforms offer Mystery Box listing pages from where you can search for boxes. Click the ones you want to buy.

Step 3: Buy the box you want and it will be listed in your collections. 

Step 4: Open or keep the box: Platforms have different procedures on how you can open the Mystery Boxes to find what’s inside. For instance, on the Binance marketplace, you go to your collections page, then click on the Mystery Box and it will direct you to the product page. From there, click on “reveal” and then “open” to see what NFT the box has.

NFT Wallets, Sending, Receiving and Storing NFT Wallets

Metamask Wallet Support NFTs:

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On platforms that support buying with fiat or both Fiat and Crypto, all you have to do is use mainstream or so-called legacy payment methods to deposit fiat into the marketplace. You may therefore not require a crypto wallet. Otherwise, some do require generating a crypto wallet.

NFT wallets are essentially crypto wallets that are based on the blockchain. Crypto wallets are not hard for a beginner to understand or operate. You can read a few things about crypto wallets from our guide here, but they are digital wallets secured with private and public-key cryptography, so it is not easy for people to steal digital assets stored in the wallets.

They can be hardware wallets like Ledger – which are considered the most secure or can be software wallets like Electrum and Mycelium. They can also be hosted or so-called custodial wallets like Coinbase, Binance, and BitMex. MetaMask functions as a decentralized non-custodial wallet.

• Do research on crypto wallets or crypto exchanges with hosted wallets that support NFTs. Download the wallet mobile or PC software and create an account or sign up for a wallet address. Some, like MetaMask, work as browser extensions.
• Make sure they are not prone to hacking (consider offline and hardware storage options that support NFT wallets).

Examples of wallets that support sending, receiving, and storing NFTs are Math, Enjin, MetaMask, and others listed earlier in this guide. NFTs are also stored on an Interplanetary File System.

• Find out a wallet address from the wallet. Most allow generating multiple addresses each time you want to receive and send crypto.
• Buy Ethereum through a fiat-crypto exchange like Coinbase, LocalCryptos.com, Binance, and others. These allow you to deposit USD, Euro, or local currencies or use them to buy crypto. Hosted wallets allow you to convert fiat to crypto and use the latter to buy NFTs or directly buy NFTs using fiat.
• Send purchased crypto to the wallet where you want to buy NFT. Use normal crypto sending procedure for crypto wallets hosted on NFT marketplace or standalone wallet.
• If your crypto wallet is not hosted by the NFT marketplace, sync your wallet with the NFT marketplaces. Synching is needed only for crypto wallets based on or being used as browser extensions.
• Buy NFT using crypto – synching browser-based wallets with the web-based marketplaces allow you to easily pay with the wallet as a payment option. Otherwise, if the marketplace and the crypto wallet are separate software or platforms without syncing options, use manual methods to pay using crypto by sending it to designated wallet addresses.
• NFTs can be received in or transferred from one marketplace or wallet to another. Simply open the wallet or marketplace where an NFT is, click the NFT to send, enter the receiver’s wallet address and send just like a crypto asset.

How to Buy NFTs From Crypto Exchanges

Coinbase NFTs:

Quite a number of crypto exchanges now incorporate NFT marketplaces, letting people or customers mint, store, collect, and trade NFTs either from centralized or peer-to-peer listings. These crypto exchanges include Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, Crypto.com, and CrossTower.

There are some extra benefits to buying NFTs on crypto exchanges. For instance, you can diversify by trading cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency exchanges also carry other benefits like other investment opportunities, including crypto mining, staking, and diversifying to stock investments.

Step 1: Create a user account – Most crypto exchanges above let you trade only after verifying an account, which means submitting identity documents and other identifiable information.

Step 2: Register a separate NFT account or use an existing crypto exchange account to access the NFT marketplace – Crypto.com, for instance, before integrating both platforms, needed users to create a separate account on each platform and manually connect the two. Of the two separate accounts, one will have a wallet in which you can collect and store your NFTs.

Step 3: Search through NFT listings – Binance and other cryptocurrency exchanges offer peer-to-peer marketplaces. On these, peers will separately list NFTs for sale. Thus you get to access these listings per person listing them or per other categorizations.

Step 4: Deposit crypto or fiat to spend on buying NFTs.

Step 4: Buy the NFT – Click the NFT you want to purchase and follow the purchase guidelines.

How to Buy Time-Based and Event-Based NFTs

Event NFTs – Oveit allows you to mint and sells event NFTs.

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Non-fungible tokens for events are used to promote events and their tickets. They can be issued during the launch of events and used to promote virtual and non-virtual events. They can also be issued to promote the release of books, music, festivals, concerts, virtual contests, and other works of art.

Artists, musicians, and celebrities also do occasionally offer their albums and digital work as NFTs.

Time-sensitive NFTs can be found on common NFT marketplaces listed here but also on event listings. Others are issued through famous artists, websites, and companies. Therefore, they can be advertised on social media, websites, and other pages but the surest place to get NFTs is NFT listing sites.

Visit and buy the NFT listing sites – NFT listing sites, including the ones listed above. Therefore, the procedure for buying the NFTs is similar.

Conclusion

This tutorial dwelt on how to buy and sell NFTs on various marketplaces, tips, and FAQs involving NFTs. NFTs are indivisible digital assets of value that can be traded like crypto, either on centralized or peer-to-peer NFT marketplaces. They are secure to trade due to encryption and authentication procedures.

For those looking for information on how to buy and sell NFTs, most of the marketplaces require a user to register and verify the account. After verification, a user can deposit fiat or crypto and buy the NFT.

Some platforms support the listing of NFTs by users and allow other users to scroll through these lists and find NFTs to buy. It is also possible to mint your own NFTs from scratch and sell them on these marketplaces or apps that allow the minting. The latter is most preferable for artists.

The time is taken to write this tutorial: 20 hours.