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Blockchain / Art
I Tried To Buy an NFT and Regret It
Here are the basics I should have known
I am new to the topic of blockchain & cryptocurrencies.
A few minutes ago, I wanted to buy an NFT since I heard about the hype. Stupidly, I tried it before I did any research.
Here is what I should have known.
With what to pay at all?
Unlike real trading cards, artwork and music, NFTs are not usually paid for with fiat currencies. Fiat currencies are money issued by governments — euros, dollars, yen.
NFTs, on the other hand, are usually paid with cryptocurrencies, especially Ethereum. If you thought that buying an NFT is so easy, I have to fail you.
That was my first disappointment, too — I had to buy some Ether first.
But it got worse.
The fees
I bought the cryptocurrency Ether on the platform Binance — in total for $35.
So far, so good. To buy an NFT with it, I need to transfer that amount to a local wallet in my browser — but I forgot about the transaction fees.
Transferring from one wallet to another works through the Ethereum network. Such a transfer costs ether — after all, the network participants do not work for free.
However, I would not have thought that it is expensive.
For the $35, I had to pay $12 in fees. Of course, this is not a fixed percentage. When transferring more Ether, the fee's ratio gets better , but this is unsuitable for someone who wants to buy a cheap NFT.
More fees!
I finally had my Ether in my wallet in the browser. On platforms like OpenSea, you can buy NFTs with it. That’s exactly what I was going to do. I went to the site and picked out the cheapest NFTs.
Some of them are available for less than $2 — of course, I wanted to buy them. And again, a faux pas.
Performing the transaction again wastes money — this time a lot of money. The gas fee, which you have to pay to the network to buy an NFT, costs almost $42 — a brutal amount.
