I bet you’re kind of overwhelmed right now! Don’t worry. If you’re wondering how to buy NFTs then this article will have you covered.
You want to buy an NFT, but, uhh, how do you do that technically?
And then, when you get through the technical hoops, HOW DO YOU PICK ONE??
It’s a whole new world, this NFT space and it can definitely be overwhelming and confusing.
I’m going to walk through how to buy an NFT technically and then also give you some direction on how to choose an NFT that you’ll love.
Browser & Wallet
There are a few things you’ll need to do before you purchase your first NFT. You’re going to want a browser with high privacy, a crypto wallet and some crypto.
We’re going to go through an example with Sol as our cryptocurrency.
High Privacy Browser
As you start collecting NFTs, you want to be sure you are keeping your fun new investments safe.
One way to do that is using a browser that puts an emphasis on privacy.
We like Brave for that.
It’s as simple to download and use as Chrome.
Go to https://brave.com/
Step 1: Choose “Download Brave”
Step 2: Choose your chip (it will help you figure this out if you aren’t sure)
Step 3: Open the file and follow the instructions for downloading
Crypto Wallet
Next, you’re going to need a wallet to hold your crypto and your NFTs.
No, we’re not going to Target. This isn’t that kind of wallet. It’s digital.
Since we’re using Solana NFTs as our example, we’re going to use a wallet that supports Sol. We like Phantom, but there are others that you can choose from.
Here’s how to set up your Phantom wallet.
Step 1: From your Brave browser, go to https://phantom.app/
Step 2: Choose “Add to Chrome” and then “Add to Chrome” again when prompted
Step 3: Choose “Create New Wallet”
Step 4: This part is very important. You are going to be given a secret recovery phrase. WRITE IT DOWN. Write it down in several places, store it in an EXTREMELY secure place, like a lockbox. You will need this if you are ever locked out of your wallet and without it, there is NO WAY to get into your wallet if you are locked out of it. Everything in the wallet is inaccessible to you forever if you are locked out and do not have this phrase.
Step 5: Create a password for the wallet. This is what you’ll use daily to get into the wallet.
Step 6: Follow the instructions to pin the wallet extension so that you have easy access to it.
That’s it! Your wallet is set up.
Buy Some Crypto
Ok, you need some crypto in that wallet!
There are lots of ways to buy Crypto, we’re going to do it using Coinbase. First, you need to set up an account. Don’t be intimidated by these steps, they take a little more than a few minutes, but once it’s done, it’s done.
Go to https://www.coinbase.com/
Step 1: Choose Sign up and complete the required info. You’re going to get $5 in Bitcoin just for setting up your account! You can convert this to the crypto of your choice (we’ll do Solana) without any fees.
Step 3: Verify your email and add a phone number to have a code texted to you.
Step 4: Add your Citizenship
Step 5: Complete all of these fields:
Step 6: Sign in
Step 7: Enter the 7 digit code that was texted to you
Step 8: Complete the questions about how much crypto you plan to invest and what industry you work in.
Step 9: Verify your identity
Now we’re going to buy some Sol with Coinbase.
Step 1: Select Buy/Sell from the upper right corner
Step 2: Add a payment method. Depending on which you choose, you may have a waiting period before you can actually get the crypto into your wallet to spend.
Step 3: Select the crypto you would like to purchase. We’re buying Sol
Step 4: Select the amount of dollars you would like to spend
Step 5: Select the payment method if it is not already listed
Step 6: Preview the order. Make sure you’ve entered the amount you want to spend and that you have selected the right crypto (Sol in this case).
Step 7: Buy now
Depending on what type of payment method you used, you may have a waiting period before you can use the Sol for anything other than trading. This can be a number of days, so don’t be disappointed if you can’t go out and immediately purchase your first NFT.
Congratulations! You now have some Sol.
In order to spend it, you need to get it from Coinbase to your wallet.
We’re almost there! I promise!
Transfer Your Crypto to Your Wallet
Remember at this point, depending on what you used to purchase your crypto on Coinbase, you may have a waiting period before you can send the crypto from Coinbase to your wallet.
But once that waiting period is over, here’s how to get it to your wallet:
Step 1: In the upper right corner of your Coinbase Dashboard choose “Send/Receive”
Step 2: Choose how much you would like to send to your wallet. You can toggle between “Sol” and “US Dollars” with the button to the right of the amount.
Here I’ve chosen to send $112.50 worth of Sol to my wallet.
Step 3: To get your wallet address, go to the Phantom wallet extension and click the title of your wallet to copy the address.
Step 4: Paste the address into the “To” field.
Step 5: Make sure you have the correct crypto selected. In this case, it is Sol.
Step 6: Choose “Continue” to preview your transaction. It’s good to double-check your wallet address now and also that you are sending the right crypto (Sol in this case).
Step 7: Choose “Send Now” to complete the transaction
Step 8: Enter the verification code that is sent to your phone
You will shortly have some Sol in your wallet to spend!
Finally We Can Buy An NFT!
But… before you do, there are some things that you should think about.
- Why do you want to buy an NFT?
- Do you want to Mint or buy from a secondary marketplace?
Why Do You Want to Buy an NFT?
There are generally a few things that motivate people to buy an NFT.
- They love the Art.
- They see an opportunity to make money.
- They love the community
- They love the game the NFT is a part of (or other “utility” that the NFT offers)
And most people most likely have more than one of those things that motivates them.
There is some really beautiful art in the NFT space that may be a great investment.
There are some really wonderful online communities in the NFT space. People will say “came from the art, stayed for the community”. This one is hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with online communities, but if you find the right one, you’ll think back to this and go, “Oh, I get it. She was right”.
And there are a lot of NFT projects that are creating online games. If that’s your thing, then that might be your motivation to buy an NFT.
But it’s important to think about before you grab your first NFT because there are a LOT of projects to choose from and knowing your “Why” will help you narrow things down.
It’s usually a safe bet to start with Art that you really like and then see if the projects also offer a great community, an opportunity to make money and some type of utility like a game.
We’re going to take that approach as we continue to walk through buying your first NFT.
Mint or Marketplace?
Alright, you’ve got all the technical stuff set up and you’ve decided your main motivation for buying your first NFT is going to be Art that you enjoy.
There are two things that you can do now.
Mint
You can mint an NFT.
Minting is the initial offering of an NFT project. Projects will set a “mint date”, a minting price and create a page for you to “mint” from.
For example, the Boopie Gen1N project was minted on 10/18 for .5 Sol. We gave our audience a link to the page where they could connect their wallet (as simple as a couple of clicks) and mint their own Boopie.
When you mint, you know the price, but you do not get to pick one specific NFT. So it can be incredibly exciting to mint something and then go check your wallet to see what exactly you got!
Minting can also be a little stressful, though. Depending on the project, it may be very competitive and you may not end up getting anything at all before the project sells out.
Or you might get something and not really love what you got.
But there is a special kind of dopamine hit that comes with minting.
Technically, buying from a mint is very easy to do. You’ll have a link to the minting site that you got either from the projects Twitter or their Discord (don’t trust a link that you didn’t get directly from a public Twitter post or public Discord post), you’ll go to the site, connect your wallet and hope that you’re wifi is fast enough to get you a cute little NFT before the project sells out.
(Actually, they don’t always sell out fast and that’s a good thing, for the most part. It’s not fun when they sell out in 2 minutes and you missed out).
That being said, you’re going to want to research when you’re minting something and if it’s your very first purchase, you might want to find an experienced NFT buddy who can help you figure out if you’ve selected a good buy or not.
Marketplace
Once a project is done minting, you’ll immediately hear people asking about “Wen marketplace??”.
It’s weird, but literally right after minting their new NFT, people are excited to go list them on one of the many Solana marketplaces to see if they can turn a quick profit.
Not everyone, but enough people will do this. It can be good news because if you did miss a mint, you should still be able to buy into a project soon after minting is done by going to a marketplace.
Sometimes you might find a deal and the NFT is listed for even less Sol than if you had minted one. Other times, and it depends on a lot of factors, the price can be higher than the mint price.
But buying from one of the secondary Marketplaces has perks!
You get to scroll through all of the listings and choose exactly which one is right for you.
You can choose based on aesthetics or rarity or price. Maybe you’re happy to pay a premium to guarantee you get a rare.
In that case the marketplaces are perfect for you.
Here’s a look at Boopies on one of Sols many marketplaces, Alpha Art:
Boopie, in my biased opinion, is a great place to start your NFT collection. The art is amazing, the community is fun and kind and helpful and the merch is amazing.
But if you don’t know which project you want to purchase and you’d prefer to just browse for a bit, then here are some marketplaces that you should check out:
Scroll through and see which projects jump out at you as far as the art goes.
Pick a few to research and check out their Twitter and Discord communities before you commit.
But, once you’re ready, it’s very easy to buy an NFT from a marketplace.
In fact, almost too easy.
You just connect your wallet (usually at the upper right corner for most marketplaces) and then buy it and confirm the transaction after your wallet pops up.
Within a few seconds, you’ll be able to see your NFT, safe and sound in your wallet.
Congratulations! You Bought an NFT
This is an exciting moment.
You’ve got this thing in your wallet and you know it’s kind of special. This is truly a whole new world being built and you decided to jump in and become a part of it.
I would strongly urge you to jump into the Discord community for your new NFT and say hi to your new friends.
Hopefully, you’ve grabbed a Boopie. We have the most amazing community in the whole Metaverse if I do say so myself.
!boop