OpenSea Eliminates Trading Fees, Reduces Creator Revenue

OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, has announced a set of changes to its fee and royalty structure. These changes will have a significant impact on user activity, including that of collectors and creators.

OpenSea tweeted on Friday, February 17, that it would be implementing a 0% transaction fee policy, albeit only for a limited time. Previously, OpenSea had charged a 2.5% trade levy that formed a substantial part of its revenue.

In conjunction with this announcement, OpenSea also tweeted that it would be employing an “optional creator earnings,” mandating collectors to pay only a 0.5% royalty fee on all new and old NFT projects lacking an on-chain enforcement method. However, users are free to pay a higher percentage if they see fit.

This move has been the major attraction point of OpenSea’s new changes, as creators typically enjoy a royalty fee fixed between 5%-10% of the sale price, serving as the primary source of the continuous revenue for NFT collections following their initial launch.

With this recent policy change, OpenSea is joining a host of other NFT marketplaces that are centering their operations around traders’ incentives rather than collectors. OpenSea explained the reasons for their actions: “Today, ~80% of total ecosystem volume does not pay full creator earnings, and the majority of volume (even accounting for inorganic activity) has moved to a zero-fee environment. While we continue to uphold on-chain enforcement through the operator filter, we’re moving to a different fee structure that reflects the needs of today’s ecosystem.”

OpenSea has also announced that its operator filter would allow sales on NFT marketplaces with these same policies, including the fast-rising NFT marketplace, Blur. This move will allow creators to earn their full royalties across these platforms.