NFT marketplaces and creator royalties, explained
Where NFTs are bought and sold, who takes a cut, and why creators' royalties stopped being guaranteed.
An NFT marketplace is a website and set of smart contracts where people list and buy NFTs; the NFT itself lives on the blockchain, not on the marketplace. Sellers usually pay a marketplace fee and may pay a creator royalty, a percentage of each resale meant for the original artist. Royalties were never enforced by the blockchain itself: the main standard says payment is voluntary. In 2023, competition between marketplaces made royalties optional on most of them, including OpenSea, which ended its enforcement tool for new collections on August 31, 2023.
How a marketplace works
- A seller lists an NFT by signing a message that says "I'll sell token #4,217 for 0.5 ETH". Listing often costs nothing because it's just a signature, not a transaction. It may ask you to approve the marketplace's contract to move that NFT when it sells.
- A buyer accepts the listing and sends a transaction. The marketplace's contract moves the NFT to the buyer and splits the payment: seller, marketplace fee, and any royalty.
- Because the NFT is on-chain, it can be listed on several marketplaces at once and moved to any wallet. The marketplace is a shop window, not the owner.
Big marketplaces differ in which blockchains they support (Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin Ordinals, layer 2s), their fees and their rules for verifying collections. For the basics of the tokens themselves, see what is an NFT?
What you pay
| Cost | Who gets it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace fee | The marketplace | A percentage of the sale price, usually paid by the seller |
| Creator royalty | The collection's creator | Set by the creator; now often optional or capped by the marketplace |
| Network fee (gas) | Validators | Paid by whoever sends a transaction; varies by network. See fees |
| Spread / price impact | Other traders | Many NFTs are hard to sell; the best bid can be far below the last sale |
How royalties were supposed to work
Royalties let artists earn from resales, something rare in the traditional art world. Ethereum's EIP-2981 standard lets an NFT contract report "pay X% to this address" when asked. But the standard itself says royalty payment must be voluntary, because a blockchain can't tell a sale from a simple transfer between wallets. Marketplaces chose whether to honor it.
The 2023 shift to optional royalties
From late 2022, newer marketplaces competed for traders by cutting fees and making royalties optional or very small. One leading rival set a minimum creator fee of just 0.5%. OpenSea, then the largest, had built an "operator filter" that let creators block sales on marketplaces that didn't pay royalties. In August 2023 it announced it would stop: the filter was turned off for new collections on August 31, 2023, and enforcement for existing collections that used it ended on February 29, 2024. OpenSea said creator fees weren't going away, only "ineffective, unilateral enforcement" of them.
The result: on most marketplaces today, buyers or sellers choose whether to pay a royalty above any minimum. Some creators use contracts that restrict transfers to royalty-paying marketplaces, which can make their NFTs harder to trade elsewhere.
Avoiding fakes and drains
- Check the collection's contract address against the creator's official site or account. Copycat collections with identical images are common.
- Don't click links in NFTs or tokens that appear in your wallet uninvited.
- Read what you're signing. A request to approve "all" your NFTs for an unknown contract, or an off-chain signature you don't understand, can let someone take them. See before you send crypto.
- Be wary of wash trading: collections can show high volume from the same people trading with themselves.
- Use a separate wallet for minting and trading, and keep valuable NFTs in one that never connects to new sites.
Taxes
In the US, selling an NFT for more than you paid is generally a taxable gain, and creators' sales and royalties are generally income. See crypto taxes.
Related reading: Phishing and wallet drainers
Frequently asked questions
Are NFT royalties enforced?
Not by the blockchain. The royalty standard says payment is voluntary, and since 2023 most big marketplaces have made royalties optional or set only a small minimum.
What did OpenSea change about royalties?
It switched off its royalty-enforcement tool, the operator filter, for new collections on August 31, 2023, and ended enforcement for existing collections that used it on February 29, 2024.
What fees do NFT marketplaces charge?
Usually a percentage of the sale price, plus any creator royalty and the network fee. Fees vary by marketplace and change often, so check the final breakdown before you confirm.
Can I list my NFT on more than one marketplace?
Yes. The NFT stays in your wallet, and listings are signed offers. When it sells on one, the other listings can no longer be filled, though old offers can sometimes linger, so cancel them.
How do I know an NFT collection is real?
Compare the contract address with the one the creator publishes on their official website or account. Names, images and "verified" badges can all be copied or misread.
Where to next
Sources
- EIP-2981: NFT royalty standard (Ethereum Improvement Proposals)
- On creator fees (OpenSea)
- OpenSea disables royalty enforcement tool, makes creator fees optional (The Block, August 17, 2023)
- Non-fungible tokens (ethereum.org)
Written for beginners and checked against the sources listed. Last reviewed November 4, 2026. This page is educational and is not financial, tax or legal advice. How we write and check pages.