Playform’s How-To Guide for Buying NFTs

Playform, a no-code AI for artists, embraces new ways of creating and selling artwork in the digital age. Follow our guide to buying NFTs.

May 13th, 2021

As an AI tool for artists as well as a community for Playform users, our goal is to empower artists. With the recent emergence of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) changing the landscape of the art world, Playform hopes to introduce its users and collectors on how to buy NFTs.

Playform artist-in-residence Mattia Cuttini debuted his exhibition “Defined Undefined” on SuperRare, and Sturec debuted her exhibition “My Brain on Drugs” on OpenSea. Playform Studio artists also exhibited a group exhibition “AI Dreams of Web3” on OpenSea, featuring Justin Maynard, Carla Gannis, Katya Grokhovsky, Nacoca Ko, Barry Despenza and Andrew Tricaso. 

To learn more about buying NFTs read on.

Featured work: “System Reboot,” 2021 by Andrew Tricaso

1. How to Create a Digital Wallet

In order to purchase NFTs, you need to make sure you add money to your digital wallet. Most NFT marketplaces use ether, a cryptocurrency which you will need in order to make purchases. The easiest way to think about it is as an arcade. If you want to play games at an arcade, you have to buy tokens to play. It’s the same concept here--accept that the tokens are called ether, and rather than buying a batch of tokens you’re most likely going to start with fractions of ether. As of May 13th, a single ether is worth about $3,645 USD.

OpenSea, one of the top NFT marketplaces, suggests using a plug-in for the Chrome browser called MetaMask, which supports many other digital wallets.

Tap the profile icon on the top right of the OpenSea website.

• Click “Get MetaMask.”

• Choose “Install MetaMask” for Chrome, or the supported browser of your choice. This installs a Chrome plug-in

• Choose “Get Started.”

• Select “Create Wallet”

• Create your password
  Write down the secret phrase it gives you. This is very important in case you forget your password. Don’t lose it.

• Click “Next” to connect your OpenSea account with the MetaMask digital wallet you’ve just created.

• Click “Connect” again.

2. How to Buy Ether

There are many different apps to buy cryptocurrencies on. Coinbase is very popular, and so is Robinhood. Let’s use MetaMask to buy ether to make it simple. 

In the last step, we installed the MetaMask plug-in for Chrome. We can use that plug-in to also buy ether.

• Tap the puzzle icon on the top right of Chrome at the end of your URL box.

• Click the MetaMask fox icon.

• Click “Buy” or click “Directly Deposit Ether” if you already have some in another account.

• Click “Continue to Wyre”

• Choose how much ether you would like to purchase. There is a $5 transaction fee and a $4.88 network fee, so it is best to buy as much ether that you need now to avoid the additional transaction fees later. Click “Next.”

• Enter your payment information and phone number, and select “Submit.”

• Enter the authentication code from your phone.

• Authorize the purchase by entering the six-digit code for a pending Wyre transaction in your bank account.

Congratulations! You’ve bought ether. It will be available in your MetaMask account in a few minutes. Now you’re ready to buy NFTs.

3. How to Buy NFTs

Now you’re ready to bid on and buy NFTs. Let’s go back to OpenSea for example. You can browse the market by clicking on “Explore.” If you’re looking to purchase a Playform work, you can search Playform.

Once you find a work that you’re looking to buy, follow these steps:

To buy it, click:

• “Buy now.”

• Select “Checkout.”

• Click “Submit.”

• Next, you will have to confirm a “gas fee.” This is required by the Ethereum network to process the transaction.

4. Choose an NFT Marketplace

While there are several NFT marketplaces available to buy and sell on, these are some of the top spaces for NFTs.

5. How to Place a Bid

Although there are different processes for bidding depending on each platform, generally this is how bidding and auctions work.

Go to the artwork page of the NFT you would like to bid on and click “Place a bid.” If you’re in the first place to a bid, you must exceed or meet the reserve price that is set by the artist. If the reserve price is already met, the next bid must be higher than the current bid. If your bid is too low, you will get an error message. Otherwise, you will receive a confirmation that your bid is accepted.

Confirm the transaction with your wallet and pay a gas fee to complete the process. Gas fees are required each time that you place a bid or submit any kind of ether transaction. You can keep track of the bids that you’ve placed by clicking on “bids” on your NFT marketplace account.