Marketplace

A Marketplace is a contract where you can buy and sell NFTs, such as OpenSea or Rarible.

The Marketplace contract allows users to list NFTs for direct sale or auction. Other users can place offers/bids or buy the NFTs for the specified amount in the listing.

The marketplace can be configured to only allow certain users to list NFTs for sale, or allow any user to list NFTs for sale.

You could use the Marketplace contract to:

• Sell your NFTs on your marketplace
• Create auctions where the highest bidder, after a certain period, wins the NFT
• Create an open marketplace where any user can list NFTs for sale, like OpenSea.

For a detailed exploration of how the marketplace smart contract works, why it was built, and it's limitations, visit our Marketplace Design Doc!

Learn how to create and configure your smart contract using the dashboard.

There are two types of listings in our prebuilt marketplace contract.

Direct listings are low commitment, high-frequency listings; people constantly list and de-list their NFTs based on market trends. So, the listed NFTs and offer amounts are not escrowed in the Marketplace to keep the seller's NFTs and the buyer's currency liquid.

This allows users to list NFTs for sale just by signing an approval; giving them the freedom to list the same NFT in multiple marketplaces, e.g. this Marketplace contract, OpenSea, etc. at the same time.

Key elements of a direct listing:

• Sellers list their NFT for direct sale with the price users can buy it for.
• The NFT remains in your wallet, but you provide permission for the marketplace contract to move the NFT.
• If a user pays the asking price, the NFT will be transferred to them, and the seller will receive the funds.
• Users can make offers below the asking price, and the listing can have multiple offers. The seller can choose to accept an offer at any time.
• Users can cancel their bids at any time.

Auction listings are high commitment, low-frequency listings. The seller and bidders respect the auction window, and recognize that their NFTs / bid amounts will be illiquid for the auction duration, and expect a guaranteed payout at auction closing — the auctioned items for the bidder, and the winning bid amount for the seller.

Both the NFTs that are listed for sale in an auction and the highest bid at any given moment are escrowed in the market.

Key elements of an auction listing:

• Sellers list their NFT for auction with a minimum asking price.
• The NFT is transferred to escrow in the marketplace contract until the auction is canceled or finished.
• Other users can place bids until the auction is closed.
• Users can only make a bid if it is higher than the current highest bid (or asking price if there are no bids). Once made, bids cannot be withdrawn, and the auction contract holds the funds in escrow.
• At the end of the auction, no more bids can be placed.
• At the end of the auction, the closeAuction function needs to be called twice; once for the buyer and once for the seller.

Create a new listing by clicking the New Listing button in the dashboard.