NFT collectors now ‘trading’ NFTs to avoid extortionate added fees

Savvy NFT collectors have turned to an alternative marketplace to facilitate large sales and 1-for-1 swaps on their NFTs in a bid to avoid the array of additional fees attached to buying and selling non-fungible tokens.

The NFT Trader marketplace – which describes itself as a “breakthrough in the NFT world” – has grown in popularity due to the decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) nature of the platform and its ability to facilitate like-for-like swaps on almost all NFTs on the market.

The premise of the platform is simple – you, the creator of the trade, choose your assets from your wallet and then do the same with selected assets from the counterpart wallet.

A small transaction fee is then paid to create the trading link and voila – your trade has been submitted. It’s then up to the other party to accept the trade that’s been proposed.

Traders have since flocked to the platform to avoid paying the high fees attached to completing similar trades on OpenSea, which would involve selling each asset individually and then buying the asset from the marketplace.

Collectors are also utilising the platform to complete an array of “Cross 1:1 NFT community swaps” – enabling NFT enthusiasts to trade NFTs for an equally valued asset from another collection. 

Both methods help traders by circumventing the cumulative fees associated with selling an NFT then buying another one with the funds. These include royalties, which can range from 2.5-10% on every sale, and gas fees.

According to NFT Trader, “no royalty payments are added” to trades, with the only fee incurred a trading fee of 0.005 ETH.

It also noted that it is planning on giving back royalties to collections by buying them directly using vault funds and storing them.

The platform really captured the attention of the NFT community when it was used to facilitate two record-breaking trades from the Mutant Yacht Ape Club (MAYC) – a derivative of popular “blue-chip” collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

The two trades saw the buyer purchasing two of the rarest ‘1/1’ pieces from the collection – MAYC #1796 and MAYC #9209 – for a collective total of 740 ETH ($2.5m).

The sales were met with great excitement from the NFT community, who referred to the sales as “Mutant Monday indeed, 2 sales for 370 ETH each?” and commented the usual NFT-related tropes including “probably nothing“.