This morning I accepted a bid on my first project at Async.art (no longer exists as of 2024) and made my first NFT sale. This is exciting to me, because the piece that sold was once a regular one of my paintings that I’d sold in real life last year. I’d made a lot of changes to it and turned it into a completely different digital painting, so it’s not the same as selling the same work in two formats.

I suppose I could do that, but it doesn’t feel right to me to do so. Rather than simply offer the same thing in a digital format, I’d rather make it a new work using the original as the foundation. If I do mint without changing it, then it’ll be one I still own, not one I’ve sold to someone else.

Here’s the painting I started with, and then the ways it is changed. This NFT artwork changes each hour to show the progression of the year’s worth of seasons in a 24 hour period. There is one frame like the original painting. I hope I can make more sales of this sort this year.

Prices

This is usually a private matter in the traditional art world, but in the world of blockchain, everything is public. The names of participants may be anonymous, but not what is minted or bought and sold or for how much.

It’s with a bit of embarrasment that I am sharing this information, though, because I didn’t understand the protocol for what to do with a bid I wasn’t sure how to accept. The bidders didn’t message me at Twitter or any of the other social links I have provided and I wasn’t sure if the handle they used at Async was the same handle they use at Twitter. So I didn’t message them, either. The first bid stood at .1Eth for a week or so, then the second bidder (the ultimate winner), upped it by only 0.001 Eth. Then I let that sit for a few weeks. The last bidder didn’t withdraw the bid, though, so I went ahead and accepted.

Breakdown from my first NFT sale

for 0.101Eth, which amounted to $388 at the time. The USD to ETH value fluctuates with the cryptocurrency being like an asset in the stock market. So as long as I leave it in my digital wallet, that value could increase or decrease to more or less dollars. I could convert it to USD if I want to, but I’m going to keep it for future NFT art minting fees.

• $388 sale price
• $45.64 commission/fee to Async (not sure if that’s the commission or the token transfer fee)
• $62.66 gas fee (it’s like the toll to drive on the Ethereum blockchain. This fluctuates too and I should have waited until it was lower)
• $40.16 original fee to mint
• $11.13 fee to list for sale
• Profit after expenses: $228.41

So, for a secondary sale on a digitized version of a painting I’d already sold at my regular prices for an 8 x 10″ piece, that’s not too bad. It took me about a week to do the Photoshop embellishments, but a lot of that time was figuring out how to do it. I’ve gotten better and faster with it since then. All in all, I’m happy with this breakdown. Still, for my next nft sale, I hope to have a better price. They’re not all easy or quick to make. The more of them I’ve done, the more embellishments I’m adding.

But when you sell an NFT, you do have to be careful not to come out in the hole for it. This is why I’d originally listed it for a higher price and why it took me so long to decide to accept the lower offer. I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose money on the endeavor. When setting prices, you can always accept less, but you can’t raise them higher.

How to view NFT artwork

Once I make more sales like this, I’d like to buy a few of some of the other artist’s works I’ve seen out there. Follow me at Twitter if you’d like to see the ones I’m finding beautiful, because I RT those when I see them posted by other artists.

Here’s a link to some of the frames to hang on the wall for enjoying your collections. I don’t have any of these because they’re all fairly pricey. Some of them might come in smaller, more affordable sizes, though.

• Token Frame
• Canvia (this is my Amazon affiliate link for this item)
• Meural

Aside from using one of the frames, you can get your NFT as a .jpg file and use it however you like (non-commercially, for the most part). Many people make their avatars at social media sites with their NFT’s. But those types are usually different than the ones I enjoy. The ones I like are more like actual artworks I’d love in real life. They’re not always going to make good profile pics, and the wacky cartoon characters just don’t appeal to me. That’s not to say that those types are not profitable for the makers – because they are. They’re hugely popular to a large group of collectors. The collectors that buy those are buying into a whole community, and that’s a large part of the appeal.

Summary

All in all I’m happy with my first NFT art sale. If you’re curious or have questions about how this all works, feel free to contact me. I’m way on the low end of the front side of the learning curve, though I’m happy to share what I think I know.