How to sell NFT on Foundation

Anyone on the Foundation can start selling NFTs they own - you just need to connect your wallet before you start.

Currently, there are eight ways to sell NFTs on Foundation: Reserved Auctions, Buy It Now, Deals, Placements, Editions, Galleries, Exhibitions, and Bulk Shelves.

Live auctions for NFTs begin as reserved auctions when bids are received. The auction may last up to 7 days, depending on the duration chosen by the seller.

NFTs with Buy It Now prices are available for immediate sale.

You can make an offer on any NFT on the Foundation and can choose to accept the offer or let it expire.

Drops are NFT collections with a fixed collection size and fixed or dynamic NFT pricing that can be blind cast by a collector - the NFT assets will then be revealed at a later date of your choosing.

Versions are individual NFTs, and Limited Editions can be minted indefinitely for up to 7 days. Limited editions can be minted until the maximum token supply is reached.

Generated series imported from Highlight. These can be fixed auctions or Dutch auctions. These can be minted by individual collectors. When tokens are minted from a Generation Series, the data in the blockchain is passed to the artist's code, resulting in original artwork.

The gallery allows you to create a venue for your exhibition.

Exhibitions allow you to set an auction reserve or buy-it-now price for your NFT with a curator who will share a portion of the final sale price and exist in the gallery.

Bulk Listing Allows you to list a collection in one transaction.

You can use the Buy It Now, Offer It and Hold Auction features at the same time. This means that any NFT can be listed as a Hold Auction at the same time, have a Buy It Now price, and receive an offer on Foundation. When an auction is active, the other sales methods are not available.

Mix and match these features until you find the technology that works best for you.

Let's take a closer look at each option:

Listing NFTs

You can list NFTs on the Foundation's Marketplace in the same transaction through a Buy It Now or Reserve It Auction.

Reserve Auction

To make your NFT eligible for auction within 7 days, you can set a reserve price. This allows buyers to bid at that starting price and starts the auction countdown. You can set any length of time from 15 minutes to 7 days.

This method of selling also uses Foundation Marketplace smart contracts to seamlessly transfer your NFTs and buyers' funds at each stage of the auction.

Setting a reserve price is easy:

Navigate to the NFT page and click Sell NFT.

Enter the desired reserve price. Note that you can also set a Buy It Now price for the NFT if you wish.

Enter the desired length of the auction. You can choose any length from 15 minutes to 7 days.

Click Pending Listings to continue.

Select when your listing will take effect.

This can be scheduled for a future date or you can add your listing immediately.

Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Once the reserve price is set, your NFTs will be held securely by Foundation Marketplace smart contracts at various stages of the auction.

Once a buyer has placed a bid at the reserve price, the auction will begin. For each bid placed within the last 2 minutes of the countdown, the countdown timer will reset back to 5 minutes until no further bids are received and the timer eventually runs out. The highest bidder at the end of the timer will win the auction.

Buy Now

The easiest and fastest way to sell NFTs on Foundation is set a fixed price for the NFT and buyers can purchase it with just a few clicks.

To set a Buy It Now price for your NFT:

Navigate to the NFT page and click Sell NFT.

Enter the desired Buy It Now price. Note that you can also set a reserve price for the NFT if you wish.

Click List for Sale.

Select when your listing will take effect.

This can be scheduled for a future date or you can add your listing immediately.

Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Once you have set your Buy It Now price, your NFT will be held securely in a Foundation Marketplace contract until it is sold or taken off the shelf.

When the buyer completes the Buy It Now transaction, the funds are immediately yours!

Edit Listing

After you list an NFT, you can edit the price of the listing.

To edit your Reserve Auction or Buy Now listing:

1.Navigate to the NFT and click Edit Listing.

2.Click the X to edit the Reserve and/or Buy Now listing.

3.Set your desired price(s) and click Set price.

4.Click Update listing and confirm the transaction.

To edit the auction duration of a Reserve Auction:

1.Navigate to the NFT and click the three dots on the Sell modal.

2.Remove the listing and unlist the NFT entirely.

3.Then click Sell NFT to relist with a new Reserve Auction and duration.

Exercise caution when updating a Reserve Auction or Buy Now price for an NFT listed in an Exhibition, because it cannot be added back if the Exhibition has already started. Pricing can still be edited after the start date.

Settling an auction

Auctions aren‘t finalized until they’ve been settled - anyone can settle an auction on Foundation. Settling an auction will instantly transfer the funds to your wallet, and send the NFT to the winning bidder.

If youd like to settle the auction yourself, the steps are :

1.Navigate to the NFT or Activity pages and click “Settle auction”.

2.Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Once the auction is settled, your transaction is complete - the funds are transferred to your wallet and your NFT is sold!

Offers

On Foundation, buyers can submit offers on any NFT. Offers use the Foundation Marketplace smart contract, which ensures a secure, blockchain-backed experience for all parties. When you accept a buyers offer, the funds are immediately paid out and the NFT is transferred to the new owner. Any offer that is greater than or equal to the buy-now price for an NFT is also automatically accepted.

To accept an offer:

1.Navigate to the NFT page or your Activity page and click “Accept Offer”.

2.Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

The funds will be deposited into your wallet and the NFT will be transferred to the new owner.

Drops

Drops are collections with a fixed number of NFTs set with Fixed or Dynamic Pricing that collectors can mint themselves. Once you‘ve started your drop, they’ll see a pre-reveal image on their minted NFT until the true asset is revealed at a later date of your choosing.

Editions

Edition collections on Foundation are ERC-721 smart contracts designed for collectors to mint from an unlimited supply of the same asset for a limited time of up to 7 days for Timed Editions or until the maximum token supply is reached for Limited Editions. After that, minting is closed on that edition contract forever.

Highlight Generative Series

The foundation now supports importing Highlight's Limited and Open Generative Series for code-based generative art. Learn how to import a generative series to get started.

Galleries

Galleries are a web3-native curation tool. After creating a gallery, curators can create an exhibition and add sellers to an exhibition allowlist. Exhibitions allow sellers to add their NFTs or Editions/Drops collections to this curated experience. Sellers are creators and collectors who list their NFTs and Edition collections in an exhibition.

Exhibitions

This curatorial tool allows curators to create distinct, time-based shows in a gallery, similar to how an IRL gallery creates exhibitions. These Exhibitions have their own custom allowlist and curator fee. Sellers added to the allowlist can list their NFTs or launch their Drops or Editions directly into the exhibition.

Listing a 1/1 NFT in an exhibition

If the NFT has an existing Buy Now or Reserve price, those prices will need to be removed before the NFT can be added to a gallery.

If youve been added as a seller for an exhibition, follow these steps to add your NFTs to the exhibition:

1.Click “Sell Your NFT”

If your NFT is already listed, click “Edit Listing”, unlist your NFT, and then click “Sell your NFT”

2.Select the exhibition that youd like to sell your NFT with. Only Exhibitions that the seller has been invited to will appear in the dropdown.

3.Then you can add a reserve price or a Buy Now price.

If you select a Reserve price, youll need to set the price and then select your preferred auction duration.

If you set a Buy now price, youll be prompted to set your price.

4.Choose when your listing becomes active.

This can be scheduled for a future date, or your listing can be added immediately.

5.Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Please exercise caution when editing the listing after the exhibition start date. NFTs cannot be added to an exhibition after it has launched and will no longer appear in the choose where to sell dropdown menu.

With your NFT now listed in an exhibition, you can view the NFT page for exhibition details or navigate to the exhibition page to view the NFT in the exhibition.

Collectors can place bids, make offers, or immediately buy NFTs in an exhibition. Placing a bid in an exhibition follows the same flow as Reserve Auctions, and having an offer in an exhibition follows the same flow as Offers. Buying immediately in Exhibitions also follows the same flow as Buy Now's. All transaction types will pay the curator the designated curator fee once the sale is complete.

For Base 1/1s, they may only be added to Exhibitions created within a Base Gallery. You cannot add an L2 1/1 to a non-L2 Exhibition at this time.

Launch an edition in an exhibition

Edition collections are smart contracts designed for unlimited minting of a specific NFT for up to 7 days for timed editions or until the max token supply is reached for limited editions. After that, minting is closed on that edition contract forever.

You can launch your edition collection in an exhibition during the creation flow. For guidance on launching your new edition collection in an exhibition, take a look at our Create an Edition article. Each mint will pay the curator the designated curator fee.

Base Editions may only be added to Exhibitions created within a Base Gallery. You cannot add an L2 Edition to a non-L2 Exhibition at this time.

Launch a drop in an exhibition

Drops are NFT collections with fixed collection sizes and Fixed or Dynamic NFT Pricing that can be minted blind by collectors - the NFT assets are then revealed at a later date of your choosing.

You can launch your drop collection in an exhibition during the creation flow. For guidance on launching your new drop collection in an exhibition, take a look at our Schedule your Drop article. Each mint will pay the curator the designated curator fee.

Base Drops, may only be added to Exhibitions created within a Base Gallery. You cannot add an L2 Drop to a non-L2 Exhibition at this time.

Batch listing

A creator can list multiple NFTs in a collection at once with batch listing. Up to 50 NFTs can be batch-listed at once. These NFTs can also be scheduled to be listed at a future date.

To batch list a collection, navigate to your collection of choice and then click List.

You will then be taken to the batch listing screen. Only NFTs without a Reserve Auction or Buy Now price will be shown in this view.

If certain NFTs in the collection already have a Reserve Auction or Buy Now price, you will not see those NFTs available for batch listing in this view.

Select the NFTs you'd like to list, add them to an exhibition you have been allowed to, enter the Reserve Auction and/or Buy Now price, and schedule when you'd like your listing to go live.

1.Click List NFTs.

2.Confirm the transaction in your wallet.

Your collection has now been batch-listed!

Approving the Foundation Marketplace contract

Every action you make on the blockchain prompts a transaction that requires your approval. The notification will display in your digital wallet and may vary depending on your wallet provider. Take caution to ensure that you are only approving transactions from trusted sources.

As you transact on Foundation, we ask that you grant access to engage within the Foundation ecosystem.

What happens to funds and NFTs while on the Foundation Marketplace？

Foundation stores as much data as possible on the blockchain to ensure a secure and verifiable record of your assets. Whether you have an NFT listed with a Buy Now price, or youve just placed a bid on an NFT — we use the Foundation Marketplace smart contract to keep your funds and NFTs safe as they move through transaction states.

The web3 integrity we stand for is shown in the way Foundation handles NFT transactions. Unlike other marketplaces, every NFT transaction that is made on Foundation is stored publicly on, and is securely backed by, the Ethereum blockchain.

What does this mean？

An NFT will move into the Foundation Marketplace contract during the following scenarios:

Buying

After placing a bid, the Foundation Marketplace contract will securely hold your funds while the auction is live and before the auction is settled.

If you win an auction, and the auction has been settled, the Foundation Marketplace contract sends your funds directly to the seller and transfers the NFT into your wallet. If youre outbid, the Foundation Marketplace contract ensures that funds are automatically sent back to your wallet.

having an Offer has a different flow — Offer funds are held securely in the Foundation Marketplace contract until the Offer is either accepted, exceeded by another offer, or expired. Funds from expired Offers are kept in your Marketplace Balance, ready for you to use to make another Offer, place a Bid, or Buy Now. You can also convert the funds in your Marketplace Balance back to ETH at any time.

When purchasing an NFT via Buy Now, the transaction is finalized immediately with the Foundation Marketplace contract. The funds go directly to the seller and the NFT is transferred into your wallet.

Selling

Listing your NFT with a Buy Now or Reserve price places your NFT in the Foundation Marketplace smart contract, which will safely hold your NFT until the relevant transaction has been settled. While your NFT is listed on the Foundation marketplace, it cant be listed for sale elsewhere at the same time.

If a collector has won your NFT in an auction, the auction is then ready to be settled. Once the auction has been settled, the smart contract automatically transfers the funds into your wallet, and sends the NFT to the collector.

When accepting an Offer, or selling a NFT via Buy Now, the transaction prompts the Foundation Marketplace contract to send the Offer funds into your wallet, and transfer the NFT to the collector.

How can I tell if my NFT is on the Foundation Marketplace contract？

If your NFT is listed with a Buy Now or Reserve price on Foundation, it is on the Foundation Marketplace smart contract. You might notice the Etherscan page for the token showing the owner as “Foundation: Market” instead of your wallet address. You may also find that the NFT is not displaying under “owned” NFTs in your wallet app.

Although ownership may be shown as “Foundation: Market”, your NFTs are owned by you. You have full control of your NFTs listed on Foundation, and you can pull the NFT from the Foundation Marketplace by unlisting it.

How can I remove my NFT from the Marketplace contract？

As long as your NFT isnt in a live auction, you can unlist your NFT from the Foundation Marketplace by removing the Buy Now and/or Reserve price.

Why cant I burn or transfer my NFT while it is on the Marketplace contract？

Your NFT must be unlisted from the Foundation Marketplace before you can burn it or transfer the NFT to a different wallet.