What is an NFT? 

As a quick refresher, NFTs operate on blockchain technology. The blockchain is basically a large, digital public record. The most popular blockchains are distributed across many nodes (read: people’s computers), which is why you’ll hear them described as “decentralized.”

Let’s say someone wants to buy a photography NFT from your collection. Buyers are able to see the entire history of that NFT, all the past owners, every sale, and all the way back to the time the NFT was minted onto the blockchain, establishing provable authenticity and verified ownership. 

What does it mean to mint an NFT?

Minting an NFT refers to the process of writing a digital item to the blockchain. This establishes its immutable record of authenticity and ownership. This process also usually involves assigning metadata to the NFT, which can include things like its traits, associated image or other media, a written description of the NFT, and other relevant details. Minting establishes ownership and provenance of the digital item on the blockchain, ensuring its uniqueness and authenticity.

Both creators and collectors can mint NFTs, which establishes verified ownership and ownership history. For creators, minting their own NFTs gives them direct ownership and control, and allows them to build special communities by distributing the NFTs (by selling them or gifting them) over a period of time. When either the creator or a collector mints an NFT from a project, they become the first-ever owner of that NFT, since the NFT is written onto the blockchain during the mint.

What does it mean to drop an NFT collection?

When a new NFT collection is released it’s referred to as a “drop.” When NFTs are dropped, they become available for individuals to claim, purchase, or acquire in some way. 

Often, those using the term “drop” are using it to describe a release in which the general public or specific group(s) (like a particular collection’s community) is given the first opportunity to mint the NFTs within a new collection, as opposed to the creator of the collection minting the NFTs into their own wallet and then later listing them for sale. On OpenSea, our “Drops” page showcases projects that fall into the former category.

NFT drops can be released to the public, or a specific group called an “allowlist,” which is a list of wallet addresses that are given the opportunity to mint NFTs before a drop is opened to a general audience. Typically, when an NFT project announces its upcoming drop (often on the project’s official Twitter or Discord), it will include information about the allowlist, “the reveal” (of metadata and artwork), and the drop schedule. 

What is the reveal?

Sometimes, NFT projects don’t reveal their artwork until some time after the project drops and minting is complete. This means that when buyers participate in the drop, the NFTs everyone mints will at first look the same (often they’ll display placeholder pre-reveal artwork until the intended artwork is revealed). Later, the NFT metadata and artwork will be “revealed” when the drop creator updates the NFT’s metadata. 

Although the NFT you own is still the original token, the image will look different in the end. This is common when NFTs within a given collection have different traits or varying rarity. It’s up to the creator to decide when they want to reveal the collection’s artwork, and the timeline varies from creator to creator.

What is a drop schedule?

Many times, an NFT drop will include multiple stages, including an allowlist phase (sometimes called a “pre-mint”) that gives early access to those who are on the allowlist. Sometimes, a project might have more than one allowlist phase. The drop schedule (sometimes referred to as “mint schedule”) will outline who’s eligible to mint and when. The reveal date may also be included in the drop schedule, although the reveal timeline may also be announced after the drop happens.

Drops on OpenSea using OpenSea Studio

Anyone can set up their own drop on OpenSea using OpenSea Studio. You can either drop a collection where your community mints the NFTs (by clicking the “Drop a collection” button), or create a collection where your work is minted into your own wallet and then you release it for sale (by clicking the “Create an NFT” button).

If you choose “Drop a collection” where your community mints, you can create and manage your drop end-to-end — including setting up allowlist phases, uploading media and metadata (with helpful preview functionality), and building the drop page.

If you choose “Create an NFT,” the works you mint will be minted into your own wallet and you can list them for sale at a later time.

In both scenarios, OpenSea Studio’s tools are available for most blockchains compatible with OpenSea, buyers can mint an NFT from your collection using cryptocurrency or a credit or debit card, and there are no coding or technical skills required.

Explore OpenSea Studio or learn more about how to drop (meaning, your community can mint your work) or how to create a collection (meaning, you will mint your work to your own wallet first).

Drop a collection or create an NFT here.

How can I find upcoming and past drops on OpenSea?

On OpenSea.io, click “Drops” at the top left of our homepage to navigate to a page of select active, upcoming, and past OpenSea Drops. As a reminder, the collections shown on our Drops page are releases in which the community will be or has been the first to mint the NFTs within a collection, as opposed to the creator of the collection minting the NFTs into their own wallet and then later listing them for sale. 

Will OpenSea automatically feature my drop in the “Featured Drops” tab? 

Anyone can create their own drop on OpenSea, which makes it challenging to showcase every drop. So, at this time, using our self-serve tools to create a drop doesn’t guarantee that the drop will be added to OpenSea’s Featured Drops tab.

For more information, please see our Help Center’s article, What is OpenSea's policy on featuring drops?

Do collectors pay gas fees when minting?

Yes, minting an NFT costs gas no matter who mints it. Generally speaking, gas fees occur for attempted transactions on the blockchain, including a mint. The amount will vary depending on a variety of factors, such as how many people are using the blockchain’s network at that moment. OpenSea does not control gas prices, nor does it receive them, and OpenSea is not able to refund gas fees. You'd pay gas fees even if you weren't able to successfully mint an item. When a creator mints items into their own wallet (which they may sell at a later date), they also pay gas to mint those NFTs.

Now that you understand the basics of prepping your smart contract and drop page, you can get to creating. Once you’ve published your drop page, users will be able to search for NFTs that interest them by using the search bar or browsing by categories and may find your collection’s drop page.

We also have set tools in our Help Center on how to best market your drop.