Frequently Asked Questions

MakersPlace is a marketplace to discover and collect truly unique digital creations by the world's most creative minds. We empower digital creators with the tools to protect and sell their digital creations to their fans and collectors. Artists, photographers, writers, and more use MakersPlace to create and sell their work online through the use of blockchain technology.

A blockchain is a publicly accessible online ledger (database), that is not owned by any central authority. Once anything is set in this ledger, it cannot be modified or censored by any single authority. Blockchain technology provides the following benefits to creators:

Each of these benefits is inherently available to you, just by using the blockchain. Even if MakersPlace ceases to exist, your digital creations will forever remain on the blockchain, and forever be transferable/purchasable. Having said that, interacting with the blockchain is still quite complex. What we are offering is a service that makes blockchain technology simple, and provide its benefits to all creators.

Like any technology however, blockchain isn't immune to risks. Please reference our Terms of Service if you'd like to learn more.

• Proof of ownership and authenticity on the blockchain. We offer simple-to-use tools to help you digitally sign and upload your work onto the blockchain, creating verifiable proof that you are the creator and owner of your work.

• Custom storefront. We provide tools to help you easily create a customized storefront that you can then share with your audience to sell your work.

• Distribution. We've partnered with the largest online marketplaces to help you syndicate your work and reach a broader audience to sell your work.

MakersPlace is currently free to use for all members. However, all transaction fees associated with blockchain interaction are paid by the end user.

On successful sales, MakersPlace takes a 15% commission on all purchases in Ether and additionally a credit card transaction fee for purchases done through credit card.

MakersPlace is currently invite-only, however we'd love for you to join us. Please fill out our creator application.

MakersPlace is a web-based service that you can use on both desktop and mobile.

Customers can optionally use third party wallets (e.g. MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet) to purchase digital creations using Ether, but otherwise no additional software is needed to use MakersPlace.

If you have any issues or questions, you can reach us by filling out this form. We will get back to you within two business days.

A digital wallet is software that manages your cryptocurrencies and also allows you to interact with blockchain technologies like Ethereum. MakersPlace uses your digital wallet to publish and sell your digital creations using the Ethereum blockchain.

All creators on MakersPlace are provided with a hosted digital wallet that is securely managed by MakersPlace using the highest grade security.

Your blockchain wallet is your ID on the Ethereum blockchain and is used to digitally sign all of your creations on MakersPlace.

When joining MakersPlace, you have the option to use a personal digital wallet or use a MakersPlace-issued wallet that is managed by MakersPlace. If you have a personal wallet, we recommend using it. Learn more.

If you need to create a personal wallet, we recommend using MetaMask.

Ethereum is the blockchain that MakersPlace uses. See what is a blockchain for more details.

Ethereum is also considered by many as a world computer. That means that any information stored on it isn't managed by any central authority, but rather stored across thousands of computers worldwide.

Ether or Ξ is the cyptocurrency used to interact with Ethereum. It's also the primary cryptocurrency used by MakersPlace to buy and sell your digital creations.

Ethereum is considered a world computer, operated by many computers across the world. This means that interacting with it incurs a transaction fee called gas to compensate the operators of Ethereum.

This gas fee is paid in Ether and can vary in price depending on how quickly you wish to publish your creations and the demand on the blockchain. Generally, you should expect this fee to range from $3 ~ $15 dollars.

At this time, gas fees associated with creation, setting prices and sending artworks will need to be paid for by the artist or collector.

Learn how to "Speed Up" a transaction.

MakersPlace is run on the Ethereum blockchain, which is considered a world computer, operated by many computers across the world. This means that interacting with it incurs a transaction fee called gas to compensate the operators of Ethereum.

MakersPlace has historically paid this gas fee when the blockchain is not congested. However, due to recent high demand on the blockchain, we require gas fees to be paid by the artist or collector.

When you perform any site action that relies on the blockchain (e.g creation, setting prices, sending, etc) you will need to pay the blockchain fee by clicking the "Speed Up" icon beside your pending action. Your transaction will complete within a few minutes.

At this time we don't support multiple addresses. Having multiple addresses can lead to confusion because all creations are signed using the address of the creator. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions and we can assist you.

A browser plug-in that allows users to purchase digital creations in Ether.

The Ethereum blockchain is considered a world computer, operated by many computers worldwide. Interacting with it incurs a fee called gas. Learn more.

When the demand for the Ethereum blockchain increases, the gas cost also increases.

When using a personal wallet for creating your artwork, it's important for you to save the 12-word seed phrase associated with your wallet and store it in a secure place. If you ever need to recover your wallet, this is the only way to do it.

If you lose your 12-word seed phrase associated with your wallet, all of your artworks will be lost forever.

Here's how to reveal your seed phrase using MetaMask.

In order to burn tokens you must "gift" them to the burn wallet. You can do that from this page.

Here is the burn wallet address: 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000dead

If you can't send the artwork then you must first take the creation off sale. Do this by going to "Your Creations" --> "Set a Price" --> "Delist".

Please be aware it costs a gas fee to burn.

Safebox is a secure NFT storage system operated on your behalf. It provides users ease and flexibility to purchase and manage their NFTs without being a crypto expert. It enables credit card purchases on all NFTs. When a customer purchases an NFT without a connected web3 wallet, the NFT resides in Safebox. While the NFT is in Safebox, you, the purchaser, maintain full control over the NFT and can sell it or transfer it out of Safebox at any time.

Safebox provides industry-leading security and purchase flexibility to our customers. It enables all customers to purchase NFTs with a credit card and have it stored for them without needing to manage a web3 wallet. This ease of use and purchasing helps customers focus on collecting great NFTs and less time on the setup of web3 wallets and ETH purchases.

It can take up to 60 minutes, but will typically be much faster. This is to ensure robust security and protection of your NFTs. We display the estimated wait time when a transfer is initiated.

Safebox supports all ERC-721 tokens, but users should never send NFTs from personal wallets into Safebox. Safebox is meant for secure management of NFTs for those who do not have a web3 wallet themselves.

A unique digital creation is a digital creation (art, photograph, song..) that's been digitally signed by the creator and uniquely identified on the blockchain. In a world where anything digital can be infinitely copied, a unique digital creation can only owned by a single individual.

Watch our video to learn more:

MakersPlace uniquely generates a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for every creation published. This token is what provides proof of ownership and authenticity of your creation.

We also use an open standard (ERC-721), which means that any creation is immediately available on 3rd party digital marketplaces, giving your work additional visibility. This is the same standard that is used by the majority of blockchain-based digital assets like CryptoKitties and others.

MakersPlace is a platform for creators and has no rights over your creations. We are committed to ensuring that any digital creation published through MakersPlace is owned by you (the creator). You can find more details in our terms of service.

Yes. We highly recommend uploading only high resolution digital files where possible. Collectors are most interested in purchasing the highest quality version of your work, to display and print after they purchase.

Every digital creation uploaded on MakersPlace is stored in a secure location that's only available to you and collectors, upon purchase.

When publishing your creations to the blockchain, MakersPlace stores your files in a secure location only you (creator) and future owners can access upon purchase. We only display previews of your image and also allow creators to upload watermarked images for the public to view.

Yes! You can send any creation that you upload or own to another digital wallet. MakersPlace makes this easy to do, just go into your store manager and click Send a Gift.

Please note. Always double check that you're sending your creation to the right address. Once you send a creation through the blockchain, there is no turning back. MakersPlace can't retrieve a creation that was sent to the wrong address.

Yes, due to way the blockchain works, it may take some time for your creations to publish. Similar to printing a real physical creation, uploading your creations to the blockchain requires work by hundreds of computers worldwide.

If you have additional questions, you can contact us at: [email protected].

You're selling a signed and limited edition copy of your digital creation to be owned. Upon purchase, the buyer will be given the right to use, distribute and display the creation for non-commercial purposes only. Since the buyer owns this unique copy, they can also re-sell the creation on a secondary market or even directly on MakersPlace.

Similar to a physical creation, the buyer will be able to do what they'd normally be able to do once they purchase a physical piece. This capability is what makes your digital creations more valuable.

MakersPlace helps you sell your creations by allowing you to set a price or accept offers from buyers to purchase directly from your store or through one of our partner marketplaces. Besides needing to meet the minimum sales price (the cost of generating your art on the blockchain), you are free to set the price as you please. All sale prices are based in Ether.

There are two ways to sell your creations:

1. Setting a fixed price. When you're ready to put your creation up for sale, click on Manage Store in the header and click the Set a Price button next to your creation to set a price for your creation.

2. Accepting an offer. If you're unsure about how to price your creation you can leave the price empty and wait to receive an offer.

We always recommend setting a price as well as accepting offers, since it helps the buyer gauge the value of your work.

A digital edition is synonymous to the popular concept in printmaking. When you upload your digital creations on MakersPlace, you're uploading it as a limited edition. This ensures that only a limited number of copies of your digital creation can ever be owned by collectors.
This is strictly enforced via blockchain technology.

Limited Editions Equate to Value
The number of editions you issue has an important impact on the value of your work. A smaller number of editions will increase the rarity and attractiveness to a collector, since collectors place enormous value owning a unique asset over something that's more commonly attainable. A larger number of editions, however, allows your work to be owned by more collectors at a lower price point, but may not be attractive to collectors who place more value on rarity.

A Guide to Setting your Editions
Here is a simple guide that we recommend following:

1 - A one-of-a-kind creation. Creations with 1 edition can only be owned by one collector at any given time, making it the most attractive to a collector. These creations should command the highest sale price.

10 - A rare digital creation. Creations with 10 editions may be sold and owned by up to 10 collectors at any given time. Although still rare, because it can be owned by multiple collectors, each edition should command a slightly lower sale price than an edition of one.

100+ - A limited digital creation. Creations with 100+ editions may be owned by many collectors at a given time. Although still limited, because it can be owned by many collectors, collectors will expect the price of each edition to be much lower.

MakersPlace gives you the flexibility to set your own editions, however we highly discourage setting a very large edition count.

MakersPlace requires setting your sale price in Ether. Setting your price in Ether allows customers worldwide to be able to purchase your creations using Ether, and doesn't incur any transaction fees.

For creators residing in select countries, MakersPlace supports purchases using a credit card. When this happens, we will convert your creation's price in Ether to US dollars at the point of sale.

There are production costs associated with creating and selling a unique creation which MakersPlace is currently paying for. (learn more) Because of this we require a minimum price to ensure that your creation sells for enough to cover these costs.

You own the rights to your work, so you can sell your creations elsewhere. However, once you've tokenized your creation as a limited edition, it's important that you do not issue more tokens of the same creations which may negatively affect the value of your creation.

In order to sell your creation, MakersPlace requires the permission to transfer your creation to the buyer when a sale occurs. This permission only allows MakersPlace to transfer your creation in exchange for the full sale amount.

Every interaction with the blockchain incurs a small transaction fee which you will need to pay in the form of Ether.

Congratulations! A collector has expressed interest in owning your unique digital creation by submitting an offer. There are three options available to you:

1. Accept the Offer. If you're happy with the offer, go to your live offers page and click Accept next to the offer. We'll take care of everything else.

2. Decline the Offer. If the offer is too low, go to your live offers page and click Reject next to the offer. This will immediately let the collector know that their offer was declined. Sometimes the collector will offer a higher amount, but there are no guarantees. If the collector has made their profile public, you could also try reaching out to them within our Discord community, sometimes introducing yourself and sharing your story can lead to a higher offer.

3. Wait for a Higher Offer. If you believe you can receive a higher offer, you can try to wait. If the original offer was reasonable, we suggest not waiting more than a few days since the collector may lose interest. "Money now is always better than money later!"

If you have any questions, reach out to the support team on Discord or at: [email protected].

First off, congratulations, someone is interested in collecting your work! Now comes the fun part, do you accept the offer or do you wait for a higher one?

If you believe you can receive a higher offer, we suggest waiting. However, if the offer is fairly close to your asking price, we suggest not waiting more than a few days since the collector may lose interest. "Money now is always better than money later!"

However, beware of accepting offers that are considerably lower than your asking price. It may be tempting to sell your work quickly, but remember that selling your works at a low price could de-value your existing and future works as well. If you already have collectors who paid for your previous works, they also won't be excited to learn that you've sold your new works at a significant discount.

When uploading a new creation, there is an "Add Collaborator" link which will allow you to search for a creator to add as a collaborator. To prevent unwanted collaborations, your collaborator must follow you in order for you to add them as a collaborator.

When creating an artwork with a collaborator, the ownership splits will be saved directly onto the token, on the blockchain. This allows for the royalty information to be retrieved by any 3rd party entity. For this reason, we require collaborators to have a connected personal digital wallet. A personal digital wallet can be connected within the creator's settings page, by clicking the link to "Connect a Personal Digital Wallet".

When an artwork is created in collaboration with another creator, the creator who uploaded the artwork is appointed as the primary creator. Only the primary creator is allowed to set prices and accept offers on the creation.

Depending on what form of payment was used to purchase your digital creation, you'll get paid accordingly.

You can view all purchases and payments issued to you by going to your Sale History in the store manager. You can set your preferred payment options by going to the Wallets and Withdrawal page.

Ether is a digital currency that is becoming widely adopted worldwide as a global currency. If you've earned Ether for selling your work, there are a number of options available for you:

1. Spend it Online. The easiest way to spend your newly earned Ether is to spend it online. Every day there is a growing number of online merchants that are accepting Ether as a form of payment. Here is a helpful article.

2. Convert it to Local Currency. You can convert your Ether into your local currency through any public exchange. Currently 1 Ether is equivalent to $2331.11 USD. Be sure to use a reputable online exchange when converting your Ether, we recommend using Coinbase. Coinbase is a popular, reputable and widely supported digital currency exchange.

3. Support your fellow Creators, start your own Collection. Explore, collect and invest in unique artworks and creations from other leading digital creators on MakersPlace. Start discovering!

If you are an accepted or curated artist waiting for your final verification and have not heard back within 2 days of contacting us, please email [email protected].

All creators on MakersPlace require that you place a minimum bid of 10% above the most recent offer. This is meant to encourage a healthy exchange between collectors when vying for the same artwork.

If you’re seeing this, it means that the artist has set a minimum offer amount that they’re willing to accept for their creation.

Any artwork that you purchase on MakersPlace can be sold on the secondary market to other collectors. Through your account manager, you have the option to set a reserve price. If you don't set a price, anyone can still submit an offer to purchase your artwork.

Credit Card Purchases. If you've purchased your artwork using a credit card, you'll be able to set a price, receive bids and accept offers without the use of a digital wallet. We do enforce a 72 hour holding period of all artworks purchased with a credit card to prevent fraudulent behavior.

Ether Purchases. If you've purchased your artwork using your own personal wallet, you will need to grant our smart contract a one-time permission to transfer your artwork when a sale occurs. Our smart contracts have been audited and ensure that only you or a buyer can access your artworks.

MakersPlace witholds 12.5% of each secondary market sale.

2.5% will go to MakersPlace and the other 10% will go to the creator as a royalty.

Yes. In order to accept credit cards, when you set a price on your artwork you'll be presented with an option to Accept Credit Cards.

In order to accept credit card payments, MakersPlace will need to act as a custodian, which means that our systems will have access to transfer your artwork to the buyer, upon successful sale. If you don't feel comfortable giving this permission, you can opt out of this option when setting a price on your work.

In order to guarantee each sale between you and the buyer, MakersPlace requires you to give approval to a smart contract whose sole purpose is to faciliate sales and offers. No one except you can access your artwork even when giving this permission.

You can revoke this permission any time by going to your account settings.

In order to guarantee each sale between you and the buyer, MakersPlace requires you to give approval to a smart contract whose sole purpose is to faciliate sales and offers.

If you wish to revoke this permission, you can do so any time by going to your account settings.

Please note that revoking this permission will cancel all of your sales and you won't be able to accept any offers for your artworks.

You're buying a limited edition digital creation, signed by the creator. Upon purchase, you'll be given the right to use, distribute and display the creation for non-commercial purposes. Since you own this unique creation, you can also re-sell the same non-commercial use rights, to the creation, on a secondary market or even directly on MakersPlace.

Upon purchase, you can access the high resolution digital file which you can display on any digital device or even print out, for personal use. All the while, knowing that you have the authentic piece, verifiable on the blockchain.

Watch our explainer video to learn more:

Whether a creation is priced outside of your comfort range or doesn't have a price tag, bidding is a great way to try to acquire a creation for a particular price. You can bid with your credit card or with Ether.

Bidding with a Credit Card. Once you've provided an offer amount and your credit card details, your bid will be submitted for the creator to review. If the creator accepts your offer, the creation will be transferred to your MakersPlace collection. When the offer is submitted, an authorization for the full bid amount will be placed on your card, however it is not charged. Your credit card will only be charged after your offer is accepted. If the offer isn't accepted within 4 days, the offer will automatically be cancelled.

Bidding with Ether. Once you've provided an offer amount and confirmed with your Ethereum wallet, your bid will be submitted for the creator to review. If the creator accepts your offer, the creation will be transferred to your MakersPlace collection.

💡Tip: Submitting a higher offer on the same creation will automatically cancel your previous offer.

A committed offer is an offer that cannot be cancelled and will only be refunded if the offer is outbid or a higher offer is made.

All offers made during the closing time of an auction will be committed. This is done to prevent unfair cancelling of offers during the waning moments of an auction.

A reserve price indicates the minimum amount the creator is willing to sell their artwork for. When the reserve price is met, the creator agrees to accept the highest offer within a 4 day period.

You may still make an offer below the reserve price, in case the creator decides to lower their reserve price.

Purchases with Ethereum. If you purchased your digital creation with Ethereum, your creation resides in your digital wallet. If you register with MakersPlace, you can view, showcase and share your creations with the world by connecting your Ethereum wallet.

Purchases with Credit Card. If you purchased your digital creation with a credit card, then MakersPlace will have created a digital wallet for you to store your creation. You can view your creation by going to your collection in your profile.

When you purchase a digital creation with a credit card, we provide the option for you to save your credit card information for future purchases. MakersPlace works with Stripe, a third-party payment gateway to manage your saved credit cards, which means that we never hold any payment information and your information is managed with the most stringent level of security. You can learn more here.

If you wish to delete any of your saved credit cards, you can do so by going to the Wallets & Withdrawals page.

If you purchased your digital creation using a credit card, we temporarily disable the ability to re-sell or transfer the creation for 72 hours, enough time to verify that the transaction isn't fraudulent.

Artists may choose to place certain restrictions and limitations on the artworks that are offered as part of a Drop. Here are a few of the restrictions and what they mean:

Purchase Limit: You may only purchase at most one edition of a multi-edition artwork.

Registered and Verified Email: You must have a registered account with a verified email address. Verified email addresses will show a green check mark in your profile. Check whether your email has been verified here.

Since you're purchasing a digital creation, all sales are final.

Yes! MakersPlace empowers creators to sell artworks minted on their own contracts such as Manifold, NFTStudios, or your own personal smart contract as long as it is ERC-721 compliant and follows our import requirements.

MakersPlace allows the import of ERC-721-compliant smart contracts. All NFTs from those contracts will be imported from the following file types: JPEG, PNG, GIF, MOV, MP4. We hope to support additional file types soon.

All verified creators can import external ERC-721 contract. If you are not yet a verified creator, learn more and apply here.

Importing and selling tokens on MakersPlace opens your audience to thousands of new and excited collectors, and can help introduce you to a support network of other artists from all around the world. Our curated programming includes daily features, spotlights, and special exhibits which can feature your work! Also, because of our MakersPlace Safebox solution, collectors can now simply purchase all of your imported tokens with credit card.

100%! Royalties are one of the most revolutionary features of digital art, and we are committed to honoring and continuing creator royalties. We honor the royalties that have been set for imported contracts and tokens. To receive payment of these royalties, be sure to connect a payout wallet and PayPal account.

MakersPlace receives a 15% commission on your sales, similar to the rest of our general marketplace. Additionally, because collectors can buy with a credit card (USD), there may be a 2.9% credit card processing fee (processing provided by Stripe) if it is purchased with a credit card.

Import times can vary depending on the file sizes and total supply on your contract. For large contracts, with large files (especially MP4 or MOV), please expect the import to take some time, including sometimes several hours. Feel free to leave the import tool, and we will contact you via email with news of a success or failure once completed.

Once your smart contract imports to MakersPlace, you will receive an email notification and be able to organize your tokens on your profile. A category will automatically be created in your profile to help keep things organized, but also feel free to adjust it. Additionally, a collection will be added to our marketplace for collectors to explore in detail. This is located by navigating to www.makersplace.com/[your-collection-name-here]. Add reserves, set prices, and share your new collection on MakersPlace to social media!

Unfortunately, sometimes an import may not work. This may happen for a few reasons:

Depending on the reason that your import did not work, you may try again and contact our support team.

Holding an eligible NFT allows you to "unlock" physical and digital products and experiences. As the NFT owner, you can redeem limited made-to-order products or access exclusive content.

Begin by clicking "Unlock Now" on an unlockable item in your collection. As the authenticated owner you will then proceed directly into the artist's store, displaying all available unlockable items. From there, select the items you want and finalize your check out.

No. For now, the unlock event is a one-time access. Please check out with all of the perks that you want to claim.

Delivery time depends on the product. Some products are delivered within days, others take several weeks or months, depending on the creator's design and production process. Each unlockable NFT purchase page describes how long fulfillment will take.

Creators can set time windows for when an exclusive item can be unlocked. We encourage you stay in touch with the creator, as they sometimes add new unlockable items to the same NFT.

Every artwork and collection offered through MakersPlace goes through a multi-step process to ensure its authenticity. Every project requires at least 3 proofs of identity, more if needed. The MakersPlace team verifies the smart contract, the team behind each project, one or more online identities and more.

For each 3rd party smart contract or project, MakersPlace requires a one-time permission to transfer your artwork to the buyer upon successful sale. This contract can only transfer the artwork if and only if the buyer purchases the artwork.

There will be a small transaction fee to complete this approval. You can also revoke this permission at any time within your settings.

At this time only ETH payments will be accepted for secondary sales of verified 3rd party artworks. Only artworks minted on MakersPlace will be purchasable in both ETH and fiat.

Only ERC-721 based NFTs are compatible. ERC-20 are compatible only if wrapped with a ERC-721 token.

Verified 3rd party artworks sold on MakersPlace will have a low 0.5% commission fee, along with project-specific royalties. Our typical sales commissions apply to all MakersPlace native projects: 15% for primary sales and 2.5% for secondary sales, with 10% going to creators as royalties.

Artist royalties are based on the original contract of whichever platform the artworks was natively minted on.

Yes, we will accept all ERC-721-compliant smart contracts.

An original mint refers to an artwork that is still owned by the original creator of the artwork.

We are actively whitelisting individual artists and collections.

If you are interested in having your project or artworks listed please apply here.