OpenSea has announced three major changes, which includes 0% OpenSea fees for a limited promotional time, transitioning to a minimum of 0.5% optional creator earnings with a space to add more, and Open Filter not blocking marketplaces that follow the same policies.
We’re making some big changes today:
1) OpenSea fee → 0% for a limited time
2) Moving to optional creator earnings (0.5% min) for all collections without on-chain enforcement (old & new)
3) Marketplaces with the same policies will not be blocked by the operator filter— OpenSea (@opensea) February 17, 2023
To reiterate, the 0% OpenSea fee is for a limited time only, after which it will cease to be valid. The second announcement clarifies that the optional creator earnings model is going to have a minimum value of 0.5%. Sellers will be at liberty to pay more, including the ones who do not use on-chain enforcement.
The third step improves OpenSea’s stance by updating the Operator Filter to permit sales via NFT marketplaces that adhere to the same rules. This includes Blur, providing creators with options, so they do not have to choose between the liquidity of each platform.
Calling this a new era, OpenSea has expressed its excitement in one of the tweets in the series, saying that it is testing the model for now in an attempt to find the perfect balance between incentives and motivations for all the participants, namely collectors, creators, and buyers and sellers.
The development comes after Blur NFT marketplace encourages the creators of NFT to block OpenSea. Blur first announced that it would enforce full creator royalties and that it is clearly looking to block OpenSea during the Royalties Battle. Creators are being encouraged to earn the reward by blocking OpenSea so that a general royalty of 5% to 10% is not enforced.
OpenSea has responded to this problem by saying that the NFT ecosystem has changed a lot and that the platform has seen the ecosystem move to an NFT marketplace that doesn’t force a certain way of making money.
Open Filter was introduced by OpenSea for the sole purpose of safeguarding creators by allowing them to protect their revenue stream.
Blur is requiring consumers to choose between the liquidity of Blur and OpenSea, which has rendered OpenSea’s attempts futile. According to OpenSea’s release, around 80% of the ecosystem’s volume does not give creators their full revenues, and a large number of them have gone to an environment where zero fees apply.
Blur may outperform OpenSea in the market, but that remains to be seen since the Royalties Battle has only just begun, with OpenSea exploring its options. It has to be noted that OpenSea is merely moving to a different fee structure. The platform has no intention of not upholding on-chain enforcement through Open Filter.
A shift toward a new price structure has become essential to fulfill the modern ecosystem’s demands. At a starting position of 2.5% on all secondary sales, the rate falls to 0%. The modifications apply to listings and offers created after 3:30 ET on February 17, 2023.
