OpenSea implements limited-time 0% fees

• OpenSea recently lost a huge user base to Blur.
• People are flocking to Blur for greater returns on their NFT investments.
• OpenSea has implemented a number of changes including bringing fees to zero to try and win back some of the customers.

Nansen data shows that NFT marketplace Blur has surpassed OpenSea in daily Ethereum (ETH) trading volume. Reports show that NFT investors are moving to Blur anticipating greater returns on their NFT investments.

OpenSea has maintained the top NFT marketplace position for some years as depicted in our NFT statistics and the sudden rise of the Blur marketplace has forced OpenSea to actualize some massive restructuring to get it back at the top. The restructuring involves three major changes.

OpenSea restructuring

OpenSea has announced three major changes which include a 0% fee that will last for a limited time, introducing leniency on some operations, and introducing optional creator earnings.

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

Blur’s success is highly attributed to its new loyalty policy which is quite different from that of OpenSea. Blur recently said:

“OpenSea’s current royalty policy prevents collections from being able to earn royalties everywhere. They have cited various reasons for this (see FAQ), but the end result is that creators are limited to earning royalties on only one platform at a time.”

The difference in loyalty policy between Blur and OpenSea is definitely good for the industry since if it wasn’t for zero royalty marketplaces, NFT marketplaces like OpenSea would eventually increase their fee structure and negatively affect creators.

OpenSea has admitted losing NFT investors to other “NFT marketplaces that don’t fully enforce creator earning,” and it believes introducing optional creator earnings will bring back a good number of these customers. Blur also recently rolled back its creator earnings and OpenSea may be trying to do the same.

Explaining its decision to restructure OpenSea tweeted saying:

“In October, we started to see meaningful volume and users move to NFT marketplaces that don’t fully enforce creator earnings. Today, that shift has accelerated dramatically despite our best efforts.”

While OpenSea’s creator earnings feature was aimed at helping creators secure the revenue generated from the resale of their work, it blocked recommendations of marketplaces with the same policies.

How long will OpenSea 0% fee last?

OpenSea has not given a concrete timeline for the 0% fee. It plans to continue testing the fee model to identify what works best for its users.

However, community members anticipate that the marketplace will likely increase the platform fees in future once it successfully attracts back the lost customers.