OpenSea makes changes to fees following tension with Blur

OpenSea is dropping fees, citing a shift in the NFT ecosystem and coming shortly after Blur made its case for creators to list on its platform rather than OpenSea.

OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, tweeted on Friday that it had started “started to see meaningful volume and users move to NFT marketplaces that don’t fully enforce creator earnings.” 

OpenSea cited events such as NFT marketplace Blur’s decision to roll back creator earnings and the “false choice they’re forcing creators to make between liquidity on Blur or OpenSea.” 

The CEO of Blur made a case for creators to list on that marketplace and not OpenSea in a blog post on Wednesday. Creators can’t earn royalties on Blur and OpenSea simultaneously, according to that post.  

OpenSea said it was dropping its fee to 0% for a period of time while also moving to a 0.5% “creator earnings model, with the option for sellers to pay more.” 

The marketplace is also allowing sales using competitors with the same policies, so creators won’t have to make the choice between receiving earnings on OpenSea or Blur, it tweeted.  

“This is the start of a new era for OpenSea,” the marketplace tweeted. “We’re excited to test this model and find the right balance of incentives and motivations for all ecosystem participants — creators, collectors, and power buyers and sellers.”