How to Bid on OpenSea ⁠— A Quick 6 Step Guide

How to Bid on OpenSea ⁠— A Quick 6 Step Guide

NFTs
by Julian Lopez-Acosta
520
Are you ever scrolling through OpenSea and spot an NFT you've been dying to get your hands on, but it's not for sale? Or perhaps that prized NFT is up for auction, but the owner slapped on a ridiculous price tag that surely wouldn't sell, not even to you.
how to bid on opensea

Either way, OpenSea has the solution for you—how to bid on OpenSea is the name of the game, and today we’ll be exploring all the bits and pieces that make up bidding on OpenSea.

To bid on OpenSea, follow these steps:

  1. Wrap you ETH
  2. Go to the NFT of your choosing
  3. Click or tap Make offer
  4. Enter the amount of WETH you wish to bid
  5. Select the Offer expiration
  6. Click or tap the Make offer button at the bottom of the pop-up.

Can you bid on OpenSea?

Yes, you can place offers on the NFT of your choosing.

Before getting into the first step of how to bid on OpenSea, you’ll have to wrap your ETH.

Wrapped ETH, also called WETH, is an ERC-20 token pegged to ETH. It has a 1:1 conversion rate with its native currency, and NFT traders mostly use it to place auctions on several NFTs with the same funds.

Say Jimmy had a pool of 25 ETH and wanted to place a few bids across five of his favourite NFTs. In this scenario, each bid would take up 5 ETH. Therefore, he would be left with 0 ETH in his wallet. 

But if Jimmy wrapped his 25 ETH, he would have 25 WETH. And instead of using the entirety of his WETH pool, he could place the five bids with only 5 of the same WETH.

In short:

Wrapped ETH allows the user to bid on many different items using the same pool of Ether. So for example, as a user with 7 WETH, I could place a 7 WETH offer on Frankie, a 7 WETH offer on Perseus, a 7 WETH offer on Alien Maker…as many CryptoKitties (or other items) as I like!

The moment my first bid gets accepted, the other offers will be instantly invalidated if I no longer have enough WETH in my account.

Devin Finzer, OpenSea

Capiche?

Can you bid on the OpenSea app?

You can also bid on the OpenSea app!

The steps are similar to bidding on desktop, but of course, everything is tailored to mobile.

How to wrap ETH (desktop)

Wrapping ETH on desktop takes two seconds. For this article, we’ll be using MetaMask for all transactions.

On your desktop browser, first hop onto OpenSea and connect your wallet. Next, click the wallet icon in the top right corner, then click the three dots beside your ETH balance.

Now, click the Wrap option at the bottom of the pop-up, and enter the amount of ETH you wish to wrap. Next, hit the Wrap ETH button at the bottom, and you’ll get a MetaMask pop-up asking you to sign the transaction.

Click Confirm in the bottom right of the window, and you’re done!

You’ll notice that you’ll have a different cryptocurrency sitting in your wallet: WETH. It looks just like regular ETH, but with a pink tone instead of the generic grey ETH colour.

How to wrap ETH (mobile)

Since you can’t connect your MetaMask on the OpenSea mobile app, you’ll have to use the built-in MetaMask browser to access OpenSea. Other than that, the steps are essentially the same as desktop..

First, open your MetaMask app, then click the hamburger menu icon in the top left. 

How to bid on opensea: MetaMask main screen

Now tap the Browser option at the top of the menu. This will take you to MetaMask’s browser extension.

How to bid on opensea: Browser tab

From here, input the link at the bottom into the search bar at the top:

opensea.io

Next, tap the hamburger icon in the top right, and select the My Wallet tab near the bottom.

How to bid on opensea: opensea main page mobile

You’ll be following the same steps as desktop from now on. Tap the three dots beside your ETH balance, hit the Wrap option, enter the amount you wish to convert, then click the big blue Confirm button on the MetaMask pop-up.

how to bid on opensea: opensea my wallet page

Does it cost to bid on OpenSea?

For first-time WETH bidders, you’ll have to pay a one-time gas fee to allow your wallet to purchase NFTs with the token. However, after the initial bid, you’ll be able to place as many offers as you want for free (excluding the bid price).

Besides this, you won’t ever have to pay additional fees if bidding on items. If you hit the jackpot and the seller accepts your bid, they’ll pay for gas fees.

What is the minimum bid on OpenSea?

The minimum bid on OpenSea is a minimum of 5% higher than the previous bid. So if no one else has offered WETH for the NFT of your choosing, you can bid as low as you want.

Else, you’ll have to raise your bid to meet the minimum requirements.

How to bid on OpenSea (desktop)

Thankfully, it’s pretty straightforward if you’re looking for an answer on how to bid on OpenSea.

First, find an NFT that you would like to purchase. Since I’ve always wanted to own a CyberKongz, I went to the collection’s page and found my favourite JPEG. Click on the NFT, and you should see this screen:

Then, hit the grey Make offer button beside the blue Buy now button. Now you’ll get this pop-up:

Enter the amount of WETH you want to offer, click the Offer expiration dropdown menu and select the timeframe for your bid. Once done, click the Make offer button at the bottom of the pop-up.

All done! Now, pray that the holder of the NFT accepts your bid so you can receive that sweet, sweet NFT.

How to bid on OpenSea (mobile)

Just like with wrapping ETH, the steps on mobile are practically the same compared to desktop.

Go to the NFT of your choice, scroll down and hit Make offer. From here, enter the amount of WETH you want to offer, click the Offer expiration dropdown menu and select the timeframe for your bid. Once done, click the Make offer button at the bottom of the pop-up.

See what I’m saying?

Summary

If you want to bid on OpenSea, follow these steps:

  1. Wrap you ETH
  2. Go to the NFT page of your choosing
  3. Click or tap Make offer
  4. Enter the amount of WETH you wish to bid
  5. Select the Offer expiration
  6. Click or tap the Make offer button at the bottom of the pop-up.

Just remember, if you’re placing your first bid using WETH, you’ll have to pay a one-time fee gas fee to unlock your wallet for setting offers on OpenSea.