NFT Showroom Review
NFT Showroom has been active since 2020 and is to our knowledge the only NFT Marketplace based on the HIVE-blockchain. Hive is, according to NFT Showroom, a "fast and feeless blockchain that scales, is globally accessible, and unlocks an entire ecosystem of services for artists and collectors".
NFT Showroom is a much smaller marketplace than OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, SuperRare etc. On the date of first writing this review (30 March 2021), NFT Showroom presented statistics on its website showing that it - as per that date - had sould 6,391 NFTs from 891 different artists to a total value of 318,171 HIVE (then corresponding to approx. USD 251,138).
What is an NFT Marketplace?
An NFT Marketplace is a marketplace for NFTs. So far so good. But what is an NFT?
NFT is an acronym for “Non-Fungible Tokens”. Something which is fungible is replaceable. For instance, one kilo of 24 karat gold is – at least in theory – replaceable with any other kilo of 24 karat gold. When something is non-fungible, it means that it is unique, and not replaceable with any other item out there.
Although NFTs are conceptually similar to cryptocurrencies, these digital assets might represent antiques & artworks, collectables like trading cards, and other items with unique features. These tokens are stored cryptographically in a blockchain network for authentication and validation. Even when transacting, each token is sold as a whole, unlike cryptocurrencies which are divisible into smaller units. NFTs lose their value when split into smaller portions, however, they can be duplicated by the artist and each additional copy can be sold separately (but the total number of duplicates will then always be known).
NFT Showroom Focus
As mentioned above, NFT Showroom is the only NFT marketpace based on the HIVE-blockchain. Hive is, according to NFT Showroom, a "fast and feeless blockchain that scales, is globally accessible, and unlocks an entire ecosystem of services for artists and collectors".
Layout of NFT Showroom
Different NFT Marketplaces present their NFTs, the latest bid and the remaining time of an auction etc. in different ways. What you are most comfortable with viewing and using is up to you and no one else. The following picture is a print screen from NFT Showroom's browse section. As is evident from the below picture, you can filter and sort the available art pieces in a wide variety of ways. There are currently only "buy now" offers available, but according to information from the marketplace, a bidding function will soon be implemented as well.
If you zone in to one of the specific NFTs, in this case the NFT called The eyes never lie created by the artist @opticalblack, the page layout is as follows. Here you can see that the number of editions is presented, a short description, which collection the NFT belongs to and what it would cost to buy. You can also view the NFT on something called IPFS, which is NFT Showroom's file system (InterPlanetary File System).
NFT Showroom Fees
When you buy an NFT somewhere, it is customary for the relevant NFT Marketplace to charge a fee for enabling the sale. This fee is typically a percentage of the NFT's sale price and is normally paid by the buyer. This can be compared with how regular art galleries normally take a share of the sale of any paintings etc. hanging in the gallery when a sale is executed.
At NFT Showroom, you will have to pay 10.00% in commission in the intial sale. For any secondary sales, the commission is the same but out of these 10.00% charged in a secondary sale, the marketplace only retains 5.00% and the remaining 5.00% is transferred to the original artist as a royalty.
While 10.00% in commission does not feel very cheap, it could be useful to compare it to normal gallery fees. An ordinary physical art gallery often charges between 30-50% in gallery fees.
NFT Showroom Payment Methods
A few of the NFT Marketplaces out there accept deposits and payments via credit or debit card, and some even accept PayPal-deposits.
NFT Showroom is not one of them. In order to use this particular platform, you will need to get HIVE-tokens first. You can do so on most of the major crypto exchanges, Binance being one of them.
