OpenSea overhauls royalty model amid stand-off with Blur

OpenSea’s team shifted the NFT marketplace onto an ‘optional-collection’ royalties model and temporarily waived commissions. The company also allowed creators to list their collections on alternative platforms.

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

“In October, we began to see significant trading volumes and users shifting to NFT marketplaces that do not fully guarantee creators’ earnings. That process has accelerated sharply, despite all our efforts,” the statement said.

The company noted that the decision was influenced by the position of the competing Blur platform. Earlier, Blur’s head Pacman urged a boycott of OpenSea.

He noted that NFT creators cannot earn royalties on two marketplaces at once — OpenSea’s policy blocks this. In response, Blur proposed several options:

• use both platforms. This would allow earning the minimum 0.5% royalty within Blur, but would prevent earning royalties on the competitor’s marketplace;
• avoid conducting auctions on Blur. The marketplace would pay creators a minimum 0.5%, while OpenSea would pay full royalties;
• drop OpenSea and use Blur. In this case Blur would also offer a full-royalty model.

OpenSea called the initiative a ‘false choice’ proposed to the community.

The company said it had moved the platform to an ‘optional-collection’ model, which provides for a minimum 0.5% royalty with the option to pay above that percentage.

The developers also scrapped the rule that prevented creators from earning royalties if their collection was listed on alternative platforms, including Blur.

In November 2022, OpenSea introduced its own on-chain royalties tool.