# Buying NFT’s on the Solana Blockchain By [Final Humans](https://paragraph.com/@finalhumans) · 2022-04-25 --- We had a number of requests from our community to write this article, so it’s about time we got it out. The NFT market is seeing new people enter every day and it can be a daunting task to get up to speed without prior experience. We wanted to write a quick article on getting started with buying Solana NFT’s. If you’ve only ever bought NFT’s on Ethereum, [Solana](https://solana.com/) provides relief from often crazy gas fees and is bringing about a young and blossoming NFT ecosystem with many innovative up and coming projects. Solana is a blockchain platform with smart contract functionality like Ethereum which makes it perfect for NFT’s. With [OpenSea](https://opensea.io/) now adding support for the Solana blockchain, it brings Solana into the mainstream within the NFT world. In this article we’ll break down the basics of getting started buying Solana NFT’s including the major marketplaces, most popular wallets to use, and getting setup with the Phantom wallet. ### Where are people buying Solana NFTs? NFT’s are bought and sold on marketplaces. OpenSea established itself as the main player in the game for Ethereum based NFT’s doing billions of dollars in volume every month. When Solana NFT’s started gaining traction as many NFT traders were growing tired of exorbitant gas fees, it opened the door for other Solana based marketplaces to pop up as OpenSea didn’t yet support the platform. [Magic Eden](https://magiceden.io/) established itself as the main player and trusted marketplace in the Solana ecosystem with others popping up like [Solanart](https://solanart.io/) and [SolSea](https://solsea.io/). With NFT’s taking off to the extent that they have, platforms like Magic Eden and Solanart have started offering launchpads which give NFT projects a platform to sell their NFT’s in a simple and straightforward approach. Launchpads allow NFT project founders to focus on building their project while the launchpad helps with the technology, infrastructure, and oftentimes marketing. These in turn create an environment where many new projects are coming in and giving investors a continual stream of new projects to invest in. ### How do I get started buying a Solana NFT In order to start buying Solana NFT’s you’ll need to have a wallet that supports Solana and then you’ll of course need to buy some SOL to transfer to the wallet. #### Setting up your Wallet There are a number of options when looking for a Solana based wallet. From what we’ve seen the most popular wallet is probably [Phantom](https://phantom.app/), a very simple and user friendly wallet. Another wallet that’s close in popularity to Phantom is [Solflare](https://solflare.com/). Both Phantom and Solflare have desktop browser extensions as well as mobile apps. There are a number of others that you can find from a quick google search, but in our experience these are the most popular. To get started you’ll need to download one of the wallets and fund it with some Solana. We’ve chosen Phantom wallet as the focus for this article. Phantom wallet has some instructions you can follow [here](https://help.phantom.app/hc/en-us/articles/4406388623251-How-to-create-a-new-wallet) to create your new wallet. You can then buy Solana on Coinbase, Binance, Gemini, Kucoin, or any of the other exchanges that support Solana and transfer it to your Solana wallet. [Here](https://help.phantom.app/hc/en-us/articles/4406393831187-How-to-deposit-SOL) is another quick set of instructions on how to deposit into Phantom wallet. ![Phantom Wallet](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/0960cc8301864a9c90a28427321c818d05ab79d22cc0d8fcdbf1326218f1c10d.jpg) Phantom Wallet #### Buying and Managing your NFT’s After you’re all setup with a Solana wallet you’re ready to explore NFT’s on one of the major marketplaces. Up to this point, you should have installed the Phantom (or other equivalent) browser plugin. This allows you to connect your wallet to marketplace sites where you’ll be buying your NFT’s. When you’ve found an NFT you’d like to purchase, you simply connect your wallet to the marketplace. In the case of MagicEden as shown in the screenshot below you simply choose Select Wallet and choose your wallet type from the options that appear. ![Click Select Wallet to Connect Your Wallet](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/1f3a9643c953ca8ac55039807fd75efefbc8bd3f7fb5cc378a176d31cd541d67.jpg) Click Select Wallet to Connect Your Wallet From there you are ready to purchase an NFT. Once you’ve tried to make a purchase, you’ll be prompted to approve a transaction in your wallet. One of the great things about Solana is that when you’re making transactions, the [gas fees](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gas-ethereum.asp) are usually negligible unlike those you will pay when you purchase Ethereum NFT’s. After purchasing an NFT with Phantom wallet, you’ll be able to easily view them by clicking on the icon on the bottom menu bar as shown below. From there you can explore the different NFT’s, view their attributes and rarity parameters, and even send or transfer them to another wallet. ![Phantom Wallet NFT Collection](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ccf8713170c26430749111967f65771795e9dd8e10038ed6fd0f51d3811eff4b.jpg) Phantom Wallet NFT Collection #### Watching out for Scams Whenever you’re connecting your wallet to a website you need to be extremely careful. The NFT space is filled with many scams and there are numerous fake websites and URLs out there that when you connect your wallet, will take all of your NFT’s and crypto. Before connecting your wallet, always make sure you’re on a legitimate site and verify that the URL you’re on matches exactly. Even better, only click on links from verified profiles, discord channels or type them in directly yourself. And of course, never expose your secret/recovery phrase to anyone under any circumstances. If you ever have any doubts, don’t click on the link or ask someone from the community with more experience. Look into a hardware wallet if you’re going to be in the crypto game long term. ### The future of the Solana NFT Ecosystem Solana’s low fees and fast blockchain confirmations make it a great choice for new investors wanting to get their feet wet in the NFT space. Solana saw explosive price growth in 2021 as early investors rushed in but price action has cooled in the short term. That being said, many in the industry are extremely bullish on the future prospects of Solana. Not only is Solana a platform for NFT projects, but there are also use cases across defi, gaming, payments, and more. The market is constantly evolving and with many new players jumping into the support the Solana ecosystem including OpenSea, it seems like there is no better time to jump in and explore Solana. **The Final Humans** **Contact**: [@finalhumans](https://twitter.com/FinalHumans) [https://finalhumans.com/](https://www.finalhumans.com) --- *Originally published on [Final Humans](https://paragraph.com/@finalhumans/buying-nft-s-on-the-solana-blockchain)*