The Marketplace is LIVE!
Making a Marketplace
The KnownOrigin Marketplace is now LIVE
We have made it easier for collectors to list, set a price and sell artworks from their collection. After an intense couple of weeks, we have released our new marketplace, with improved UX, a dedicated page and a new smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain.
We have also updated our artist royalties for all secondary sales to an industry-leading 12.5%. The purpose of this increase is to redress the balance between primary and secondary and make it possible for artists to have a more sustainable income. We believe over time we will attract collectors that believe that supporting artists will ultimately make the whole ecosystem evolve and a better place for all involved.
Why now?
We originally launched our secondary sales feature back in March, however, this was a passive ‘Make an offer’ based approach. After feedback from our users and monitoring the data it was clear that this approach was not appropriate for this emerging industry. We have now launched a fully-fledged marketplace, we have witnessed the power of secondary sales and the buzz that artists get when they receive royalties emails. We believe that artist royalties are one of the biggest and most important differences to the traditional art world. Adoption can be slow but the cryptoart movement is committed to the standardisation of royalties. We are contributing to a new standard called EIP-2981 that takes another step to a fair system for all across the board.
Artist royalties and commission splits
After much consideration and many hours of gathering research around the theme of royalties and the balance of wealth over time, we have decided to increase our artist royalties to 12.5%. The current industry standard is around 10% and was partly achieved by the artist community asking for a fair share of future sales. We truly believe that the crypto art space would not exist without the content creators and we must help protect, grow and sustain this emerging community.
We hope other platforms will follow suit and this becomes the norm and not the exception. Most of the platforms in the crypto art space have a shared goal; to empower artists to earn a living from the artwork they produce.
Full breakdown
On the first or primary sale of a KnownOrigin artwork, 85% goes to the Artist, 15% goes to the commission fee.
For a secondary sale (and all sales made after the first sale) 85% goes to the Seller, 12.5% goes to the Artist and finally, 2.5% goes to the commission fee.
We will be watching closely and assessing feedback and usage of the fledgeling KO secondary market over the coming weeks and adjusting these values according to sentiment as more data becomes available on its impact.
Buying on the Marketplace
The new marketplace displays all artworks that have been listed for sale by a collector. These pieces will have a specific 'buy now' price and the ability to ‘make an offer’.
You can find artwork on the Marketplace using search or by filtering for #Genesis pieces, first and last editions. We are excited to see which artworks go up for sale and how this evolves over time.
KnownOrigin has built a strong reputation as a primary sales platform, but with the release of this new feature empowers collectors to take control of the sale of their pieces. Simply head to the Marketplace in the top nav and discover artwork you love. You can "buy it now" when a collector lists an artwork and instantly receive the asset into your collection.
Enabling the marketplace & selling artwork
Users will need to enable the marketplace smart contract when you list an item to sell. Once you have enabled the marketplace you can select ‘sell this item’ from the “3 dots” drop down on the artwork you own. You can also change the price and cancel the sale at any time.
Once a sale has been confirmed the new smart contract will handle the custody of the assets, the royalties and fees and the transfer of ownership.
A summary
Marketplace is live on Ethereum mainnet. Collect artwork on the open market.
Secondary sales royalties and fees (85% — seller, 12.5% — artist, 2.5% — KO)
12.5% artist royalties (increasing the default industry standard) going forward on offers and marketplace
The release of our marketplace feature will empower collectors new and old to list artwork already bought and to make offers on the artwork they love in anyone elses collection. This new marketplace will benefit the artist greatly as each secondary (and all sales made after the first sale) will receive royalties automatically.
The collectors & owners of early works will benefit as they sell to new collectors and potentially make a healthy ROI (return on investment).
Finally, KnownOrigin will benefit by building stronger and trusted relationships with the artists, collectors and sellers. Visit KnownOrigin and check out the new marketplace.
