FAQ

An NFT, or non-fungible token, generally comes in two parts: a digital collectible (such as an artwork) and a unique digital certificate, registered on a blockchain, that records ownership of that asset.Think of an NFT as a way to prove that you own certain works in the digital economy.

People buy NFTs for lots of reasons. Some want to show off a one-of-a-kind digital collectible that they alone own. Some want to join a community of like-minded collectors. Some want to trade, gift or flip an NFT for a profit. Others may want to gain access to certain benefits or access privileges conferred to those who hold a specific NFT. Some want to support or "bet on" an emerging artist. And still others want to support a charitable cause or to be part of the next wave of Internet innovation.

You can display an NFT online, on your phone or on your wall in a digital display. If it contains utility, you might gain access to special events, discounts or prizes. You can hold onto your NFT and hopefully watch it appreciate it over time. You can send your NFT to someone as a gift or trade it. You can sell your NFT on the secondary market. Basically, you can do whatever the accompanying NFT license allows.

Tropical Arts caters to creators with high-quality handmade works. You’ll find 2D and 3D digital art, sculptures, photographs, music, videos, books, spoken word performances and more as we begin to support new media formats.

On each NFT detail page, you will see the type of NFT License the creator has attached to the NFT. That means you have full knowledge in advance of what you’re permitted to do with an NFT you buy on Tropical Arts. See our full list of NFT licenses.

Short answer: A wallet is where you keep your NFTs and any digital currency you have.

Longer answer: A wallet is a software application that serves as a blockchain-secured bank account for your cryptocurrencies and as a place where you can access your NFT assets, such as digital art.

On Tropical Arts, you can link multiple wallets to your account and show off all the NFTs you own on other blockchains.

No! Most marketplaces require a wallet before you can get started. At Tropical Arts, you can sign up by using your favorite social media account log-in or email address. We’ll create an Amberfi Verified Wallet for you that you can use at any time. If you’d prefer to sign up with an existing wallet, that’s fine, too. By the way, this is your own individual wallet to own and manage — Tropical Arts doesn’t manage custodial wallets on your behalf.

You can easily register for the marketplace by signing in with your email, social media account of choice or wallet (if you have one) in the upper right-hand corner of the marketplace. Here's a video explainer to show you how easy it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0NmQozbB8o

You should absolutely be aware of what's happening in the space and find a platform that protects both buyers and sellers. At Tropical Arts, we protect the content and the transaction through encryption. We protect your wallet from phishing attacks. And if you buy from a seller with an Amberfi Verified checkmark, it means we have verified their identity.

Tropical Arts offers protection for your NFTs in several ways. We offer the option to encrypt the digital asset so it passes directly from seller to buyer. You're protected from phishing scams with your Amberfi Wallet, which requires you to consent to a transfer of funds or assets. And we offer legal protections as defined in the license that comes with each NFT.

We use the Amberfi platform, which provides a high level of intellectual property protection through NFT encryption, seller verification, wallet security and other protective measures. We think it's important to provide both sellers and collectors with a trusted environment for transactions free from bad actors.

We charge a 3.9% transaction fee to the buyer at the time of purchase similar to a PayPal or Stripe fee. (The fee covers the cost of marketplace curation, security, verification and community growth.) The seller also pays a 1% fee. By comparison, most highly curated sites charge a much higher fee: the NFT marketplace Sloika gets a 15% cut, Sotheby's 27% and Christie's gets a 30% commission from each sale.

Anyone can create galleries of their favorite NFT artworks and photos on the site. We encourage creators to create galleries that showcase their own works along with works by partners, collaborators or similar artists and then share on social media.

Creators selling works on the Tropical Arts marketplace use the Polygon blockchain. But once you buy your NFT, you can use, show off and sell it on any blockchain. Note that Tropical Arts is cross-chain — we let you show off your NFTs residing on any blockchain on your profile page.

The Polygon blockchain is considered one of the most eco-friendly chains and has shown a deep commitment to sustainable blockchain development. To combat the climate crisis at scale, Polygon is now moving beyond carbon neutrality toward attaining carbon negative status.

All sales are final on digital works that are sold in the marketplace. If a physical work is attached to the NFT and it is not delivered, please contact the artist for fulfillment. If the creator fails to deliver as promised, please report it to our help desk. If the work is damaged in transit, please direct your request for a refund to the seller. ",run this past ward or the exec team

We charge small transaction fees on our platform to cover costs, but we do not charge buyers a tax. Buyers are responsible for complying with local, state or federal tax laws in their jurisdictions. If you buy a physical work that accompanies your NFT, your shipping carrier may charge you an import duty.

When sellers encrypt their content, their high-fidelity image, video, 3D model or other digital content is made available only to the NFT buyer — making piracy less likely. When you acquire the NFT, you get the key to unencrypt it and then you're free to do what you want with the content within the scope of the NFT's license. (If you resell it later, it will need to be re-encrypted.)

When you buy an NFT on Tropical Arts, the accompanying digital work is natively hosted on NFT Storage by default — at no cost to the NFT holder. (You can check the details page of the NFT you want to purchase to see what storage they are using.) And, of course, you're free to copy the digital asset and store it wherever you'd like.

A work that you purchase on Tropical Arts can be sold to other collectors on the secondary market or on Tropical Arts itself. Keep in mind that the original license terms must be honored by the new buyer and the secondary marketplace must honor any conditions such as encryption.

On every NFT detail page, you’ll see who shares in the sale proceeds. Often, it’s a nonprofit. We’ve partnered with multiple nonprofits in the Caribbean to support noteworthy local causes. (Have another suggestion? Let us know!)

It’s possible that you may come across some content you don’t like during a search on our marketplace because of its open, democratic nature. However, we hand-curate all works that appear on our home page and on major landing pages.

The Tropical Arts site hasn’t been tuned for dark mode yet, so we recommend you use light mode on your browser. We're working on it!

Like all NFT marketplaces, Tropical Arts is dependent on outside partners such as blockchain node providers. If a certain action or transaction times out, it may need to be retried to complete, and you may need to sign in again if the web session's web3 provider has timed out from inactiving and this is impacting your user session.

To take a deeper dive into NFTs and Web3, check out our partner Amberfi's NFT glossary.

Creators who live in the Caribbean or have strong family or cultural ties there are eligible to sell works in the Tropical Arts marketplace. Creators who have come out of the Caribbean diaspora are encouraged to take part as well. We want to ensure that the marketplace stays true to its mission of honoring and spotlighting Caribbean creators. Collectors around the world are encouraged to register and buy these authentic works.

No. We're an open marketplace that's open to all Caribbean creatives. There is no gating mechanism or application process.

Artists, photographers and other creatives around the world are earning extra income or making a living by turning their works into NFTs. Many are building up new fan bases. But understand that success takes work. You'll want to optimize your works to make them appealing to your target audience. You'll want to study the landscape and decide how to turn similar-themed works into a collection.

The Tropical Arts marketplace features the beauty, passion and creative truths of artists from the Caribbean. The participating creatives and their fans are creating a true community — a family of like-minded creatives who want to share stories, true and raw, for the world to see and hear. We'd love for you to join in.

Tropical Arts supports almost any kind of work that can be digitized and recorded on the blockchain. Supported creative works include paintings, digital art, photography, sculptures, music, video and film, books and poetry, street art, murals, fashion, performance art (including spoken word) and more.

To create an NFT, just head to tropicalarts.com/create and step through the simple process. Once you've drafted it, you can decide whether to mint it and show it off or list it for sale. Here's a quick video explainer on how to create an NFT.

Yes, you set your own price on every work you create. Notably, you can list in US dollars so that the prices of your works do not fluctuate with the volatility of crypto. (If you set it at $100, the price remains at $100 until it’s sold or until you change it.) That’s a big difference from other marketplaces, where prices can swing wildly.

Take a look at how similar works are priced — and what they’re selling for. Factor in your time, the cost of materials, and any perks or utility attached to your NFT, then set a price you’re comfortable with. We like the advice that bestselling artist Claire Silver offered on the Proof podcast: “Value your work at what you feel is good to let go of it for. Don’t undersell yourself, and don’t oversell yourself out of greed. It’s a difficult mark to land on, but think of a price that would make you feel good.

You can easily register for the marketplace by signing in with your email, social media account of choice or wallet (if you have one) in the upper right-hand corner of the marketplace.

After you've drafted you NFT, most creators decide to list it for sale in the marketplace. You'll want to decide whether to make it available at a Buy now price or to put it up for auction. Here's a video explainer to walk you through the simple process.

There is no charge for creating your online marketplace. We also pay for your minting fees. We charge the buyer a 3.9% transaction fee when one of your NFTs is sold – similar to a PayPal or Stripe fee. (The fee covers the cost of marketplace curation, security, verification and community growth.) We also charge the seller a flat 1.0% fee. By comparison, most highly curated sites charge a much higher fee: the NFT marketplace Sloika gets a 15% cut and Christie's gets a 30% commission from each sale.

Tropical Arts offers protection for your digital works in several ways. We offer the option to encrypt the digital asset so it passes directly from seller to buyer, cutting down on pirated copies. We are setting up Amberfi Verified, a program that authenticates trusted sellers. And you choose the NFT license for each work, spelling out the rights and permissions granted to the buyer.

Collectors will find your works through browsing, search and word of mouth. We encourage creators to take the time to list your work with the relevant categories (including media type) and tags so that your work will show up in more places on the site. Creating sets, collections and galleries increases visibility, too. It also helps when you spread the word about your works on your own social accounts.

Head to our Tips for creators page to see you some of the things you can do as a creator on Tropical Arts.