How to Make an Offer on an NFT
How to Make an Offer on an NFT
An offer is a signed bid — you commit funds, the seller accepts or ignores. It’s how you buy below asking or buy an NFT that isn’t listed. The mechanics are consistent across venues.
The mechanics#
- Find the NFT — offers usually work on any token, listed or not (unless the venue restricts unlisted offers).
- Wrap your currency if needed — on Ethereum venues, bids typically require WETH (wrapped ETH) — your wallet converts it 1:1; on Solana venues you bid in SOL directly.
- Set price + expiry — the offer is a signed message held by the marketplace; you set when it expires (a day, a week, a month).
- Sign — usually gasless: the signature is your commitment, the trade settles only if the seller accepts.
What happens next#
- Seller accepts — the trade settles on-chain; the NFT arrives and your WETH/SOL goes to them.
- Expiry passes — the offer dies; funds unlock (WETH stays in your wallet either way — offers never lock funds in a way you can’t reverse).
- You cancel — cancelling an open offer is an on-chain transaction (costs gas on Ethereum; trivial on Solana).
Tactics and honesty#
- Offers below floor rarely land unless the seller is motivated — the point is testing motivation, not insulting holders.
- Beware “offer” scams — an offer asking you to visit a site or “activate” the sale is a phishing pattern; real offers settle inside the marketplace.
- Collection offers (one bid across a whole collection) are covered in collection offers explained.
Bottom line#
Sign the bid, set the expiry, wait — the mechanics are simple, and the gas is only spent if the deal happens. Compare venue bid mechanics in the versus pages.
Last reviewed: October 2026