How I accidentally created and sold an NFT for $1

Let’s start by assuring you that the title isn’t false—I quite literally didn’t mean to sell an NFT of my creating.

I decided to test how straightforward NFT creation could be by visiting OpenSea, a major NFT marketplace. I used their creation tool to mint a simple design—my logo with a sunrise gradient—as an experiment.

OpenSea employs ERC-1155 token standards, allowing creators to list NFTs without paying gas fees upfront. Unlike traditional minting on Ethereum, which costs $150-$200 in fees, this approach defers costs until a buyer makes a purchase.

The Setup

Here’s where things went sideways. I didn’t actually intend to sell this thing to some other person. I set a $1 listing price for testing purposes, then clicked “Post Your Listing” without realizing I’d actually published it for sale. It wasn’t an auction with a reserve price—just a straightforward $1 sale.

The Sale

An email from OpenSea arrived that evening. My reaction: “Ohhhhhh shiiiiiittttt”—but in the dread variety, not the celebratory kind.

A random person had found my profile, purchased the logo for $1, and paid $40 in gas fees to mint it. The buyer, known as brandonkangfilms on OpenSea, now owned what became an accidental one-of-a-kind digital collectible.

Reflections

Despite the unintended nature of the sale, I concluded the experience was surprisingly positive. I appreciated how NFTs enable artists to earn money and receive royalties when their work trades hands. I plan to intentionally create and release NFTs in the future, hopefully avoiding another accidental listing.

The whole thing was pretty fucking cool.