NFT Marketplace Royalty Policies: How Creators Get Paid After the Sale

When you buy an NFT, you’re not just buying a digital image or audio file-you’re buying into a system that’s supposed to keep paying the person who made it. Every time that NFT sells again, the original creator should get a cut. That’s the idea behind NFT royalties. But in practice, it’s messy. Some marketplaces pay. Others don’t. Some creators get 10%. Others get nothing. And no one’s really in charge of making sure it works the way it’s supposed to.

How NFT Royalties Actually Work (Technically)

The technical backbone of NFT royalties is called ERC-2981. It was introduced in 2020 and became the default standard by 2024. Think of it as a universal ID card for royalties. Every NFT that follows this standard has a built-in function that says: “If this NFT sells for X amount, pay Y% to this wallet address.” It’s not magic. It doesn’t force anyone to pay. It just makes the information available. The royalty amount is usually set in basis points-10,000 basis points equals 100%, so 500 basis points means 5%. That’s flexible. A creator can set 2.5%, 7%, or even 15% depending on the collection. The receiver address can be a personal wallet, a multisig wallet that needs three signatures to move funds, or even a smart contract that splits payments between artists, producers, and managers. Most NFTs on Ethereum, Polygon, and Optimism today use ERC-2981. OpenZeppelin’s code library is the go-to template for developers because it’s been tested and secured against common hacks. In 2023, a flaw in one popular NFT contract let someone redirect $1.2 million in royalties to their own wallet. After that, nearly every major project added time-locked updates and multi-signature controls to prevent sudden changes.

Why Some Marketplaces Ignore Royalties

Here’s the problem: just because the royalty info is on-chain doesn’t mean the marketplace has to honor it. Marketplaces are businesses. Their goal is to attract buyers. And buyers don’t like paying extra fees. Blur, a trading-focused platform, made headlines in 2023 by letting collectors opt out of paying royalties entirely. Within months, nearly 40% of all NFT trading volume shifted to Blur and other royalty-free platforms like LooksRare. Why? Because collectors could buy and flip NFTs without giving anything back to the artist. It was a short-term win for traders-but a long-term loss for creators. Platforms that still pay royalties-like Foundation, SuperRare, and Manifold-started advertising it as a feature. “We pay creators,” they said. And it worked. In Q1 2025, 68% of all high-value NFT sales (over 1 ETH) happened on platforms that enforced royalties. Professional artists and music labels started moving their collections there. Why? Because they need reliable income.

Who’s Getting Paid-and Who’s Not

Not all creators are treated the same. Independent artists often get 5-10% royalties, but big brands are doing something different. Gucci, for example, minted digital twins of its physical handbags as NFTs. Every time one resold on a marketplace, Gucci got a 5% royalty. In 2024, that generated $18.7 million in additional revenue-not from selling bags, but from resales. Luxury brands aren’t just selling art; they’re selling brand value that lasts forever. The music industry is also jumping in. Platforms like Royal and AnotherBlock let musicians sell NFTs tied to song rights. When those NFTs flip, the artist gets a royalty-kind of like streaming royalties, but on-chain. By Q2 2025, music-related NFTs made up 12% of all marketplace volume. Meanwhile, many small creators are getting squeezed. If they mint on a royalty-free marketplace, they get no ongoing income. If they mint on a royalty-paying one, they get fewer buyers. It’s a lose-lose unless they’re already famous.

Regulators Are Starting to Step In

Governments are watching. In June 2024, the European Union’s MiCA regulation came into force. It required transparency in fees and transaction costs-but didn’t say anything about royalties. That left a gap. But in March 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced it would start formal talks on whether royalties should be mandatory. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) went further. In October 2024, they released a consultation paper asking: “Should NFT royalties be treated like intellectual property rights?” That’s a big deal. If royalties are legally recognized as part of copyright, then ignoring them could be like stealing royalties from a song or book. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) echoed this in early 2025. They recommended that all NFT marketplaces verify the originality of artwork before allowing minting. Why? Because if someone steals a digital painting and sells it as an NFT, there’s no real creator to pay. That’s not just unethical-it’s illegal.

The Future: Can Royalties Be Forced?

Right now, enforcement is voluntary. But new ideas are emerging to change that. One promising approach is the royalty-aware order book. Instead of letting buyers place bids freely, the system shows them: “This NFT has a 7% royalty. Paying this bid means you agree to pay it.” The buyer has to click “I accept” before the bid goes through. No click, no trade. It’s self-enforcing. Another is the NFT Royalty Protocol-a decentralized registry where creators can lock in their royalty terms. Any marketplace that connects to it automatically honors those rules. It’s like a global royalty directory. Projects like ENS and Royalty Registry are building it, but adoption is slow because marketplaces don’t want to lose control. The Ethereum Foundation is also exploring whether royalties should be coded into the blockchain protocol itself. That would make them mandatory. But developers are split. Some say it’s the only way to protect creators. Others say it goes against decentralization-buyers should have freedom, even if it hurts artists.

What Creators Should Do Now

If you’re a creator, here’s what you need to do:

• Use ERC-2981. Always. Don’t mint on a contract that doesn’t support it.
• Set your royalty rate between 5% and 10%. Higher than that scares buyers. Lower than 5% doesn’t cover your time.
• Use a multisig wallet for payouts. Never put royalties in a single wallet you control alone.
• Only list on platforms that publicly state they honor royalties. Check their terms, not just their homepage.
• Join creator coalitions that blacklist non-compliant marketplaces. Social pressure works.

What Buyers Should Know

If you’re buying NFTs, understand this: skipping royalties might save you $50 on a $1,000 NFT today-but it kills the ecosystem tomorrow. No royalties means no new art gets made. No new art means fewer things to collect. It’s a race to the bottom. Platforms that pay royalties have better curation, better artists, and more long-term value. The NFTs on those platforms don’t just look cool-they’re part of a sustainable economy.

Bottom Line

NFT royalties aren’t perfect. They’re not enforced everywhere. But they’re the only system we have that gives digital creators a fair shot at ongoing income. The technology exists. The standards are set. What’s missing is universal commitment. The next two years will decide whether royalties become a legal norm or just a nice idea that faded away. If you care about creators, support the platforms that pay them. If you’re a creator, build with ERC-2981 and demand better. This isn’t about technology. It’s about fairness.