How it works

Custody

Every item is examined, photographed, condition-reported and appraised before it’s offered. It is then stored, insured for its appraised value, in a vault in London, segregated and identified by its asset record. The custody page explains how items are kept and audited.

The token is the title

Each item is represented by exactly one token on Base. Owning the token is owning the item: title passes automatically, and only, with the token. We never mint a second token for an item or split one across tokens.

The token carries a fingerprint (a keccak-256 hash) of the item’s asset record, written once at minting. Anyone can recompute it from the published record and check it on the item page.

Trading

Items change hands instantly, in USDC, without the object moving. Buying at an asking price or accepting a bid settles in one transaction. Moving an item between wallets outside a sale uses a fee-paying transfer, so every change of ownership goes through Nicest’s contracts.

Fees

The seller pays a 3% trade fee on the higher of the sale price and the item’s PAV. Buyers pay no fee. Holding is free. Every action shows its fees before you confirm.

Worked example: sale above PAV

Sale price

$18,400.00

PAV

$15,900.00

Fee basis

Sale price

Trade fee (3%)

−$552.00

Seller receives

$17,848.00

Worked example: sale below PAV

Sale price

$6,000.00

PAV

$6,600.00

Fee basis

PAV

Trade fee (3% of PAV)

−$198.00

Seller receives

$5,802.00

Redemption (taking delivery) costs 10% of the item’s PAV plus insured shipping to your country. There is no minting fee for the founding collection.

Bids

Every item is always open to bids, whether or not it has an asking price. Bids are funded in full when placed and held in escrow by the Marketplace contract. A bid can be cancelled 24 hours after it’s placed, and otherwise stays open until it’s accepted, cancelled or expires (up to 90 days).

Asking prices

Holders can set an asking price for up to 180 days. Anyone can buy instantly at that price. You keep the item in your wallet while it has an asking price, and you can change or cancel it at any time.

PAV: Protocol Appraisal Value

PAV is Nicest’s published value for each item, used as the minimum fee basis and for dormancy fees. It is 85% of a reference value built from three inputs:

• the last fair sale, weighted up to 50% and fading to nothing over 365 days;
• the current top bid, weighted 20% when there is one;
• the appraisal at minting, adjusted by the asset-class index, making up the rest.

Sales that look like wash trades are left out. PAV can move at most 50% per update and at most once a day. PAV is not an offer to buy and not a valuation for any other purpose.

Holding clock and dormancy

Holding an item costs nothing. The only holding-related charge is for abandoned tokens: if an item has no sale, renewal or fee-paying transfer for 5 years, a reclaim fee of 50% of PAV becomes payable at the next qualifying event. After 10 years a further 50% applies and the item may be sold to recover the fees. No fee accrues or is shown before each threshold. We send reminders 6 and 3 months before each one.

To reset the clock without selling, renew for the trade fee on PAV. On an item with a PAV of $3,350, renewal costs $100.50. Token Terms A12A sets out the rules.

Taking delivery

You can take delivery of any item you hold. We check your identity, you pay the redemption fee, insured shipping and any reclaim fee owed, and we ship the item. While the request is open the item can’t be traded. When it’s delivered the token is retired. Import taxes and duties are payable by you on delivery.

Questions