Solana’s blockchain brings fast transactions and affordable minting, which has made it a hub for NFT projects and communities. But as a creator or collector, you’ll quickly encounter a key question: how do royalties actually work on Solana? The short answer is that royalties are largely governed by on-chain metadata and marketplace behavior, not by a universal enforcement mechanism. This makes understanding the details essential for long-term value and fair rewards.
What are Solana NFT royalties?
At its core, a Solana NFT’s royalty is an amount paid to the original creator or creators on a secondary sale. On Solana, this is typically encoded in the NFT’s on-chain metadata using the Metaplex standard. The most common field you’ll see is seller_fee_basis_points, which specifies the royalty percentage in basis points (1,000 basis points = 10%). If an NFT lists a 5% royalty, secondary sellers should pay 5% of the sale price to the creator(s) when the sale occurs on marketplaces that honor these rules.
Alongside the basis points, a creators array in the metadata identifies who receives royalties and what share each creator gets. This enables revenue sharing among collaborators, allowing a single NFT to distribute proceeds across multiple addresses according to predefined shares. It’s a powerful mechanism for supporting multi-artist collaborations or studio teams with clean, on-chain provenance.
On-chain metadata and the Metaplex standard
The Metaplex standard is the backbone for most Solana NFTs, and it defines how royalties should be stored and read. When a sale occurs on a compatible marketplace, the contract reads seller_fee_basis_points and the creators’ shares to determine how much to allocate to each recipient. In theory, this creates a reliable framework for royalties, but in practice, implementation varies from platform to platform.
Marketplace behavior and enforcement
Unlike some other ecosystems, Solana does not have a single, universal enforcement layer. Whether royalties are paid depends on the marketplace. Some platforms—such as prominent Solana marketplaces—aptly honor on-chain royalties and route payments to the creators’ wallets automatically. Others may not enforce royalties, either due to design choices or to offer more flexible resale options for buyers. This means a sale on one marketplace might pay royalties, while another marketplace may bypass them entirely.
For buyers, this underscores the importance of choosing marketplaces that respect royalties if this is a factor for you. For creators, it highlights the need to clearly communicate royalty expectations and to ensure metadata is stored correctly in the NFT’s on-chain record. When a sale happens, the on-chain values act as the official source of truth, but the end result depends on the marketplace’s adherence.
Practical implications for buyers and sellers
- Check the metadata. Inspect the seller_fee_basis_points and the creators array before minting or listing. Tools and wallet plugins can help you view these fields on Solana NFTs.
- Prefer marketplaces that honor royalties. If sustaining creator income matters to you, prioritize platforms known to respect the on-chain royalty settings.
- Be aware of multiple creators. When royalties are shared among several parties, the distribution is determined by the creators array. This is especially important for collaborative drops or partnerships.
- Expect changes with newer drops. Some collections experiment with dynamic royalties or alternative fee structures, so verify each project’s terms.
“Royalties on Solana are best thought of as an on-chain contract that guides payments, but their power is only as strong as the marketplaces that honor it.”
From a project-management perspective, royalty settings influence how a collection sustains itself after launch. For artists building brands or teams, well-defined on-chain royalties can secure ongoing incentives for contributors and help align incentives across the community.
Early in your exploration, you may also notice that physical gear and digital collectives sometimes intersect in subtle ways. For example, many creators partner with real-world products or merchandise drops to complement their NFT drops. If you’re a collector who values durable, everyday gear alongside your digital investments, you might appreciate practical tools that travel well with you to conferences, meetups, or launches—like the Tough Phone Case — Impact Resistant TPU/Polycarbonate Shell. It’s a great example of how a well-made accessory can support your active, on‑the‑go lifestyle as you track drops and royalties across the Solana ecosystem.
As you advance, consider building a routine for verifying royalties. A simple checklist can save you time and prevent surprises:
- Always verify seller_fee_basis_points in the token’s metadata before purchasing or minting.
- Confirm the marketplace’s policy on royalties at the moment of sale.
- When possible, choose wallets and tools that display royalty information transparently.
- Watch for changes in a collection’s royalties if you plan to participate in future drops or secondary sales.