Is Reddit building an avatar marketplace where users can easily buy and sell their Collectible Avatar NFTs? The answer is… probably.

(Previous post was removed so I'm trying again.)

There’s been speculation ever since Reddit’s avatar shop first opened that they’ll be building an actual marketplace, where users can buy, sell, and potentially trade avatars without having to use a 3rd party such as OpenSea.

There’s been little bits and pieces of evidence that point towards a marketplace, but it’s always up to interpretation and never convincing enough to say anything for sure. However, recently some new things happened that really point towards a proper Collectible Avatar marketplace.

What are the clues?

About a week ago in the r/CollectibleAvatars subreddit, a Reddit admin made a post detailing the redesigned Reddit avatar shop that has started rolling out. There are new ways to browse the avatars by style, series size, price, collection, release dates.

All these fancy new features but can't buy anything.

The thing is, there are no avatars to buy, and when new avatars drop they sell out almost immediately. After a day they’ll be sold out and you’ll be browsing a bunch of sold out avatars. The new UI lets you sort the avatars by oldest and newest release dates. What reason would a user have for browsing previously released avatars that are sold out? This is the most convincing detail. It doesn’t make sense for Reddit to be improving on and adding all kinds of new functionality to a marketplace that will only be filled with sold out avatars.

It's like they're teasing us.

Reddit has been onboarding millions of users into the NFT space, many of whom have no idea they’re now NFT holders. Let’s be frank, NFTs don’t have the best reputation and many people are put off by them. If Reddit has plans to expand their foray into NFTs and Web 3, they can’t have their potential users repulsed by their product. Reddit has now desensitized millions of people to NFTs by stealthily turning them into Collectible Avatar/NFT holders. Could that be their game plan?

Why should Reddit build a marketplace?

First of all, there’s a lot of potential profit to be made. Avatars were selling for as much as 30 ETH during the peak of the hype. If Reddit creates a simple and seamless avatar trading experience, there could be a constant flow of profit.

Second, Reddit wants to brand their avatars as “Collectible Avatars” and pretend they’re not NFTs, which most people agree is a brilliant move. When new avatars drop and the store immediately sells out, the only way for people to get the avatars they want is to use NFT brokering services such as OpenSea. Once you’re at that point, you’re balls deep in the NFT space and susceptible to all kinds of risks. I think Reddit would like to avoid that.

To further the last point about risks, anyone who has used OpenSea knows there are fakes. A LOT of fakes. I don’t understand why OpenSea doesn’t hire a full-time employee to constantly flag the fake NFTs to protect their users. So many people have been scammed trying to buy avatars and it’s really sad. Searching for a Reddit avatar by the exact name will return fakes, sometimes hundreds of them for the more expensive avatars, and not a single result is returned for the real, verified avatar. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

So that’s where we’re at. It’s nothing solid, but the signs are pointing towards a proper avatar marketplace where you can buy and sell your NFTs. Errr… I mean Collectible Avatars.