The public sale is the unrestricted open minting phase of an NFT collection where any wallet address with sufficient funds — not limited to pre-approved allowlist holders — can interact with the smart contract to purchase tokens at the stated mint price, typically commencing after a presale period (during which only allowlisted wallets could mint) and constituting the general public’s first opportunity to participate in the primary issuance, with all remaining supply available on a first-come, first-served basis (or through a Dutch auction mechanism) until the collection sells out or the sale period ends. The public sale is the highest-stakes moment of a collection’s launch: it determines final sellout status, establishes initial price discovery for the secondary market, and — in the absence of an allowlist system — is when gas wars are most likely to occur.
Public Sale Structure
After a Presale
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Presale (Day 1):
- Allowlisted wallets only
Minted: 3,000 of 10,000 tokens
Price: 0.06 ETH
Public Sale (Day 2, 12:00 UTC):
- Any wallet can participate
Remaining supply: 7,000 tokens
Price: 0.08 ETH
Per-wallet limit: 2–3 NFTs
Duration: Until sold out
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Without a Presale (Open Public Mint)
- Entire supply (e.g., 10,000 tokens) opens to public simultaneously
- Higher gas war risk
- More democratic (no insider allowlist advantage)
- Common for free mints and open editions
Dutch Auction to Public Sale
- Price starts high (e.g., 2 ETH) and decreases on a schedule
- No presale phase; the auction IS the public sale
- Buyers enter when price reaches their willingness-to-pay
Key Metrics at Public Sale
Sellout Rate
- Full sellout in seconds: Extremely hot demand; secondary floor opens above mint price
- Sellout in hours: Healthy demand; secondary likely above mint
- Partial sellout: Demand below expectations; secondary likely below mint
- Failed sellout: Team left holding unsold supply; floor typically crashes
Time to Sellout
< 1 minute: Oversubscribed; gas war likely occurred
1–60 minutes: Strong demand; manageable congestion
1–24 hours: Moderate demand; smooth UX for buyers
> 24 hours: Weak demand; floor risk
Never sold out: Project failure signal
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Gas Dynamics at Public Sale
Even with a presale, public sales create congestion:
With Allowlist System
- Public sale buyers compete, but reduced pool vs. full open sale
- Gas fees elevated but usually manageable
Without Allowlist
- Gas fees can spike dramatically (especially for hyped projects)
- MEV bots participate aggressively
- Failed transactions burn gas for losers
Mitigation
- Setting per-wallet mint limits (1–5 NFTs max)
- Using time-based release (not “on block X at exactly 12:00:00”)
- Publishing exact mint time in advance (reduces bot advantage)
- Deploying on L2 chains with low gas
Secondary Market Opens After Public Sale
Once public sale ends (or sellout occurs), secondary trading begins immediately:
- OpenSea, Blur, Magic Eden listings appear within minutes
- Floor price discovery happens in real-time
- Initial floor relative to mint price is the primary post-launch metric
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Mint price: 0.08 ETH
Post-public-sale floor: 0.12 ETH → “50% up from mint” → healthy
Post-public-sale floor: 0.05 ETH → “below mint” → weak demand
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History
- 2017–2020: NFT sales were largely unstructured; no formal presale/public sale distinction
- 2021: PFP collection launches formalize the presale → public sale two-phase structure
- 2021 Aug–Nov: Public sale gas wars peak; BAYC, Azuki, Doodles all experience intense public sale congestion
- 2022: Allowlist systems mature; public sales better managed, but bear market reduces overall demand
- 2023: Open editions and free mints often skip presale phase; public sale IS the only sale
- 2024–2025: L2 mints reduce gas war risk; public sales on Base and Solana operate smoothly even for popular drops