How is NFT royalty income calculated?

Royalty income = secondary sale volume × royalty percentage. A 5% royalty on 100 ETH of monthly trading volume earns 5 ETH per month, on top of one-time primary mint revenue.

What is royalty enforcement?

Royalties are not enforced by most blockchains at the protocol level — marketplaces choose whether to honour them. Full enforcement pays the stated rate, partial enforcement pays a blended fraction, and zero enforcement pays nothing on secondary sales.

What is a typical NFT royalty rate?

Most collections set 5% to 10%. Above 10% can deter traders because it raises the effective cost of flipping. The optimal rate balances per-sale income against trading volume.

Does primary mint revenue include royalties?

No. The mint is a primary sale, so the creator keeps the full mint price minus marketplace and gas fees. Royalties only apply to secondary resales after the mint.

Why model partial enforcement?

Because real income often sits between full and zero. Volume splits across marketplaces with different policies, so a blended enforcement factor gives a more realistic projection than assuming everyone pays in full.

NFT Royalty Calculator

The NFT Royalty Calculator projects how much a collection can earn from its initial mint plus ongoing creator royalties on secondary trades. Because most chains do not enforce royalties at the protocol level, it models income under full, partial and zero enforcement so you can plan realistically.

How it works

There are two income streams. Primary revenue comes from the mint:

Primary revenue = collection size × mint price

This is a one-time event and is not subject to royalties. Secondary royalty income comes from resales:

Royalty per period = secondary volume × royalty rate × enforcement factor

A 5% royalty on 100 ETH of monthly volume earns 5 ETH per month at full enforcement. The enforcement factor scales that down: 1.0 means every marketplace honours the royalty, 0.0 means none do, and values between model a volume mix across marketplaces with different policies.

Enforcement scenarios

The tool shows three columns: full enforcement (factor 1.0), a partial scenario you can set, and zero enforcement (factor 0.0). This brackets the realistic range of outcomes after marketplaces’ policy changes, where optional or buyer-paid royalties became common.

Example and notes

A 10,000-piece collection minting at 0.05 ETH raises 10000 × 0.05 = 500 ETH up front. If it then trades 80 ETH per month at a 7% royalty, full enforcement yields 80 × 0.07 = 5.6 ETH monthly (≈67 ETH per year), while 50% partial enforcement halves that. Set a conservative enforcement factor when budgeting — secondary income is volatile and policy-dependent.