Etherscan is an example of a blockchain explorer for the Ethereum network. Here are some things you can search for on Etherscan:

Two of the most common uses for Etherscan are to get more details on a transactions and address activity.

At first glance, each transaction looks packed with information but there are a few key details to watch out for. It might look technical at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’ll feel like you’re Googling the blockchain!

When you are looking up transaction details, you’ll need the Transaction Hash. This is a 66-character long unique identifier. Every transaction on Ethereum has one.

You’ll find it at the top of each transaction details page (see below). Make sure to have the Transaction Hash ready if you need help from the OpenSea Pro team!

This shows what happened in the transaction. For example, in an NFT purchase, you’ll see the Transfer of an NFT token (or several) from the seller’s address to the buyer’s address.

This section shows where the transaction originated From and what contract or application it Interacted With.

For example, in this transaction, the wallet gem-intern.eth interacted with one of OpenSea Pro smart contracts to facilitate an NFT purchase across multiple NFT marketplaces.

If the transaction is simply a transfer of Ethereum or cryptocurrency from one wallet or another, then you’ll see a simple From Address A and To Address B in this section.

In this section, Value refers to the value of the transaction. In NFT terms, this is the price of NFTs that the buyer has agreed to pay. If the transaction is one address ending ETH to another address, then Value is the amount of ETH being sent.

On the other hand, Transaction Fee refers to the cost of the transaction, commonly known as the Gas Fee. Thus the total cost of the transaction will be Value + Transaction Fee (Gas Fee).

Two things to keep in mind:

Many wallets like MetaMask only display the Value of the transaction ($13.07) in their activity feed. The Transaction Fee ($5.43) is not reflected.

You can use Etherscan to search an address’s activity history. You can also search with ENS names instead of using the full address (see below).

When you first arrive at an address, you’ll see the full Address at the top, along with a clipboard icon that lets you copy the address!

Below you’ll see the Balance of Ether or ETH, and the current value reflected in Ether Value. In Token, you’ll see a dropdown list indicating the current balance of ERC-20 tokens or NFTs.

Below you’ll see several tabs showcasing different address activities.

Let’s get into the nitty gritty:

There are four common errors you might encounter with failed transactions. You can view your transaction on Etherscan and check the Status row to see why the transaction failed.

Keep in mind that if a transaction fails, only the Transaction Fee (Gas Fee) will be lost.

This is the most common error when purchasing an NFT. The failure refers to the loss of the Transaction fee (gas fee), not the value of the item you attempted to purchase. In this situation, it’s usually the person who paid the most gas who will get to buy the item. This can happen if multiple users are attempting to purchase the same item at the same time.

This means the transaction was dropped and replaced by a new one. For more information, you can refer to this Etherscan help article.

This occurs when the gas limit of your transaction was set too low. Default gas limit settings for transactions are automatically calibrated on crypto wallets like MetaMask.

Sometimes Ethereum transactions can get stuck in a "Pending" state when the transaction has been submitted with a low gas price. While fixing this error will vary by wallet provider, here's MetaMask's guide.

Whenever you run a purchase transaction using OpenSea Pro, you may be trying to buy NFTs that others are also trying to purchase. As multiple people try to buy the same NFTs, this means that only one individual will end up getting them.

There can be some other rare unexpected errors due to some special tokens, NFTs, or other market factors.

For more information on returned funds, please click here.