One of the unique features of Farcaster compared to other social networks is you actually own your account. This means it is entirely possible to buy and sell Farcaster accounts, but should you?
When I first joined Farcaster I felt late to the party and joined at a moment where lots of accounts were posting about receiving airdrops for having an early FID (Farcaster ID). The solution in my mind, just buy an early account! Spoiler Alert: This is probably a bad reason to buy one...
What it is actually like buying an existing Farcaster account
The first thing to realise, is if you already have an account, there is no way to merge them. To transition to a new account, you will have to take several steps in a specific order and you will still lose your current account's history and following.
Steps Required When Migrating From An Existing Account
Transfer newly acquired FID to wallet you wish to use. (You can do this via FarMarket)
Transfer existing fname to newly acquired account - Only one can be held at a time so you may need to use multiple wallets for this.
Re-link your ENS/address with new account.
Re-follow everyone from your old account.
Re-join any channels you were a member of.
You may also encounter a few challenges in processing some of these updates as selling accounts is not a primary workflow for most farcaster apps. For example:
Can't use same email in Warpcast again.
Transferring FIDs and fnames require multiple wallets and signatures.
Previously registered fnames can't be used again for 60 days.
The other side to this problem is when you acquire an account, you also acquire the entire history of the account. This is great if you are purchasing an established business with a brand. But less so, if you buy an account within completely irrelevant content for your goals. In this case, you will likely need to spend a lot of time undoing a lot of the existing work.
Suggested Steps After Buying An Account
Update your recover address ASAP (If you use FarMarket, it does this for you).
Remove old and off-brand casts.
Update your profile picture - It still may show up with the old one for weeks in third party frames!
Update your fname (unless you want to keep it) - This may linger in frames too!
Unfollow accounts you don't want to follow.
Remove likes on undesirable posts.
Leave channels you don't want to participate in.
And even after all of this, you will still be left with the accounts old social graph e.g. people's replies to your account and interactions in old snapshots. If the account purchased Warps (Warpcast's in-app currency) and tipped people, this will be attributed to you. And to make things worse, if you buy and clean up an early account, your casts over time ratio is likely to be low so you'll need to work extra hard to boost those stats. There will also be a permanent onchain record of the sale so any OG status value can be debunked.
So when should you buy a Farcaster account?
I've laid out the realities of what it means above, so I'll mostly leave that question up to you. But in my opinion it makes most sense in one specific use case...
Good Reasons to Buy an Account
You are purchasing a brand or business and want access to their socials.
There may be other reasons, like resale speculation, but the above is probably the main one I'd agree with right now.
Bad Reasons To Buy An Existing Farcaster Account
Low FID Number - There is no officially announced benefit to having one and the first wave of airdrops related to this are already out of the door so future drops may are likely to vary the playbook. Especially now it is known that people are actively trading accounts.
Follow Counts - It will likely includes irrelevant accounts that will skew your follower data.
Desirable fname - These are offchain and can be revoked. It's better to use an ENS you own.
If, after all of the warnings you still want to buy an existing Farcaster account, there is an active marketplace available through FarQuest. Many are listed for sale, and you can browse for low FIDs or search for specific keywords. You can place offers on ones that you would like to acquire. As of writing, there are a good selection listed and it does seem to work well, but buyer beware!
And if you are buying a low FID for vanity reasons, it probably makes sense to check out accounts around the floor first and go for the account with the least activity. This will mean you have less to clean up before you can truly make the profile your own.
If you enjoyed this, follow me on Farcaster @nuconomy.eth and in my channel /nuconomist.
Shameless Referral Link: Trade Farcaster FIDs on FarMaket
