Sell or Transfer a Telegram Username on Fragment
Step 003 said the one thing a collectible username gives you that a free one does not is that you can pass it on. This step is about doing that: selling it on Fragment, auctioning the free username you already have, or handing a collectible to someone else directly from your wallet.
The mechanics are short. The consequence is the part people get wrong. Selling a username does not sell your channel, your group or your profile. They stay exactly where they are, with every member and message. What leaves is the address, and every link that pointed to it. Once the new owner assigns it, those links lead to their chat, not yours. So the real work of selling happens before you list: moving your people to an address you will keep.
What you will be able to do after this step
- check_circle Choose between selling a collectible, auctioning a free username and transferring directly.
- check_circle Say what stays with your chat and what goes with the address.
- check_circle Prepare a channel or group before its address changes hands.
How a username changes hands
Which route you take depends on what you own now and who you are passing it to. Pick yours.
You already own a collectible, and want a buyer
On Fragment, open My Assets and choose Sell for a fixed price or Put up for auction. For an auction you can also set an optional maximum price that ends it immediately if someone pays it. The collectible goes to the buyer's wallet, and the proceeds, minus Fragment's fees, go to yours.
The sale happens on Fragment's side in one step: the buyer's payment and your collectible change hands together. That is the protection a private deal does not have, and the reason to prefer this route with anyone you do not know.
With a stranger, sell through Fragment, where payment and name move together.
You have an ordinary username and someone wants it
A free username on your profile, a public group or a public channel can be listed on Fragment. You log in with both Telegram and a TON wallet, choose Convert to Collectibles, pick the username and set a minimum bid. It then waits, for as long as it takes, until someone places a first bid, which starts a seven-day auction. The winner receives it as a collectible.
Two points matter more than the price. You can cancel only before that first bid; after it, the auction runs and the name is converted permanently. And Telegram may refuse to list a name if your account has no Two-Step Verification, set it up very recently, or has only just acquired or moved that username.
Listing is reversible until the first bid, and never after.
You want to give a collectible to a specific person
A collectible can be sent to another TON address directly from a wallet app, in the section that lists your collectibles, without Fragment and without a platform fee. This is the right route for moving a name to your own second wallet, to a co-founder, or to the new owner of a channel you are handing over.
It is also a transfer with no counterpart. Nothing comes back automatically, and a completed transfer cannot be reversed. If money is involved and you do not know the other person well, this is exactly the arrangement scammers ask for: "send the username first, I will pay after".
Transfer directly only to someone you already trust.
link_off What stays, and what goes with the address
Everyone who follows your chat through the app is fine. Everyone who reaches it through the address is not.
| Thing | After the name is sold | What to do before |
|---|---|---|
| The chat itself | Stays with you: members, messages, admins, settings | Nothing; it does not move |
| Links and QR codes | Once the buyer assigns the name, they open the buyer's chat | Replace them everywhere you control: website, bios, printed material |
| Links in old posts | Forwarded posts and mentions of the name now point elsewhere | Warn members in a pinned post before and after |
| A public chat's only address | A public chat with no other username is harder for anyone to find | Give it another username first, and tell members which one |
Remember that a chat can hold one basic username and any number of collectibles, as Step 005 explained. That makes the safe order simple: add the address you will keep, announce it, wait a while, and only then sell the one you are letting go.
tune Setting the numbers
Nobody can tell you what a name is worth, and this page will not try. What you can decide is what the numbers on a listing mean to you, before anyone makes an offer.
- The minimum bid is the lowest price you would accept without regret. Once a bid meets it, the auction starts and cannot be stopped. Set it as if you will certainly receive exactly that amount.
- A maximum price is the number at which you stop waiting. If someone pays it, the auction ends there. Leave it empty if you would rather let the auction run its course.
- Other listings are asking prices, not sales. A similar name listed for a large amount says what its owner hopes for. It says nothing about what a buyer will pay.
If the whole reason you are selling is a message from a stranger saying the name is worth a fortune, slow down. That message is also how people are persuaded to use a "faster" route than Fragment.
swap_horiz Handing over a whole channel
Sometimes the name is not being sold on its own: the channel itself is changing owners. That is two separate steps, and the order matters.
Ownership of a channel or group is transferred inside Telegram, from the admin settings, to someone who is already an admin. Telegram requires the current owner to have Two-Step Verification in place for a while before it allows this, so it cannot be rushed; Beginner Basics Step 70 covers what moves with the channel and what stays behind. A collectible username assigned to the channel is held in a wallet, not by the channel, so it does not follow automatically. Transfer it to the new owner's wallet directly, once the channel transfer is done, and let them assign it again.
gpp_maybe Who contacts sellers
Anyone who lists a name, or owns one that looks valuable, will hear from strangers. Most of the messages that follow have the same aim: to get the name, or your wallet, without paying through Fragment.
- "Transfer first, I will pay right after." A direct transfer is final and has no counterpart. There is no "after".
- "Use my escrow service." A site or bot you have never heard of, standing between you and the buyer, is the most common version of the theft. Fragment's own sale already does what an escrow claims to.
- "Connect your wallet here to receive the payment." Receiving never requires connecting to a stranger's page or approving anything. Step 006 of the Mini Apps track explains the one-sentence test.
- "Send your recovery phrase so I can check ownership." Ownership is visible on the blockchain to anyone. Nobody needs your words to verify it, ever.
A real buyer can place a bid or pay the listed price on Fragment. If they will not, they are not a buyer.
touch_app Before you list — fifteen minutes
- Decide whether you are selling the address or the chat If you are handing over the whole channel, ownership transfer is a separate step, done in Telegram. The username can follow it by direct transfer.
- Give the chat the address you will keep Add or switch to another username now, while the old one still works.
- Tell your members A pinned post with the new address, repeated after the sale. Update your website, bios and anything printed.
- Check the wallet that will receive the money It should be a wallet you own and whose recovery phrase is safely on paper, as Step 006 of the Wallet track explains.
- List on Fragment, and ignore private offers to do it another way Real buyers can use the listing.
What owning a collectible actually gives you, why selling it does not take the channel with it, and why a free username can be taken by anyone the moment you let it go.
help Questions
If I sell my channel's username, do the subscribers go to the buyer?
No. Subscribers, messages and admins belong to the channel, and the channel stays with you. Only the address moves. What the buyer gains is everyone who arrives through that address in future, which is why you move your own links first.
Can I bid on my own auctioned username to keep it?
Fragment allows it. If you win, the collectible goes to the wallet you bid from, you get your winning bid back minus fees, and the name keeps pointing to the same chat. Converting a free username into a collectible cannot be undone once the first bid is placed.
Can I sell a username that is not a collectible without Fragment?
Free usernames cannot be transferred between accounts as property. The only supported way to sell one is to list it on Fragment, which converts it into a collectible for the winner. Anyone offering to "transfer your username" another way is asking for your account.
How long does a transfer take to show up?
Most blockchain transactions complete within seconds, though Fragment notes some can take longer. After receiving a collectible, the new owner still has to assign it and switch it on in the chat's settings before it works as an address.
The address leaves, the chat stays
Selling a collectible, auctioning a free username, transferring directly, and moving your members to an address you keep before you list. Tap to open it at full resolution.
