# What is Courtyard.io? {% embed url="" %} [Courtyard.io](https://courtyard.io/) is a first-of-its-kind marketplace and tokenization service that enables anyone to easily own and trade physical collectibles on the blockchain, unlocking greater transparency, liquidity, and a powerful new form of ownership for collectors. ## Why Courtyard? Courtyard.io empowers everyone to focus on the timeless joy of collecting while tapping into blockchain-powered benefits such as: **Instant liquidity**: there’s inherent friction and risks involved with selling collectibles. The process of listing, packaging, and shipping is time-consuming and susceptible to setbacks, from shipping delays to outright scams. Once tokenized and vaulted, collectibles can be bought and sold instantly worldwide without needing to be moved around each time, unlocking new levels of liquidity for the collectibles market. **Transparency:** having all details about every transaction recorded onchain increases the level of transparency around previous ownership and pricing of collectibles. Having reliable provenance is something collectors value, and with the blockchain they can easily access all past owners and activity around a particular collectible. **Expanded buyer network:** being on the blockchain allow sellers to reach more buyers across both credit card and crypto payments, all in one place **Lower fees:** our onchain approach allows us to keep seller fees lower than traditional Web2 marketplaces, while users can also benefit from no sales tax on vault transactions **Power to discover and bid:** so many collectibles are sitting in basements and closets and go unknown to the world unless a seller decides to list it somewhere. Collectibles that are onchain give collectors the power to discover and bid at any time — even on those collectibles that aren’t actively listed! This benefits the seller too, since they can simply accept an offer and instantly be paid out without ever having to list. **Community:** collectors can tap into this powerful new form of ownership to display their collections digitally to the world. This not only increases visibility of available assets on the market but can also help create connections between collectors worldwide. We're already seeing this happen in our [Discord](https://discord.gg/courtyard-io). These are only some of the ways that Courtyard.io is unlocking new value for collectors. We’re constantly listening to feedback from the community and experimenting with new ways to empower collectors even further. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.courtyard.io/courtyard/about-courtyard.io/what-is-courtyard.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.