So, you want to buy some sneakers at resell. All your swaggy sneaker friends are wearing the latest heat, your favorite IG sneakerheads are casually rocking fire while walking their dog. You’ve been looking at Goat and StockX for a minute now. You see all those varying prices on all those varying colorways and modes and years. But unless you just have the wherewithal to drop some serious cash money on those grails you’ve been pining after, there are some things you should consider before pulling the trigger.
Seasoned sneakerheads already know these things and then some, so this serves more as a guide for those that haven’t waded the treacherous waters of the resell market.
Check All The Boutiques You Can First
The stores will often times have some really dope sneakers sitting on sale for whatever reason. And if you’re lucky enough, that one sneaker you were about to pay $270 for off the resell sites might only be $90. Dover Street Market, Bodega, UBIQ, and SNS have been my best friends in this resell purchase thing.
Obviously, you won’t find the Yeezy or a Travis Scott sitting on the sale aisle. But, those other hard to find sneakers just might be sitting somewhere in your size, at a fraction of what a reseller is asking for.
Dover Street Market, Bodega, UBIQ, and SNS have been my best friends in this resell purchase thing
Check All The Available Prices
If your sneaker of choice isn’t in the boutique, then you didn’t really lose out. But that doesn’t mean you just go on first resell site that comes to mind and buy the sneakers at the first price you see.
Instead, you should check all the resell places that you know for your sneaker of choice. Sole Collector just released an app that helps you check prices from multiple sources such as Flight Club, Goat, and StockX. A lot of times what you will find is that each place has priced that sneaker differently, and the margin of difference can sometimes be as big as hundreds of dollars.
Try To Negotiate An Offer On Price
Even after you found the lower price, you 9/10 times you can still probably get the sneaker for a bit less. In my experience, many resellers are willing to come to some sort of middle number that works for the both of you. There are even times where you might even get away with a lowball deal because the seller just wants to get rid of the shoe already. It’s a rare chance that a reseller is going to release a Casablanca 327 for under $250, but you might not have to pay the $350+ that it’s currently going for at the moment.
A Real Trick: Trade
If you have stock lying around that you aren’t wearing, you just might be able to turn that trash into your next treasure.
I personally have not traded sneakers, and I don’t think that I’ll fare very well in that arena anyway given my shoe size. But, many people with smaller feet like my guy Big Money Sonny find luck in trading some heat for the sneakers that they actually want. Trades are usually organized in chat groups and social media pages, etc, so it’s usually good to do your homework and research on the sneaker (you should do that anyway, even on resell sites as none are 100% guaranteed to only sell legitimate sneakers) before engaging in the trade with the other person. But, if you have stock lying around that you aren’t wearing, you just might be able to turn that trash into your next treasure.
Leave a Reply