With a dubious amount of time left in Tax Season (for those of us in the States), some of us will hopefully see some money coming back to us after paying Uncle Sam.
If you are one that got or will get money back, you know how cool it is to get a decent amount of change back. With the way my mom has me to do my tax withholdings, I know I do. And with that extra money, it’s very easy to wanna spend it large, right? Right. And for sneakerheads, this could mean that we might want to cop that big grail, or cop some smaller ones. Both are equally dangerous to that hard-earned refund bag. But tax season or otherwise, if you’re not careful, you could find yourself blowing a considerable amount of money on sneakers. And with the rise of reseller markets, and ease of access, you could really fall into some pitfalls when it comes to the sneakers and the money involved. Let’s dive into some ways you can avoid regretfully spending money on sneakers.
1. Don’t Bid On Sneakers Until You’re Ready For Them.
I put this one first because I personally am guilty of this. It’s so easy to look at some sneakers, and place (what you think is) a bogus bid on them, never expecting for it to be accepted without some pushback from the (re)seller. While you aren’t fully committing to the sneaker, you are displaying your interest in it nonetheless. The problem with this tactic is that sometimes the seller can’t accept your bid fast enough just to drop the sneaker. Next thing you know you’re waking up the next morning thinking to yourself, “Damn, I didn’t mean to buy those now.” Well, I’m sure you didn’t, but the seller meant to sell those now.
Congratulations! Those new sneakers are yours!
2. If It’s Not A Must, Wait.
To be clear, no sneaker is a must. But, if it is not a sneaker that you haven’t kept tabs on since it was first revealed or announced, it can probably wait a while, especially if it is a GR. It’ll be on sale, and more colorways will drop as time goes on. If it is a collab or a more rare sneaker, use your discretion; If you think resell value is going to shoot up, go for retail, more than likely, it’s your best shot. If you think it won’t fare that much better after the fact, it can wait. I’ve gotten countless collabs and grails for under retail simply for waiting them out for a number of months, sometimes years. It’s a long game of patience, yes. But, I’d rather have my Acronym VaporMaxes for $180 than $280.
3. Consider As Many Places As Possible When Buying Sneakers.
Have you ever bought sneakers at Place A, feeling happy and content only a short time later find out the exact same sneaker is a tad cheaper at this Place B? I know you’d be hot. I would most definitely be hot. It’s happened to me before, and I know it’ll probably happen again and again and again as long as sneakers come and go on this earth. For this, when it comes to a sneaker that you’ve been plotting on for a while, or maybe have had some interest in for some time, consider a few places that may carry it, and of course, find out which one carries it cheaper. This may just save you money, and maybe even, time.
Also consider that buying from an international store may come at a slightly higher price and have higher shipping fees. But if it’s easier to buy the shoe there than elsewhere, it might just be worth it.
4. Know That Stores Will Have Massive Sales.
Every year, sometimes during the holiday seasons, sometimes out of nowhere (think flash sales), you’ll get an email from one or more of your favorite brands/retailers announcing a massive sale, with discounts deeper than Olympic Swimming Pools. Now’s a great time to cop those minor wants on your watch list. As an added plus, most of them have Sale sections that stay packed with heat. And guess what? The longer that heat stays in Sale, the cheaper the sneaker. The cheaper the sneaker, the less money you have to spend. There are a number of Consortium sneakers on a particular store’s sale page that are nice and cheap for me, but I’m holding out just a little longer until they get cheaper. And that leads me to my next point…
5. Be Cheap.
This is easily the catalyst and step to following the aforementioned tips. I can’t stress this enough, especially being a sneakerhead that doesn’t have, and never had, the luxury of mom and dad’s coffers. I have a lot of sneakers, as many sneakerheads do. But I can honestly, and proudly tell you that a considerable amount of my sneakers I own came on sale or discount in some shape or form. Why? Because I like to save money wherever I can. And you should too. There’s more benefit to this too. Saving more on sneakers means that you can buy more sneakers. I don’t know about you, but I like the idea of buying more sneakers at a lower burn rate than our other counterparts.
6. Make Sure The Sneakers Are Authentic
Look, this mostly only applies if you aren’t buying from a resell market or a boutique, but instead off of avenues like Grailed and Instagram. It’s easy for people to get scammed out of a pretty penny simply because they had to have a certain sneaker, and they had to get it by any means necessary. And contrary to the previous point, sometimes, if it is a good deal, it truly is too good to be true.
Leave a Reply