How To Start Flipping Sneakers
How I Make $10000 a Month Flipping Sneakers – Side Hustle …
This contribution comes from JV Ortiz, who found side hustle success in the world of buying and selling sneakers. He’s been at this business for two years and actually quit his job to pursue this venture full-time.
(And at $10k a month, I don’t blame him! )
JV lives in Brooklyn, New York and when he’s not out hunting for shoe deals you can find him running, surfing, and working on self development.
At his site,, he’s written a 100-page guide on how to break into the sneaker flipping game. You can use code SIDEHUSTLENATION to take 40% off.
Take it away, JV!
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From $1 T-Shirts to $1, 000 Sneakers: My Reselling Story
As someone who always had an entrepreneurial ambition and a hustler’s mindset, I was craving the right environment to really reach my potential.
I had seen documentaries about such environments that were meritocracies like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where formal education didn’t matter at all. In this realm, people were paid based on their trading performance, making millionaires out of some from blue collar backgrounds.
Buy Low, Sell High
Because I was so inspired by traders, I first tried my luck trading stocks — but ultimately lost money.
Still the opportunity to make money like traders do, by buying low and selling higher, made a lot of sense to me.
I decided that, rather than dealing with speculating market forecasts (i. e. actually gambling), I should sell things that real people actually buy. And I was attracted to the idea of reselling as a hustle because there is no need to build a brand from the ground up.
Instead, you can piggyback on the popularity of existing brands. With this new strategy in mind, I headed for the clearance racks at local discount clothing stores and thrift shops, looking for brand name items that I could sell at a profit on eBay.
I started to develop an idea of what brands resold for, and realized that on eBay, brand new items were selling below retail prices, so to make a profit with my used inventory I would have to find a steep discount.
My First Profitable Flips: Starting with $1 T-Shirts
At thrift stores, I could pick up t-shirts for $1 or $2 and sell them for about $10.
I was able to make money doing this, but it was nowhere near enough to reach my goal of matching the current paycheck. (At the time, I was looking for a better way to make money in college than working a retail job that paid slightly more than minimum wage. )
At best, I was making a $10 profit for each item I sold, and at the peak was selling 5 items per week. It’s good that I was making some money on the side pretty consistently, but I became hungry for more and started to brainstorm ideas.
Applying the 10x Rule
Thinking back again to the successful commodity traders, I recognized the obvious fact that the reason that these traders became millionaires is because they were trading in large quantities of money.
I had also been watching the TV show Million Dollar Listing at the time, where real estate agents made as much money selling one house as the average American would earn in a year. They did basically the same amount of work as the typical real estate agent but made ten times more simply because they were selling houses that were ten times more.
I was selling $50-$100 items and making about $10 per sale and $50 per week, so I thought, why don’t I sell items that are priced at $500-$1000 and make $100 per sale and $500 per week?
A similar amount of work for 10x the results.
I had saved some money and was ready to start flipping more expensive items but wasn’t really sure where to start, so I searched for higher ticket items to sell. I knew luxury items were expensive, so I researched high end designer items and expensive watches.
Through my research though, I found that it was nearly impossible to make money reselling name brand luxury items. In fact, they were almost universally selling for less on eBay than they were in the store, even when they were on clearance.
Every now and then, I would find a luxury item on deep clearance at the mall and see on eBay that I could make a profit, but that the margin would be too thin and the sale too slow to justify the upfront investment.
Dealing with watches could be profitable but required a great deal of capital, knowledge, and reputation. I was stuck and didn’t know what to do.
Discovering the Sneaker Aftermarket
Searching through eBay, I filtered strictly by price and not by brand name. I was searching for items that were selling for around $500-1000 that I could make a profit from.
To my surprise, in the $1000 realm, among the name-brand luxury bags and other obviously expensive items were a pair of Nikes.
It was February 2015 and the shoes were the Air Jordan 2 Just Don.
Little did I know that this discovery would open the door to my most profitable flipping venture yet, and the one that would match and replace my job income.
I saw that many pairs were selling for nearly $1000 with a lot of bidding action. After doing some research, I found that these shoes were available at retail at $350. Instantly I knew that I wanted to start selling shoes.
Not only did these mark the checkbox of an item that sold for $500-1000, it exceeded my profit goal of $100 per item: I could make over $500 per shoe I sold!
I would only have to sell one shoe per week to make my $500 per week goal, and I could even make $1, 000 in a week if I sold 2 shoes — maybe even $1, 000 in a day.
Nick’s Notes: eBay takes a 10% fee on each sale.
My mind started spinning and I became super driven to learn all that I could about the shoe reselling game.
After spending hours of research and using the little money that I had saved, I bought my first pair of shoes to resell. It was a pair of Jordans that I bought for $190. I sold them hours later for $300 — an $80 profit after shipping and fees.
It was the quickest and easiest money I had ever made. I had finally found a product that met all of my criteria: high ticket items with good margins that sold quickly. Sneakers checked those boxes very nicely.
Nick’s Notes: You may be able to add to your profitability by taking strategic advantage of credit card rewards programs. If you’re buying inventory to flip, it’ll be easier to hit the minimum spending requirements for fatty sign-up bonuses. Here’s a free guide to how these programs work.
Scaling Up the Sneaker Flipping Operation
I kept reselling pairs in that range until I had enough money saved to buy a pair of shoes for $900. After a few anxious days of waiting, I was able to flip them at $1200 for a profit of about $200. I also began to learn how to secure these $1000 shoes (called Yeezy’s, made by Adidas) at retail for insane profit margins of over $500 per shoe.
I started as an absolute outsider and 4 months in I cleared $10, 000 for the month.
Once you know what you’re doing and you take the time to build your reputation and stay on top with sneaker news, the consistency and ease of selling aftermarket sneakers amazes me to this day.
The Shoe Reselling Industry
Forbes estimates that the resale market for sneakers is estimated to be over $1 billion annually.
Nick’s Notes: By carefully and expertly hyping each new product launch, the manufacturers cater to loyal fans — and strategically never quite make enough to fully satisfy the demand. It’s that constant shortfall on the supply side that fuels the resale market.
This is also trend that doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon. That same Forbes article notes that the international sneaker market is up 40% since 2004.
Even though only an estimated 4% of sneakers end up being purchased for immediate resale, the market has attracted side hustlers and entrepreneurs. At the top of the heap, some resellers are moving more than $2 million in inventory a year.
What Shoes To Buy?
One of the most common questions I get is how do I know which shoes to buy? Which brands and models will be profitable?
To get an idea of what is hot in streetwear, follow sneaker and fashion publishers like Hypebeast or High Snobiety.
Immerse yourself in your local sneaker communities by attending a sneaker convention and getting an idea of what people are wearing and what people are talking about.
Learn about the Jordan brand. Begin to follow Instagram accounts that have to do with sneakers and sneaker news, so you’ll automatically be doing research every time you’re killing time on the ‘gram. Combine all of the above with checking aftermarket prices on sites like eBay and calculating your estimated profit.
Nick’s Notes: In the advanced search, you can check the box just to see completed listings to see how much items are actually selling for.
I suggest starting small with one or two pairs so you don’t have a huge risk.
Where Do You Buy These Shoes to Resell?
I like to buy older models either through eBay or Facebook groups and sneaker conventions.
For new shoes, you’ll go directly to the brand’s website (,, etc. ) and either press your luck right on the release time or you can utilize a sneaker bot to greatly increase your chances of securing a pair at retail price.
There are also authorized retailers that stock desired shoes, like FootLocker or Eastbay, but it’s best to go with lesser-known sites like Mr. Porter and END to increase your odds of getting the shoes at retail.
Where’s the Best Place to Resell Shoes?
I’ve done most of my reselling on eBay, but it seems like apps like GOAT and StockX are picking up so I’m selling on those more now as well.
Still, I love the feeling of doing in-person deals either through Craigslist, sneaker conventions, or Facebook/Twitter groups.
Obviously, selling in person requires extra precautions, but if you use common sense and deal with good people through networking, you’ll get the best prices from in person on the buying side because online sellers are paying for shipping and fees to the platform that they’re selling on.
Some Common and Costly Mistakes
Although I had done my research, I was still in over my head and had a lot to learn. After my biggest month, I made some preventable mistakes that nearly caused me to lose everything I had earned.
First, I ended up with some fakes and it was a mess trying to get my money back from the seller or PayPal.
Nick’s Notes: As you might expect with shoes that sell for $1000, there’s a thriving black market for counterfeit sneakers.
The other issue I ran into was with my PayPal account itself. They weren’t used to me taking in such large amounts of money per month, so PayPal put a hold on my money. Since I relied on reinvesting that income into more inventory, that hold took me several months to recover from.
I think I could have avoided that if I’d warned them in advance that I would be taking in as much money in a month that I used to take in in a year, but then again I had no idea that I would make so much money so quickly!
Fortunately, I made a recovery and have gathered more knowledge than if it had been smooth sailing from the very start.
How Do You Deal with Fakes?
Although there are plenty of fakes on the market, there are also plenty of resources that will educate you on fakes and how to spot the differences.
As a buyer, you can ask for detailed, tagged pictures (i. with written proof of ownership, often the day/time on a piece of paper next to the shoe in each picture. ) and compare them to the numerous tutorials on YouTube or on sneaker forums that will give you a good idea of whether they’re authentic or not.
Also, if it’s a new release, only deal with people who include the receipt from the store that they purchased. That way you’ll know they’re real and also if it’s your intention to turn around and resell them, then you can prove to buyers they’re the real deal as well.
Another issue when dealing with fakes is selling authentic shoes but having the buyer try to claim that they’re fake. This can be solved by including a receipt as mentioned previously, or you can take detailed pictures as you’re shipping to prove that you are in fact shipping authentic shoes.
Be sure to include tracking with signature required and insurance so the buyer also cannot claim that he or she never got the kicks.
How Do You Manage Inventory?
The short answer is I don’t — I try and sell each pair as quickly as I buy them!
When selling shoes, it can be easy to amass a bulky collection that you have to keep somewhere. To avoid that, I focus on brand new releases or shoes that are really hot classics I know will sell quickly.
This strategy translated into less headache and hassle storing and tracking the inventory, and also let me turn my cash over to reinvest in the next flip faster.
What’s Next?
For anyone that wants to get a side hustle going but doesn’t know where to start, selling sneakers is one of the best ways to learn valuable entrepreneurial skills in real life, like customer service, profitably managing inventory, and learning to set and achieve goals.
These skills I have learned through selling shoes have given me gifts that I never got in any kind of formal education.
What Else Could You Flip?
While sneakers are some of the best items to flip if you have a sense for what’s hot, there are certainly plenty of other options to buy low and sell high.
Suggested Playlist: Flipping Profits
Buying low and selling high is the fastest way to multiply money. Here’s how to get it done.
Add to Spotify
Used Shoes and Boots
Nick’s Notes: The resale market for shoes goes far beyond just these limited-edition sneakers. In fact, even gently-used regular name brand shoes and boots can be flipped for profit.
In this case, it’s a game of spotting deals at thrift shops and yard sales. A typical purchase price might be $5-15 for a pair, but those can sell for $50-300 on eBay depending on the brand and condition.
Check out this online class to learn more.
Clearance Arbitrage
Another flipping business that might be worth exploring is simply buying clearance items locally, and reselling them for a profit on Amazon. This is known as Amazon FBA clearance arbitrage or retail arbitrage.
It may not be as flashy as the sneaker business, but may be easier to source inventory and begin to multiply your money. Click here to learn more about how to get started, or listen in below:
And head over here to join Jessica’s free 7-day course on getting started selling on Amazon.
Flea Market Finds
Another flipping business I want to share is my friend Rob’s — he runs Flea Market Flipper and Flipper University ( use code SIDEHUSTLE100 for $100 off).
The guy has some crazy awesome stories about the random stuff he’s found and then re-sold for big gains. And he’s turned it into a full-time, 6-figure business!
Check out my interview with Rob to learn more, check out his free webinar, or listen with the player app below:
Used Books
And finally, there’s an entire industry set up around flipping books. One guest of mine reported earning up to $4000 a month re-selling used books.
Stocks and Options?
Another Side Hustle Show guest reported making $1000 a day trading stocks. She didn’t hit that level right away, but through education and practice turned her unique flipping business into a full-time income stream (and then some! ).
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For more on this side hustle, be sure to check out JV’s site at and use the code SIDEHUSTLENATION to take 40% off his 100-page sneaker flipping guidebook.
Another resource worth checking out is KickFlips, a free newsletter for potentially-profitable sneakers and streetwear to be on the lookout for.
*********Stock photo by New Africa via Shutterstock
Is It Legal to Buy and Resell Items? – Entrepreneur
April
19, 2013
min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Generally, it’s not illegal to resell an item that you have legitimately purchased. Once you have purchased something at retail it is yours to do with as you choose. Manufacturers tend to have little or no control over a product past the first customer they sell to.
However, if you are planning to do this as a business, a couple of issues arise. First, you will have warranty issues. If you run this business not as an official reseller but as an “under the table” reseller without an arrangement with the manufacturer, you risk invalidating the warranties that they provide to the first consumer, but not to the customers to whom you’ve resold the goods.
Second, there are trademark issues. If you’re using manufacturers’ logos to advertise the products you’re reselling, you need their permission. Without it, you run the risk of getting embroiled in a trademark infringement lawsuit — especially if your business does well and no longer flies under the radar.
Third, there are sales tax issues. With your current business model (buying retail and then reselling), you’ll have two levels of sales tax. You’ll need to pay to obtain the goods, and your purchaser will need to pay when you sell the goods. You could look into getting a reseller’s permit, but to get a reseller’s license you first have to enroll with your state tax department, which involves getting a sales tax ID number. And messing up on sales tax can involve penalties and interest being inflicted on you personally. You can’t hide behind your corporate entity if they arise.
In short, you have some thorny legal and accounting issues here. If you’re determined to move forward, be sure to get sound professional advice so that you’re protected.
How to Resell Sneakers: Beginner’s Guide to Flipping Shoes …
Learning how to resell sneakers isn’t a new hustle.
This has actually been a successful side gig for decades in many cities and the explosion of the Internet and online commerce has opened up more opportunities than ever for selling and reselling sneakers.
If you grew up when the first Air Jordans came out, this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.
While sneakers are often seen as a fashion statement, with many people believing the kind of kicks you’re wearing describes the type of person you are, if your first thought when seeing a pile of really nice discounted sneakers or tennis shoes is “profit potential, ” then you’ve come to the right place.
However, you may have heard that there’s more money to make by reselling shoes than by wearing them. Good news: you’re probably an entrepreneur.
In this post, you will learn how to resell sneakers for a profit, including important information like:
What the sneakerhead culture is, how much the market is worth, and how much you can make by taking advantage of it
The most expensive and sought-after shoes and sneakers in the secondary market
How to find the best shoes to buy and where to sell them
The pitfalls of reselling shoes
Additional tips to help you make the most out of reselling shoes
Learn How to Resell Shoes
As a heads up, this post is a great overview of buying and selling shoes for profit. However, if you want to learn from the true expert and get much more depth for how to make this business work for you, I recommend checking out the Six Figure SneakerHead – HypeMaster Playbook Here.
Learn How a SneakerHead Makes Six Figures HereUse code NICHEMONEY to get an extra 10% off.
ContentsHow to Resell: Sneaker Reselling for BeginnersHow Much Can You Make Reselling Shoes? How to Buy & Sell the Most Expensive and Sought-After Shoes and SneakersThe Process of Reselling ShoesHow to Find Shoes to Buy and SellHow to Determine if the Shoes Are FakeShoe Reselling TipsWhere and How to Buy and Sell ShoesThe Cons of Reselling ShoesHow to Avoid Common Sneaker Reselling MistakesAre You Ready for the Rigors of Selling Used Shoes?
How to Resell: Sneaker Reselling for Beginners
The flipping sneaker business in many places has provided an avenue for hustlers to ethically and ingeniously make a quick buck. And what seemed to be footwear that keeps your feet safe and warm serve a different purpose to other people.
Compared to some other ways of making money online, the sneaker resale market is very profitable and valued at around $1 billion. While only 4% of shoes and sneakers are purchased upon release for resale, the market benefits from side hustlers and entrepreneurs who operate in different channels.
The sneaker market as a whole has opened up itself to more people with the help of online channels. However, back in the day when the internet didn’t exist, there was a competition within the different communities and tribes in the market. People scoured through a thrift store and flea markets to get shoes under their market price.
Others would run to their nearest Foot Locker to get the latest pair of shoes. Information was spread through word of mouth and Eastbay mail catalogs. In other words, reselling sneakerheads worked in isolation with their communities.
There was only so much distance and area you could cover in the early sneaker game. That shared common experience within a small group of people made the sneaker market what it is today.
To get your fix on the latest sneaker news, you just need to hop onto Hyperbeast and High Snobiety or other sites that keep track of the sneaker fashion market. Both are fashion sites that extensively cover information and news about the culture for sneakerheads of all levels.
If you want to get connected with fellow sneaker lovers, you need to attend SneakerCon that takes places in the different parts of the world.
How Much Can You Make Reselling Shoes?
The short answer? Millions.
JV is a guy making six figures a year reselling shoes. He got his start flipping sneakers as a side gig while working retail. After 4 months in, he was clearing over $10, 000 per month.
He’ll teach you how to do the same thing he does, clear the big bucks, in his online course. If you add the code NICHEMONEY, you can get an extra 10% off.
Reselling shoes isn’t a rare phenomenon. A quick look at Amazon and eBay will reveal you a secondhand pair of sneakers up for grabs for every brand new pair. The process of shoe selling is all too common that there are people who made reselling shoes a profitable full-time job.
However, there are only a handful of people who have built an empire as shoe resellers. Arguably the most successful sneaker reseller is Benjamin Kapelushnik. Also known as Benjamin Kickz and owner of the sneaker marketplace Sneaker Don, he started in the business at 13 in 2013 and made it big two years after.
He rose to fame as the shoe supplier to DJ Khaled who referred him to his friends in the music and entertainment industry. He made his first million in 2016 and had been reselling rare and expensive shoes and sneakers to high-ticket clients since then.
Sneaker collecting is a thing and for individuals who can get a good deal on rare or hard to find sneakers like a limited release commemorative pair of Nike Air Jordan 2 Just Don, the Nike SB Dunk, or others, it can be ridiculously profitable to be reselling sneakers.
However, if we’re being more realistic, unless you know someone like DJ Khaled, it will likely be impossible for you to make that much money in two years. That doesn’t mean you should stay out of the sneaker resale game, though! If you follow the process of flipping shoes, you can get around $80-100 per pair for starters.
You can work your way to generating higher margins if you get better sneakers to resell, maybe around $500 per pair.
This is not a bad way to make money, and you’ll learn the exact process later on.
If you want to take a look at what some of these shoes are selling for, take a quick peak at eBay. Type in “Limited edition sneakers. ” Some of those options sell for hundreds of dollars!
How to Buy & Sell the Most Expensive and Sought-After Shoes and Sneakers
Ever since the 70s, there are only two brands that mattered to most sneakerheads: Nike and Adidas.
Both brands have produced lines of sneakers and shoes for athletes and artists. Some of those lines have withstood time and exponentially increased their value since their release. Some brands have made waves (Reebok) and are poised to make one (Under Armour, Big Baller Brand). However, if you’re in the sneaker industry, you can’t go wrong with these two brands.
Below are some of the more popular expensive shoes in the market pioneered by the two brands:
Most Popular Expensive Shoes to Resell
Air Jordan 12 ($100, 000+) – Michael Jordan needs no introduction. Aside from his accomplishments as a basketball player, he established the Jordan brand that comprises his line of Nike shoes. In fact, you can quickly make a list of most expensive sneakers based on his shoes alone. The most affordable pair of Jordan shoes could go for $4, 500 (Jordan III OG) on resale. However, the Jordan 12 collection is easily the most expensive pair of shoes in the Jordan line. In particular, the Jordan 12 Flu Game shoes, where he willed his body to score 38 points in a pivotal game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, tops the list at a whopping $104, 000.
Nike Air Yeezy 2 “Red October” ($6, 000) – Kanye West is one of the most popular artists to date. His fame prompted Nike to launch their first non-athlete collaboration pair of sneakers. Released in 2009, Red October was initially sold for $250. Since then, the pair is resold between $5, 600 to $6, 400. West collaborated with other footwear such as Louis Vuitton, BAPE, and Adidas. The latter started their partnership with West that ended up being the Adidas Yeezy Boost line. In fact, a pair of Yeezys is some of the most coveted shoes in the market outside of Jordans.
Nike Air Mag Back to the Future ($10, 000+) – Inspired by the sneakers worn by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future 2, there are only 1, 500 pairs manufactured by Nike. However, none of them made over to stores as all pairs were sold through auction. Proceeds went to Fox’s foundation for Parkinson’s disease research. The pair has glowing LED panels and upper contour.
As mentioned, there are other up-and-comer brands with pairs of sneakers worth looking into. Thanks to Stephen Curry, Under Armour’s stock is rising. And while Big Baller Brand built their brand around hype (for the time being until Lonzo Ball achieves greatness), the $500 pair of kicks they’re selling is interesting to say very least.
That being said, when you’re starting out with flipping sneakers and learning about the resale market for popular sneakers, you should stick with the most popular brands.
In the beginning, learning about the sneaker resale market, secondary markets, and spotting fake sneakers will take up plenty of time and energy. You don’t need to be speculating until you get your sneaker game up to snuff!
The Process of Reselling Shoes
While earning over a million dollars for reselling shoes at this stage is still possible, there are lots of obstacles you must overcome to reach that goal. Aside from bagging clients willing to shell out serious dough for sneakers, you need to learn where to find and acquire the most sought-after shoes.
The competition nowadays is fierce as you’ll be lucky to establish a client base as a beginner.
Therefore, you need to immerse yourself in the sneakerhead culture and apply yourself 100% to have a fighting chance. There are more individuals than ever involved in sneaker collecting so the sneaker resale market has room for more entrepreneurs (or sneaker hustlers, whatever term you prefer).
We’ve already discussed the sneaker industry in general above. Now, it’s time to delve into the process of the actual process of reselling shoes and sneakers.
How to Find Shoes to Buy and Sell
Before you can even begin finding shoes to buy and resell, you need to understand the market better.
Reselling shoes are similar to the stock market. There are pairs of shoes that don’t start out too hot but eventually accumulate value later on. Conversely, some sneakers generate lots of attention only to fizzle out as time goes by.
Want even more step by step details on how to find great shoes you can sell for a profit? Check out the Hypemaster Playbook for a great course into the shoe reseller world.
To truly benefit from learning how to resell sneakers, you need to purchase products that are sold on the cheap but have lasting value in the long run. One way of doing so is by buying the sneaker on release day at retail prices, which is where they are at their most affordable.
However, instead of lining up to store for hours to buy them, you can quickly place your orders on Frenzy, a Shopify-owned app.
It will notify you of the release dates of the latest sneakers from the biggest brands. From there, you can place your orders (ideally in bulk) and make a profit by reselling them. The goal of the app is to reduce that friction between retailers and consumers so both can seamlessly make transactions and make money faster.
However, new pairs of shoes come far and few in between. To make money in reselling shoes, you need to find pairs sold under reseller price so you can profit off them. But how can you know how much a pair of shoes cost?
This is where StockX comes in. The site shows how much the shoes and sneaker cost over a 12-month period.
Just like a stock market index graph, you will see the movement of price over time, thus giving you information on which shoes to acquire for reselling. It also serves as a consignment store where people can bid or ask for shoes for resale. If you got a pair of sneakers you want to sale, you could do so through the site.
Once you have the information you need, it’s time to search for those shoes online.
If you want to automate the process of finding the shoes that you want to purchase and flip, then use AIO Bot. Upon buying and installing on your computer, you can choose which shops you want to cop from. Enter the shoe you’re looking for, the size, and color and the bot will take care of searching the sites for you.
This is one of a couple of bots to help you efficiently find shoes for you to increase your chances of finding one without having to look for it personally.
However, before you get help from a bot, you may want to roll up your sleeves to do thing manually. A quick search on eBay for Air Jordan 12 yield these results:
There’s a chance you will see shoes way below market reseller price and sell them more than 10x you bought for them. Between StockX checking the price on StockX and buying/flipping on eBay, you can get started right now.
So your journey as a sneaker reseller begins. But how do you know that those aren’t fake sneakers?
How to Determine if the Shoes Are Fake
The last thing you want to happen is for you to purchase fake shoes mistakenly. This is a problem that pervades in online marketplaces without a middleman like Amazon or eBay. If the price is too good for its good, then maybe it’s a fake. But before making that conclusion, you need to learn how to find out if the sneakers are legit or not.
Below are ways that you can check if a pair of sneakers or shoes you’re trying to buy is genuine or not:
Criteria to Determine if Shoes are Fakes
Ask for tagged photos – The price should normally be enough to persuade you to purchase an item. However, you need to consider other factors that go into the sale of the sneakers. Tagged, hi-res pictures of the item are one way to account if the kicks are legit or not. Ask the seller to take multiple photos of the sneakers with the latest edition of the newspaper to see if it’s for real. You can then cross-reference the pictures with the actual version of the shoes on their official site. Refer to Fake Education on Instagram to find tips and information on how to spot fake ones.
Ask for the receipts – For new purchases, you must request for the receipt of the item to verify the authenticity of the sneakers. It the receipt proves that the shoes were acquired from the official stores, then it’ll be much easier for you to sell the sneakers since you have tangible proof that the shoes are indeed real.
Do your research – For Amazon and eBay sellers you can check their seller rating on their profile. Anything lower than 95% is to be avoided. Also, read the comments and reviews of other buyers. Some may just be complaining about relatively trivial stuff like slow delivery time and those that have nothing to do with the actual shoes. Lastly, check if the reviews were from real buyers and not profiles that were created to help hike up the seller’s rating.
Trust your instinct – If you did your homework and had all the facts that point to the authenticity of the sneakers but you still have doubts about the seller and shoes, then don’t proceed with the transaction. At first, you probably don’t have the intuition yet to determine if there’s something wrong with the shoes or seller. In time and with enough practice of buying and selling, you will be able to discern much easier.
While these tips will help you avoid purchasing bogus shoes, it’s not foolproof that you will entirely avoid such purchases. Just make sure to ma careful and alert enough to keep these provisions in mind when buying.
Shoe Reselling Tips
Below are a few tips for reselling shoes for top dollar. First you need to figure out where to buy the show and then you need to figure out how to actually sell the shoes for a profit.
We will also quickly review some of the dark sides of selling shoes and a few mistakes to avoid when you are getting started.
Where and How to Buy and Sell Shoes
Now that you have the shoes, you must find the best channels where you can sell them to turn in a profit.
You can start by creating an account on a consignment shop like StockX to resell the shoes there. Both sites serve as middlemen between buyer and seller. Therefore, you deal directly with either website to sell your shoes. Send them the sneakers when you’ve chosen the highest bid, and they will take care of the rest.
Sites like StockX are convenient ways to sell your shoes and ensures buyers that they won’t be duped by fake sneakers.
On the flipside, you don’t get the personal touch from consignment stores that go with seller-to-buyer transactions. However, if you’re not much of a salesman or a people person, then this shouldn’t be a problem.
If you want the traditional way of reselling shoes, you can always go the way of Facebook Groups, Craigslist, and eBay. These sites allow you to put your personal touch on your pair’s product page.
As a best practice, you need to be descriptive and detailed as possible about the sneakers. Leave no stone unturned and make sure that you are honest in your description. Assuming that you’re a new seller, it’ll take time before buyers warm up to you. Therefore, you need to keep working on gaining the trust of buyers and continue marching forward.
It may be a good idea to start small when you buy and sell shoes. This keeps your initial investment low, allows you to learn the game, and your buyers are more likely to take a risk when their investment is low too.
For more informal selling like in Facebook Groups and even in Sneaker Con, expect to encounter shady people who might show interest in buying your kicks. As mentioned earlier, you need to discern which among the buyers are trustworthy.
About the price, you need to check StockX to see the range of how much the shoes are sold in the market. You must also check the trend and volatility of the sneakers to come up with a price that will make you and your buyer happy. The market dictates the price, and the only unfair price is the one that no one is buying.
When it comes to your inventory, you may want to reinvest your earnings on another pair or pairs of shoes. Don’t cash out early in the game just yet. Do your research and find available shoes that you can purchase even before you have the money to buy them.
There are also more tools that you should look at including the GOAT app which is an app solely dedicated to buying and selling sneakers and is huge among sneaker resellers. This is another place where authentic sneakers can potentially be bought or sold, making this a great tool to find sneakers you couldn’t find in the secondary market, or to sell those that you did.
What you want is an efficient process where your money comes and goes to another and more expensive pair so you can exponentially increase your income. If done successfully, you can purchase items in bulk and multiply your earnings even more!
The Cons of Reselling Shoes
As a hustler, you need to be aware of the potential problems you will be facing with every venture you undertake. And as profitable as reselling shoes can be, it also has another side of the coin that you need to know before diving deep into the sneaker business.
Below are some of the more pressing issues:
Cons to Consider when Reselling Sneakers
Complicated marketing – Apps like Frenzy solves the problem of lining up for hours waiting for the store to open so you can become one of the first to get a pair. However, it also pushes the limit on how resellers can maximize the opportunity to get their hands on the latest pair of hyped sneakers. Apps that let you reserve shoes and sneakers before their release date and social media contests and raffles are just the tip of the iceberg. Over time, new ways of marketing to resellers will increase and become needlessly more complex, and there’s nothing you can do but keep up with the changes.
Sneaker violence – Resellers indirectly have a part to play in the constant violence that surrounds sneakers, just as much as consumers and retailers are culpable. Due to their high price tag and increasing value of sneakers, no thanks to resellers who exacerbate the issue, some people will go to great lengths and get their pair even if it means breaking the law. However, the sneaker culture is ingrained deep in the society that it will be impossible to remove malice and violence from the equation. It is something that comes with the job and perhaps a burden that every reseller has to bear.
Sneakers as an investment than footwear – Given the nature of reselling shoes, this question comes to mind: who is the market for sneakers? On the one hand, some consumers have a passion for sneakers and use them to promote their fashion sense. On the other, resellers try to get their hands on the most hyped shoes and resell them above their retail price. There’s nothing wrong with reselling as a hustle, but it potentially robs people who are genuinely interested in the kicks and plan on collecting and wearing them. In other words, the sneaker reselling business robs collectors from pursuing their passions righteously. Retailers do more marketing and promotional campaigns geared to resellers.
How to Avoid Common Sneaker Reselling Mistakes
While it’s important to be excited and have the energy to really jump into the sneaker resale game, sometimes you need to slow down. Jump on good deals. But any time you feel that something is off or there’s a red flag – listen to those instincts.
Even the top shoe reselling hustlers have been taken in by fake sneakers before. While in theory PayPal or other services have a money protection guarantee, getting your money back can be a hassle.
For anyone who has ever dealt with PayPal returns, it’s not a guarantee, either. If you get into a “he said, she said” argument with the seller of fake shoes a PayPal customer service rep is not the one you want making a final decision on hundreds of dollars.
Another common mistake, is not warning PayPal about a surge in transactions.
If they’re not used to seeing a lot of movement in your PayPal account, many transactions in the thousands of dollars for used sneakers could get the account flagged. This is a headache, but it is one you can work around.
If you have to upgrade to a business account, so be it. Better than losing out on deals. Or having your hard earned money frozen in the account.
Finally, have a plan for management.
Do you have a good bank roll and plan on buying a large number of authentic sneakers before selling? Are you planning to buy shoes and then flip them quickly? You need to know how much space you have, have a plan for tracking inventory as well as expenses and profits, and manage your process.
Taking time up front to make sure you have the space, tracking setup, and a backup plan in case things go sideways will save you a lot of headaches in the future.
Are You Ready for the Rigors of Selling Used Shoes?
This post offers a great overview, but you will need more if you’re getting into the game of buying and selling sneakers. If you want to learn from the true expert and get much more depth for how to make this business work for you, you don’t need to start as a newbie.
Without a mentor, your chances of losing money and wasting time are higher since you’re competing with the experts.
If you’re ready to learn how to become a sneaker reseller, you’re going to want a mentor to speed up the process.
How to Learn More About Reselling Shoes
I recommend taking a look at the Six Figure SneakerHead – HypeMaster Playbook Here.
Make Up To six figures a month reselling shoesUse coupon code NICHEMONEY for an extra 10% off.
Reselling shoes is a fun way to make money as a part-time job, if not as a full-time one, and regardless of your age. If you are into basketball and hip-hop or if you have experience in flipping items before, then you are already a step ahead of other beginners in the game.
If you’re looking for other ways to make some money, look at buying and selling concert tickets.
Frequently Asked Questions about how to start flipping sneakers
Is it illegal to flip sneakers?
Generally, it’s not illegal to resell an item that you have legitimately purchased. Once you have purchased something at retail it is yours to do with as you choose. … If you’re using manufacturers’ logos to advertise the products you’re reselling, you need their permission.Apr 19, 2013
Is reselling sneakers profitable?
Compared to some other ways of making money online, the sneaker resale market is very profitable and valued at around $1 billion. While only 4% of shoes and sneakers are purchased upon release for resale, the market benefits from side hustlers and entrepreneurs who operate in different channels.Nov 11, 2020
Can you flip used sneakers?
Used Shoes and Boots In fact, even gently-used regular name brand shoes and boots can be flipped for profit. In this case, it’s a game of spotting deals at thrift shops and yard sales. A typical purchase price might be $5-15 for a pair, but those can sell for $50-300 on eBay depending on the brand and condition.
