So…my aversion to hype shoes. That’s why I was kind of surprised when the folks at Whatnot reached out to me. If you don’t know what @whatnot is, it’s basically a live stream sales app that has a bit of traction in the Funkopop/Comic Book/Sportscard space. The first time I heard about Whatnot, my old boss hit me up and said ‘I’m interviewing for the CTO position for this company - do you have any ideas as to what they could do to attract the sneaker crowd?’ I looked at it and basically came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be easy - people love watching card rips, but how exciting can a sneaker unboxing video really be? The second time I heard from Whatnot, this guy reached out and asked me a similar question - ‘how could we attract sneaker sellers to whatnot?’ I said ‘I dunno, you should ask the guys who are good at selling sneakers - guys like Jaysee or Knocka or the guys at Sole Supremacy.’ And then the guy said to me ‘well, actually, we were thinking about you.’
‘Me? I don’t sell hype shoes.’
‘Exactly.’
So I gave it a shot. The first few streams were rough, but I was orienting myself with ‘going live’ and trying to sell stuff in a different format. I was used to spending a whole day taking pics and writing descriptions for listings on eBay so spending an hour on a stream was definitely a bit easier. Even though I don’t really want to sell shoes.
That first stream…I gotta say I was getting like $20-50 per shoe. Total. It was brutal. But it was just a whole bunch of size 9 bricks. On the next stream, I implemented the sneaker trading cards I created. Pack rips equated to winning shoes. Packs cost money, if you pulled x card, you won x shoe. It worked, but it went hella slow. And then this dude recommended I try something a bit different…like a wheel of fortune type idea. So I spent a few days thinking about possible iterations and hit up a few of my homies who I knew had inventory to move and came up with an idea. So we ran it…and it was a lot of fun. Even though I don’t really want to sell shoes.
Throughout the streams, a handful of people called a bunch of these shoes ‘bricks’ and at first it got to me. But then the lightbulb went off. I realized ‘bricks’ are what I’m into. And if you call yourself a sneakerhead and don’t have at least a few bricks in your collection, I most definitely wouldn’t trust you and I most definitely wouldn’t mess with you in real life. Bricks. I’ve since renamed my stream ‘Bricks Only’ and it’s fun. Even though I don’t really want to sell shoes.
To be clear - I’m moving more shoes (and ‘bricks’) than I’ve ever moved in 20+ years of selling shoes. And I’m having a blast doing it…playing the game…winning some…losing some…shooting the shit with the folks that are joining in the festivities. Having my friends co-host…just talking shit, selling shoes, trading war stories. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve sold more than 200 pairs of shoes in less than 24 cumulative hours. Even though I don’t really want to sell shoes.
And I noticed I had a BUNCH of returning customers - I asked them the other day why they like this game and one person said ‘it’s like gambling but you never actually lose’. Almost everyone likes the knowledge we share behind each shoe and find it refreshing to see off-the-beaten-path pairs that no one really talks about. And people can tell that we love it. We love shoes. We love talking about them and bonding over them and trading war stories and blah blah blah. It’s the first time I’ve ever actually *interacted* with prospective customers in real-time and I think it’s great. Even though I don’t really want to sell shoes.
Drumroll please….
So.
If you haven’t guessed it by now…
…my secret to reselling shoes…
…is that I buy ‘bricks.’
Tons of ‘em. And I make (and take) small rips off each and every one of those bricks. I buy and sell bricks all day. And it is SO much more interesting to me than trying to move 100+ pairs of the same shoe. Or…trying to move the same pair that everyone else is trying to move. Every once in a while I’ll find a hype shoe and capitalize off of it, but for the most part, I’d rather seek out and find 20 non-hype pairs and make $30-50 on each pair than struggle to find a single pair I can make $600-1k off of. And that, my friends, is the end of the story.
Happy hunting!
What I hate about most sellers and buyers is they wanna sell shoes at HIGH ass prices but buy shoes at next to nothing. What's even worse are the store owners, they'll lowball people like a-holes, they'll buy them at $50 and sell them for $150 - $200. Like how you think that's gonna make me feel. Lol!