I think a lot of you are surprised about me writing about anything positive about StockX considering all the bad publicity we have heard over the past year. I actually wasn’t a big fan of StockX originally because they were driving a lot of the re-sell prices down and was in a way disrupting the prices on the market and as a result I would imagine affect a lot of re-sellers out there. I actually only started using StockX just about 1-2 months ago and I was actually looking to buy a pair of Spiridon Parras because I was just sick and tired of searching on eBay and IG for buyers willing to sell for a decent price. Everyone seemed to want to tax me hard for their pair and I honestly got so fed up and started giving StockX a try. At first I was skeptical because I didn’t really want to give them my business and on top was worried about the uncertainty of the import taxes I was going to pay since they used UPS (which is my least favourite courier). I did the math and it was just a tad cheaper than anyone willing to sell at the time so I decided why not give it a shot. Moreover, most of the sellers that were selling were overseas and they were ready to charge me $60 just for shipping….so I said FK that! After using the platform I was actually convinced that it was a fairly good platform – easy to use and almost a worry free transaction.
It was not till I bought 3 pairs of Parra’s that I decided to look into the platform as a seller. Again I was skeptical because of all the horror stories I’ve heard from customers and other sellers that I was worried of the hassle of making a sale and having the item returned and blah blah blah. So I started off with a pair of Nike Off White Vapormax 2018 because I knew it was flawless and it shouldn’t be a problem. I went with an off size 7.5 US because it was a size I could barely sell and it was actually going on StockX for a premium price, so I’m like why not? After that sale was complete and I got my money I was hooked because I got tons of inventory to unload that I couldn’t sell to my existing customer base and selling to StockX was actually less work for me. So I started looking for price premiums for smaller sizes such as Yeezy Blue Tints in size 6 and of course it sold for way more than what I could get from anyone I know. After unloading some of the off sizes I started looking into older stuff and the rest was history.
There are 2 main reason why I’m starting to like StockX as a platform. First would be buyer/seller anonymity and second is LESS RISK! Let’s start with the prior of buyer/seller anonymity. The reason why I like this aspect of the buyer not knowing the seller and vice versa is because personally I don’t like to overcharge customers for more than what they have to pay. Moreover I love my customers and I don’t believe in charging premium because these are the very people that got me here in the first place by supporting me in making a few bucks in what I do. So when I sell on my own website I feel in a way obligated to give them the best price possible. HOWEVER, when I sell on StockX I have no idea who the end buyer is and I feel absolutely no guilt of charging the highest price possible because if the buyer feels like he’s overpaying or getting rapped, its’ all on StockX…NOT ME! The last feeling I want to give off to customers I know is me ripping them off and that is why all my prices are fairly reasonable. Sure I have to pay StockX 9% transaction fee, but who cares…by selling at a premium, more than what I can sell at to my customers I’m actually still netting more in profit at the end of the day.
The 2nd reason of less risk is one of the more important factors when selling on StockX. Every time I ship out shoes purchased from customers I’m always worried that the shoes would get lost in transit. However, when selling on StockX you are actually shipping through StockX’s UPS account which means if something gets lost in transit it’s not your fault because that’s an issue for StockX and UPS to deal with. So if you are now taking away one of the biggest risks of selling, I think it’s a no brainer to sell through StockX.
I’ve been telling a lot of close friends and sellers that StockX has really been changing the landscape in the past few months and it’s really going to kill off a lot existing re-sellers because prices are so good that there’s no margin to play with for these re-sellers. However, I always say…there are opportunities when there are changes in the market and it’s how you position yourself in the market to take advantage of these new opportunities that result. As I mentioned before, StockX has really killed off a lot of those re-sellers that line up for new releases because sometimes these prices are going for even below retail BEFORE the release date….so how do you compete with that? This actually now f*cks with retailers because if you can buy on stockX prior to release date for below retail, how do you expect retailers to sell them at retail? I think that problem still isn’t a problem YET, but I’m sure it will be very soon and Nike may look at where these backdoor pairs went. With all said, there remains opportunities for older and sought after items that can go for premium on StockX and you just have to be smart with how you play the market and what you buy and sell now. Case in point…You could have bought the 11.5 What the Dunks I had for sale earlier last month for $2.2k and resold it for $2.8k and still pocket $300 in profit. Yes, you could have MADE Money off a re-seller as a re-seller…The market is moving fast…VERY fast in fact and if you are not evolving with the market you could easily go out of business. I could have stood my ground on my views and personal morale of supporting an indirect competitor in StockX, but at the end of the day…it’s all business.
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