The term “brick” gets thrown around much more often in the sneaker culture today than it was a decade ago. The culture has been so “brain-washed” in the past decade to chase hype and high value sneakers that we tend to forget that sneakers were designed to actually be worn and having expensive sneakers on feet doesn’t necessarily define your status in the culture. Of course as a re-seller you would naturally chase the hype sneakers to fulfill this hype fueled demand customer base, but as I said many times before…everyone needs a pair of everyday sneakers, but not everyone needs a $500-$1,000 Jordan 1. The characteristics of a long and sustainable business as a sneaker re-seller is ultimately through volume. Being able to steer your business to scale would lead to long term success.
Most of the time our time and energy is spent trying to secure the latest hottest releases whether it’s through online raffles or having your computer station set up for an early morning drop in trying to just secure 1 pair. From a consumer standpoint this makes sense because we don’t want to pay the high resell price tags that come afterwards and being able to secure the latest release could save you $100-200 over the retail price. Some of us just want the sneakers to put on our feet the next day, but a lot of us simply want to get the sneakers so they can make a few extra bucks. While most of the energy is spent trying to secure these sought after sneakers, the not so attractive sneakers that have actually re-sell value is often overlooked.
Personally as a re-seller I have shifted a lot of my focus from just selling highly in demand sneakers to broaden my spectrum to ensure business longevity because I understand that I can’t always successfully secure sought after sneakers in volume, which is critical to increasing the bottom line.
Just to clarify, I don’t always go hunting for GR sneakers, but sometimes when I stumble upon them, I don’t hesitate to go strong in numbers because if you don’t, someone else will. Also, I usually try to time these big purchases with credit card points perks that are always happening because buying on credit will also garner you bonus points that can be used to your benefit. That can be a post for the future.
To keep this simple… I basically saw these on sale on the SportChek website one weekend and decided to check the resell price on StockX. The volume was thin, but the last sold prices were very attractive as people were willing to pay much over retail for a pair. From an economic standpoint, this doesn’t make sense because why would anyone want to pay over retail when they can still get it for retail. Well the best part of the internet is it connects the world. Just because it’s available in your city/country doesn’t mean it’s available in the city/country of the buyer at any given point. Hence some are willing to pay more to have the shoes delivered to their house, which otherwise is not available. You as a seller are providing supply to a demand. These air max 90s are retailed at $160 CAD (is about $125 USD) that had an extra 20% off which came up to be $120 CAD per (approx $94 USD). I bought a total of 42 pairs – below is 1 of 2 orders I made that I was surprised got fulfilled.
The buying is always the easy part. The hardest part is the execution and being profitable. In the past few months I was able to flip about 8 pairs at an average price of approx. $200 USD after fees netting me $186 USD. From a profit standpoint, I averaged about $115 CAD per pair as pure profit. Not bad for a pair that’s just sitting on shelves where you can order volume at will. The profit margin on this I can guarantee is as good as a sought after Jordan 1 on release day. The only difference is you’re probably only able to secure 1 pair of Jordan’s vs. 50 pairs of GR’s here. The only downside is as the prices are set high, it also means volume of sale will be slow, but the positive from this flip is that if at any time I want to move them quickly I can just accept a much lower margin and sell them at a lower price. The fact that I was able to buy them 20% off the retail price already put this trade at a very low risk and the probability of losing money is practically zero.
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