On one of our recent episodes, we talked about how eBay dropped their seller fees for sneakers sold on their platform. Since then, eBay has furthered their efforts to get more market share in the secondary sneaker market by slanging coupons like there ain’t no tomorrow. After falling victim to their attempts and losing hours of sleep from endlessly scrolling through all of the sneaker listings, we decided to sit down and write a list on how we've had success with finding the best deals. So buckle up, because here are our biggest tips on how to find your favorite sneakers and get the best pricing when sneaker shopping on eBay.
Saved Searches
If you're the type to routinely window-shop for shoes online, then Saved Searches are a must. With Saved Searches, all you have to do is plug in some of your favorite or most common searches, filter down to your specific criteria (like shoe size, price range, etc.) and then save that search. This way, you don't have to recreate the search every time you open eBay. This is a really helpful tool both for window-shopping (like a saved search for "Nike SB", filtered to your size, sorted by "Newly Listed") or for hunting down that ever elusive grail (like a saved search for "Atmos Safari Air Max 1", filtered to your size, sorted by "Price: Low to High."
Authenticating on your own
If you happened to catch the first eBay episode we did, then you know that the biggest drawback is that you don't know that every sneaker listing is authentic, unlike shopping on Stock X or GOAT. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't authentic sneakers at a good price on eBay - it just means that you need to do your homework. Here's three ways to avoid getting burned on fakes:
Buy from a known seller (StadiumGoods) or one with good ratings. Make sure to look at their seller ratings (not buyer ratings) and see if there are any one or two star reviews.
Compare the pictures to Stock X, GOAT, or the subreddit /r/repsneakers. Especially when you're shopping for a somewhat rare sneaker, you want to make sure to compare the pictures in the listing to known authentic pairs - like those on Stock X or GOAT. Don't feel comfortable trusting your own eyes? You can always upload a picture or post a link to /r/repsneakers and ask the kind folks of Reddit for a second opinion.
Or, just don’t buy hype sneakers. We know you don't want to hear it, but remember: if it's too good to be true, it probably is. Don't let a great price fool you into buying fakes.
Price Check
You've found your perfect sneaker and you're feeling pretty good about it being real, but how do you know that you're not getting ripped off? Here's two good ways to check:
See what it's selling for on Stock X and GOAT
Check the "Sold" listing on eBay to see recently ended sales for similar listings
Getting Discounts
Okay, this is it. You've checked all the boxes and you're almost ready to buy, but maybe you want to see if you can get an even better price. If you can afford to wait and you're not afraid of someone else buying your new kicks out from under you, here's a couple things you can do to try and get a discount:
Make an offer on the listing. Not every listing has this option, but for the ones that do - shoot your shot. The longer that a listing has been up, the more inclined the seller may be to finally get it off their hands.
Add the sneaker to your Watch List on eBay. If you take nothing else away from this article, take this one tip. When you add a sneaker to your watch list, the seller eventually gets a notification from eBay saying "You have 'x' number of watchers on your listing, offer them a discount?" We've seen this method work dozen of times. Even if you're not looking to buy soon, a Watch List is a good way to keep track of your favorite listings.
Follow eBay on Instagram / Twitter. With their recent increased efforts to establish their name in the secondary sneaker market, eBay has been posting more and more coupons frequently to try and entice sneakerheads to start shopping on their platform.
As always make sure to tune into the State of the Shoenion podcast for more details and check us out on Instagram @stateoftheshoenion for up-to-date posts.