This story is brought to you by Alex W. Smith, who has discovered the world of reselling rare sneakers just last year, and has gone on to make a significant amount of money doing so as a teenager (he̵7;s 16), selling shoes like Yeezys and Nike Air Jordans. 

Many people who haven’t yet made money flipping kicks are unsure of both their capability and/or the market, and this inspiring story should alleviate your fears.

If you’re ready to jump into the exciting world of starting a shoe business, be sure to check out the Hypemaster Playbook, which is highly reviewed with many satisfied customers to date.

We offer a free preview as well! 

Without further ado, let’s hear Alex’s story!

My name is Alex.

Last year, I knew absolutely nothing about the world of sneaker reselling.

Now, I’ve made thousands doing so, and would like to take you through my story.

In the beginning of last year in 2017, I only had one pair of sneakers at this time – a pair of Air Max 95s; my first ‘nice’ sneaker.

I loved their look and comfort, and when I bought them, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I would purchase expensive sneakers!


The Nike Air Max 95, Credit to jdsports.co.uk

The Nike Air Max 95, Credit to jdsports.co.uk

Yeezy’s: The initial money maker

Yeezy 350 v2
(From top to bottom): The Yeezy Zebra 350 v2, the Cream 350 v2, and the Pirate Black 350 v1.

I first heard of Yeezys when the original V1s released in Pirate Black, back in August of 2015.

I didn’t have any knowledge about how to cop them, and funnily enough, for the following years, I incorrectly thought they retailed for the $800 resell price!

Since the initial discovery I followed the price, but out of fear of the unknown and incorrect knowledge, I never tried to buy at the retail price.

The first time I tried to cop Yeezys to resell was in February 2017 – the first Zebra 350 V2 release.

I was in love with these sneakers at first sight.

I looked up all of the resources on how to cop Yeezys for resell, and I woke up early on Saturday to try and cop them.

I got so close on that day. I got cartjacked on Yeezy Supply, but I never got passed splash on Adidas. I realised that I had a chance to cop Yeezys for retail next time after this release.


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Education is so important in securing Yeezys and other rare models, and if I had known how the first time, perhaps I would have made a good chunk of money as the Yeezy Zebras initially resold for $1500-$2000.

Learning more about the technical aspects of getting Yeezy’s from Adidas

The next release quickly followed the Zebras – the 350 v2 Cream Whites in June of 2017.

These are one of the cleanest Yeezys to release to date.

Using my newfound knowledge, I signed up for every raffle I could find.

I hated having all of these different shoe sites emailing me, but it was worth it to get a chance of getting the shoes.

On the day of the release, I woke up early to try and cop them on as many sites as I could.

It wasn’t worth the extra effort in my opinion because these sites are filled with competition from bots, and the sites would always crash minutes before the release.



The sweet taste of success

Remember I said I hated different sneaker shops filling up my email with useless messages?

Well, they weren’t useless after all because I got a call from one of them at 8:30 on Saturday morning saying that I had won a pair! I was delighted! I went onto adidas.com too to try and cop, and lo and behold, I passed the splash page.

However, I only had enough money to cop one pair, so I had to leave the pair in the cart and not checkout. This is when learned the art of passing splash to cop multiple pairs.


I picked up my first pair of Yeezys ever from a boutique store in my city. Just holding the box was like a dream – these sneakers which seemed so intangible were now in my possession.

They were in my size too. However, like I said before, I only had enough money for one pair, and that was even with a loan from my parents, so even though I would have loved to keep them, I had to sell them.

I listed them up on multiple Facebook marketplaces and apps, and I received multiple offers for the coveted sneakers. I accepted an offer finally for €400, and I arranged to meet the man outside a train station in the centre of my city. This would bring me a profit of double my money, or over $200 in US money for a single pair of shoes.

Making my first shoe sale


I brought my dad with me to this train station, and waited for a while, when finally, a man and his girlfriend asked, “Are you Alex?” and I replied “Yes, I have the shoes in my bag”.

In the middle of a packed train station, he unboxed the sneakers and investigated them closely. After he made sure they were real, he handed me the money in an envelope.

My dad whispered to me to open the envelope to make sure the correct amount was in it, so I counted the cash, and I was delighted to see 8 €50 notes in the envelope.

We shook hands, and parted ways.

This was my first ever sneaker reselling transaction, and it left me incredibly excited!

I had ended up with loads of cash, and with relatively low effort, had more than doubled my money.

 My dad commented, saying it almost felt illegal, and to be fair, it sort of did.

But sneaker reselling is the opposite of illegal: although many think it requires a license or permission from the brand to sell their shoe, this is only true if you want to be a wholesaler. 

Anyone is allowed and even encouraged to resell Nikes and Adidas and other rare sneakers online on eBay or GOAT or StockX for a higher price as it drives the perceived value and current and future demand of the brands.

Building a long time business

The first transaction was enough of a rush and acted as a source of motivation to resell full time, and this has proven very profitable for me.

Yeezy 350 v2s
Some of the many pairs of Yeezy’s I have acquired over the past year. Each had a profit of about $200 each.

 

Since that day in April 2017, I have made thousands of euro selling rare sneakers to people from around Ireland.

Even though this business is most popular in the United States, I live in the UK, and not even near London where it is most popular, but I still make good money with my shoe business.

I have made a good bit of money, especially for my age, and I’d even say that people in the US may make more money than I do, although if you live in the UK it’s still very possible to make money throughout Great Britian, Ireland, Scotland and other European markets, especially Germany and France.

I have copped at least one pair of Yeezys from every release since those Cream Whites.

As a tribute to what got me started, I have kept one pair of Yeezy’s– the Zebras, which were the sneakers that got me into reselling.

Some of my most memorable moments reselling include selling 2 pairs of Yeezys (Semi Frozen Yellow and Beluga 2.0) for €825, which is my biggest sale to date, which profited me roughly €400, or about $460.

Some of my other highlights include copping the Wave Runners on their first release and copping the Off White Vapormax just by knowing where to look and acting on time!

The future of my resale business

I am just over a year into reselling now, and I have built up plenty of knowledge of how to cop sneakers for retail.

I expect this business to continue, grow and flourish to ever higher levels this year and in the many years to come.

I have plenty of tips for newcomers to cop on their first try, tips that I wish I had when I first began!


cashmoney
Sneaker money as a teenager

€825 from one sale


Six Figure Sneakerhead is starting a private forum in the very near future for those who have purchased the Hypemaster Playbook and would like to have a community and motivation to build a successful sneaker business and have a very high chance of securing every rare release, and  I will be one of the administrators of this forum.

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We’re capping the private forum at 100 members and we can only let serious people in so that everyone in there can benefit.

Make sure you’re subscribed to our email list so you can get the announcement regarding details about the forum.

UPDATE: The forum is now live, for Playbook buyers, you’ll get 1 week free (look out for an email invite shortly after the purchase), otherwise, you can join the private discord group here for a limited time as of November 2018.

I would love to try help you get a piece of the billion dollar industry, so you can make amazing, sometimes easy money just like I have throughout the past year.

Take care guys and thank you, I hope you found my story inspiring!
-Alex

Take your reselling game to the next level

Author

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JVG

JV was inspired to start Six Figure Sneakerhead after having more people asking questions than he could answer about sneaker reselling when they saw the success he was having. His intention is to create the top resource for sneaker resale education worldwide and loves to see when customers succeed, and he's always accepting feedback for all offerings which are constantly updated to suit the customer needs and the current times.

Comments (5)

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  1. Vic

    What are your thoughts about the Yeezy boost 320 v2 butter, I have not been able to sell them, should I hold them for better profit?, thanks!

    1. Alex Smith

      Hi Vic, I purchased a pair of the butters also. The demand for them right now is quite low, so I would hold for at least a few weeks. The price you get for them also depends on what size you have. I usually aim for UK 11+ or UK 5-.

      1. Vic

        I have US 9, thanks!

  2. Brandy

    Thanks for sharing your story, Alex. I find that it’s a little bit tougher to find success and make connections since moving to a smaller town (I used to live in Chicago)…but if you can overcome that obstacle, I can too. 🙂 Reading your story was exactly what I needed. I’m really grateful you shared your story.
    Sounds like you’ll be quite an asset to the group. I hope I’ll “see ya there,” but, if I don’t make it in, I wish you luck in the future and thank you again for sharing!

    1. rico

      bro me too i moved from chicago to wisconsin and NOT MILWAUKEE LOL