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- Founded in 2015, StockX is an online marketplace for buying and selling sneakers, streetwear, watches, and designer handbags.
- The website acts as a middleman between buyers and sellers, making otherwise potentially shady resale market transactions safe and secure. StockX authenticates all products before they’re sent to you, so you never have to worry about scammers and fake items.
- StockX also provides both buyers and sellers with usable data like current market value, number of items sold, and loss or gain on items. The information can be used to ensure you never overpay or undersell.
- As a shoe collector, I’ve been using StockX for a few years now, and it’s the most convenient and fail-safe way to buy and sell sneakers and more.
As a sneaker collector, I’ve been buying and selling sneakers online for a little over 10 years. Things have come a long way from sending postal money orders to people you met on forums with the hope they’ll actually send you the shoes in return, or meeting up with strangers to do in-person transactions. But there are still many shady sellers, and fakes are getting even harder to point out.
Although I’ve never gotten the short end of the stick while navigating the murky waters of the online resale market, not everyone is so lucky. Now, with the help of a new startup called StockX, resale transactions are a lot safer – and in some instances, more affordable.
Found in 2015 by Josh Luber, StockX is a self-proclaimed “stock market of things.” The website makes buying things like sneakers, streetwear, watches, and designer handbags safe and secure by acting as a middleman between you and the seller. I’ve been using StockX for a few years now and, in my opinion, it’s the most seamless way to buy or sell sneakers in the online resale market.
Here's how it works as a buyer:
There are literally thousands of items to choose from on StockX. Once you find an item you're interested in, you can either buy it immediately for the current lowest asking price or submit a bid and wait for one of the many sellers with the same item to accept the offer. It's worth noting that StockX requires you to link to a payment method (PayPal or a credit/debit card) when placing bids. You'll only be charged if and when your bid is accepted. This is put in place to rid the marketplace of meaningless offers from flakers.
After your purchase is confirmed, the seller has two business days to ship your item out for professional authentication at StockX. I personally love that sellers are held accountable for timely shipping because nobody likes to wait a long time for items to arrive. Once your item arrives at StockX, it's marked with a green "verified authentic" tag and it's shipped out to you. You can track the status of your order (shipped by seller, authentication in progress, shipped to you, etc.) online.
As a buyer, you'll be able to keep track of current offers placed, pending purchases, and past purchases. Since it shows a collective amount of how much you've spent, you'll be less likely to spend your life savings on sneakers and streetwear.
Take a look at my history to see the breakdown of past purchases:
Here's how it works as a seller:
You have an item - let's say a luxury bag or a pair of sneakers - that you want to sell. Search the item on StockX and select the size you have. From there you, can sell it immediately for the highest current bid or submit an asking price and wait for someone to pay it. This feature is especially good if you have an item that you don't need to sell right away and believe it will appreciate in value over time.
Once someone purchases your item, StockX will email you a pre-paid shipping label and packing slip to include in the box. You'll have two business days to get the package sent out or StockX will charge you a small fee. Once StockX confirms that your item is authentic and in brand new condition for sneakers and streetwear or excellent pre-owned condition for watches and handbags, your funds will be released to you. StockX does take out a transaction fee starting at about 10%, but as your seller level increases, the percentage decreases. After that, StockX is responsible for delivering the package to the buyer.
In my opinion, the small transaction fee isn't a deal breaker. Realistically, StockX has to get paid, and it's still a smaller amount than what eBay or a sneaker consignment shop would take.
The same way you can keep track your purchases, you can also keep track of current, pending, and past sales. StockX provides you with details on your number of sales, how much revenue you've generated, and your authentication percentage.
Take a look at my seller history:
The middleman feature is great for security, but what makes the website like a stock market?
For every item listed, StockX has tons of usable information like release date, retail price, how many units have sold, previous sale prices, and more. The data can help you as a buyer to better assess the market so you'll never overpay. And if you're savvy, you'll learn to use data on previous releases to predict the value on future releases.
I personally have never paid more than retail for sneakers, so I like to use StockX to get certain shoes for below retail. If there's a shoe that I want to buy and it's been sitting on shelves at retailers but is still full price, StockX usually has a lower price. While retailers tend to wait a long time in order to mark down inventory by the bunch, StockX will have a price listed that's closer to real-time market value.
Alternatively, the data works great as a seller. Let's use the last pair of sneakers I sold, the Union Los Angeles x Air Jordan 1, as an example. I sold my pair for $803 12 days after the release, but the market value peaked at $1,520 five days before the shoe released to the public. Today, more than two months after the release, the lowest asking price is currently $609. You can use data trends like this to determine when is the best time to sell your item to maximize profit.
For consumers who are willing to pay resale prices, the data helps them get the best prices. At $609, that's still a lot more than the $190 retail price, but it beats eBay where there are pairs currently listed for up to $1,900.
Don't get me wrong, eBay is a treasure trove for sneakers and fashion (and really anything else you can think of), but it sometimes takes a lot more skill and patience to use. As a buyer, you have to weed out fakes, enter auctions, message sellers with questions, and much more. As a seller, you also have to spend time taking pictures, writing a description, and formatting listings, compared to making a sale with just a few clicks on StockX.
What I like best about StockX is its convenience and ability to remove human error from the buying and selling process. Since StockX holds sellers accountable for what's being sent to them and items are double checked before being sent to you, you'll never receive the wrong item, the wrong size, or a poorly packed product.
I also really appreciate how personal StockX is for users. In addition to the surface-level data on the buying and selling tabs, you can take a more granular look at all of your purchases in your portfolio and manually add other shoes you have in your collection, even if you didn't purchase them all on StockX. This makes it easy to manage the inventory of your collection, its current market value, and whether you've lost or gained money on it.
While I've only used StockX for sneakers, the brand's decision to expand to streetwear, watches, and handbags was a step in the right direction as these categories also have huge resale markets.
You'll find apparel from brands like Supreme, Ba pe, and KITH, watches ranging from G-Shocks and Apple Watches to Rolexes and Omegas, and designer bags from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel, and more.
No matter what level of knowledge and enthusiasm you have for fashion, StockX is a fool-proof way to buy authentic styles in the resale market. Whether you're a seasoned sneakerhead, fashion expert, or a newcomer in need of direction, you can rest assured knowing that all transactions on StockX will be smooth.