sold out: HOW BOTS AND RESELLERS ARE KILLING STREETWEar culture
Putting an End to Bots and Resellers
In a Complex article from 2015, Joshua Espinoza covers Supreme’s statement move in banning any users on their website that behave like bots. Supreme can suspect an IP address is a bot by the constant and quick refreshing of a certain webpage, which is the bot’s strategy to try to be the first on the page and to quickly add an item to it’s cart. (Espinoza, 2015) Supreme also has been known to stop resellers in their tracks at their retail store’s doors, any person that they recognize as a reseller or anyone that they suspect may be a reseller, may be told that their size is out, or bluntly told to leave by security.(Sanchez, 2015) This is scaling down the amount of resellers, but is it really working? Not a chance, as explained earlier, resellers have even started to hire kids around the city to make their purchases for them, because Supreme doesn’t exactly suspect teenage kids to be taking advantage of other shoppers. Supreme has taken a step in the right direction by taking action in trying to limit the problem, but they are certainly taking the wrong angle. If street wear and sneaker corporations try to stop resellers using this method, as soon as one reseller leaves the market, another reseller enters. Instead, these companies need to create a different approach to the problem.
The first step toward a possible solution in ending reselling would be to create an online system that bots cannot penetrate, a system that restricts internet access from bots the same way most websites keep virus bots away. If a password is demanded from a customer before and after checkout to purchase an item, a bot would not be able to automatically push through the website and add items to it’s cart in just seconds. Instead, the consumer would have to manually enter a password which would slow down the process of purchasing items tremendously.
A website called END Clothing has recently taken advantage of this strategy by forcing customers to sign up for upcoming releases through email and also registers your size. After the customer is signed up, End will send a link to the purchase page of your selected size as soon as the item drops. This allows the company to keep bots away because it is an inconvenience to bots and gives the average consumer a much better fighting chance to purchase the item. End Clothing does not use a password but if larger brands would follow this same strategy for their limited releases, they could also force consumers to enter a password that is emailed with the purchase link to keep everyone on an even playing field, and could also completely eliminate bots from the market. My proposal to the sneaker and clothing community across the world is to use this website and create a petition and movement that proposes to large corporations that there are changes that can be made to online stores, and with the right changes, bots and resellers can be tremendously limited, leaving their true fans and consumers more happy and inclined to keep the culture of their brand alive.
As far as in store purchases go, the solution is much tougher than an online solution. The best way to limiting reselling through in store purchases would be to limit every customer to just one item during their visit. Resellers will always do what they can do get rare items and it will be very hard to limit in store, the only solution to this problem will come from consumers themselves. As consumers are the driving force behind the demand for resold products, we are the only ones that can keep prices down. By encouraging the culture of sneakers and clothing as a whole to put self greed aside and think of the big picture because it only takes a few purchases of $1000 to set the rate of a shoe that was once sold for only $200. A great example of a pioneer behind this idea comes from a vintage buy, sell, and trade store from Virginia called Round Two. Round Two is a store that insists on keeping some of the rarest clothing items and sneakers at reasonable prices in attempt to shift the culture of reselling. Round Two’s strategy has always been the same and was built through thrift shopping, bartering, and visiting flea markets, Sean Wotherspoon, owner of Round Two, is able to offer the lowest prices for sought after vintage and new rare street wear. The sneaker and clothing community has to work together to support shops like these so that we can limit ridiculous resale prices as much as possible. Round Two is growing rapidly with a new store in Los Angeles booming with customers everyday. Round Two offers the best deals in the area and consumers across the area are extremely happy with how the store is positively effecting the community. By supporting stores like Round Two, and holding retail corporations accountable and demanding a better shopping experience online, serious changes can be made in the sneaker and clothing world.