sold out: HOW BOTS AND RESELLERS ARE KILLING STREETWEar culture
As online shopping came into full fruition, the same releases that caused people to line up down the block, also caused problems online. Many people were looking for a shortcut on the internet, something that would all but guarantee their pair of shoes from each weekend’s release. Consumers and resellers found this when “Bots” were developed. As I stated above, a clothing or sneaker bot is a computer software that is purchased on the internet that gives the average consumer a slight advantage over everybody else on a website’s server. A bot can give an advantage by saving a user’s shipping and payment information in the software, then the user just needs to tell the bot which size to add to the cart. (Sneaker Freaker Magazine, 2014) Once the online shop releases the shoe on the pre designated website link, the bot will quickly purchase the shoes in just seconds, much faster than it can be done manually. This is a strategy many resellers are reverting to as well, so they can get their hands on some of the most profitable items at each release such as basically anything supreme, retro Jordans, or one of Kanye West’s signature sneakers. If you are hoping to purchase any of the items that were just listed at retail, you may want to consider looking into bot prices, because it is incredible hard to purchase some items without one, although it is still possible.
The Truth about Bots
It is clearly frustrating and plain unfair for consumers and fans of these companies at times because of the difficulty of simply purchasing their products. If these corporations were able to cut down resellers and keep bots off of their website and out of their servers, the true consumers and fans would not only have a much better shopping experience, but we also wouldn’t have to deal with the hassles of negotiating and spending loads of money on a reseller’s item. So the question must be asked, how can consumers and corporations work together to stop them?
