C/0 SneakerMob.com
“One of the main reasons why it’s so hard to get that highly coveted Air Jordan, Foamposite- or whatever else- release is because the re-sale market is hotter than it’s ever been. Popular Nikes and Jordans are being purchased on Saturday morning and by the time the sun sets they’re going for at least $50 above the retail price.
This practice has become so common that the Financial Times is now reporting that the secondary sneaker market is worth an estimated $1 billion. According to sneaker data sites like Campless, 96% of the sneakers sold on eBay were Nike and Jordans- which will come as a surprise to no one.
Between March 2014 and February 2015, the Top-10 selling sneakers on eBay were all Jordans and Nikes and they all raked in millions of dollars on the resale market. The #1 selling sneaker on eBay during that time was the ‘Legend Blue’ 11s, which pulled in $3,774,359 in sales.
1. Air Jordan 11 Retro Legend Blue $3,774,359
2. Air Jordan 6 Retro Carmine 2014 $2,910,015
3. Air Jordan 11 Retro Low Concord $2,671,536
4. Air Jordan 11 Retro Gamma Blue $2,531,279
5. Air Jordan 11 Retro Playoffs Bred 2012 $2,508,553
6. Air Foamposite Pro Yeezy $1,924,504
7. Nike Air Yeezy 2 Red October $1,739,232
8. Air Jordan 6 Retro Infrared Black 2014 $1,696,121
9. Air Jordan 11 Retro Concord 2011 $1,496,863
10. Air Jordan 11 Retro Low Infrared 23 $1,364,494
Last year alone, about 6.3 million pairs of sneakers were sold on eBay, 1.2 million of which were going for $200+, generating over $400 million in sales on eBay alone. You can hate on re-sellers all you want, but as long as the money is green they’re going to keep doing what they do and we can’t knock ’em one bit.”
