Originally posted on Housakicks
The title may surprise many but the once glorious Flight Club may soon give way to more dynamic marketplaces for very simple reasons. I’ll actually just give you my own personal experience with flightclub for a better illustration. I sold a total of 63 pairs with them in 3 years I believe, and they had the fastest turnaround I had ever witnessed at the time; not only that but I used to get twice as much money for the sneakers I sent them- that was the golden era. To this day I still can’t fathom why people won’t just buy directly from my own website but rather pay $50 to $150 more to buy the same shoe on my eBay store or elsewhere ( Flight Club) because it’s safer ( which to me doesn’t make any sense because all my transactions are via paypal). Back to the story now; some of the things I struggled with while dealing with Flight Club were:
- their poor communication:
I used to send them a list of the shoes that I had, and it would take them sometimes a week up to 10 days to reply. But they have gotten better at it with the new system in place now where you basically create a portfolio using the https://sell.flightclub.com/sell and get an immediate response as it pertains to what they will accept or reject.
- payout:
At the time I was dealing with them, they only used to issue checks but now they use PayPal to disburse your funds.
The company has easily fixed the two things I mentioned above but the main reason why I stopped sending shoes to Flight Club is my inability to control my inventory and the consignment fees they charge. Once I sent a product to Flight Club, I could no longer sell it on my own website, eBay, Kixify, or any other marketplace; so it’s like throwing all your eggs in one basket. But with a company like StockX, I keep my products in my house, while I get the opportunity to benefit from their traffic and sell the product on other platforms as well , including my website. Basically it’s a more flexible system that allows buyers to make offers. The speed at which Flight Club handles offers from potential buyers is way too slow. The other problem is the fee: Flight Club charges about 20% in fees while most other marketplaces and to be more precise stockx charges about 12% ( that’s a no brainer). Flight Club still has an edge because they are a reputable and well established company, and their New York location is the mecca of sneakers.
But most buyers are looking for convenience and cheaper prices, and I believe companies that don’t quickly adjust to the changes to suit the consumers’ needs will end up disappearing- no one is safe not even Flight Club
I haven’t sent anything to Flight Club in years and many of my friends are no longer considering sending their inventory to Flight Club for the reasons I mentioned above. I wrote this from a reseller standpoint and left out the biggest reason why Fight Club might soon be a fossil: THEIR PRICES ARE OUTRAGEOUS and consumers are no longer buying foolishly. I’m sure I’ve missed many other points so feel free to leave a comment below.
Updated with a video discussion:
I asked my partner Chris about consignment and we created a video discussing why starting a consignment shop is not a good idea anymore. He also explains how Flight Club may be the last of its kind because the consignment shop has been disrupted by apps like GOAT and websites like StockX. It’s a good discussion, check it out.
Video time: 17 minutes
Video Description:
The title may surprise many but the once glorious Flight Club may soon give way to more dynamic marketplaces for very simple reasons.
Breakdown:
0:04 Intro
1:07 Tayib explains what a consignment store is
3:52 Tayib’s Flightclub experience
6:05 Chris’ take on consignment
10:30 Is It Smart To send your shoes to consignment shop
13:00 Advice to young resellers/ concluding thoughts
