September, as I mentioned in August, is an analysis of three platforms. I relaunched my Amazon Seller Central account and continued using StockX. Inventory was slow in September so sales declined on StockX, but were still robust enough to provide a breakdown on surprising models and to provide a top 10. I decided to really test eBay and found information that provides considerable insight into why a few years ago my affiliate sales from the platform flatlined. eBay is a platform that in no way matches the relevance of StockX and can’t really pull a power seller back to the platform, unless that power seller uses bots and only grabs Jordan Retro/Yeezy hype. The experiment there has been a failure. StockX remains the platform to move the most product, quickly, without any business savvy. Amazon, which isn’t considered a sneakerhead platform, remains a machine, but if they ever took the time to invest in the customer service aspects of the site and if they improved the user friendliness for both consumer and seller, Amazon would crush every other sales platform. I knew this in 2011 and I knew this when I closed my store in 2016, but it’s astonishing that Amazon hasn’t adjusted or fixed anything and it still proved to be a powerful platform even with all of the restrictions there. Let’s dive into this starting with the least successful platform:
eBay: I made a conscious decision to buy inventory to list on eBay. I bought all brand new sneakers. I placed all of those sneakers on Amazon, StockX and eBay. I also went beyond and intentionally purchased new shoes that didn’t have boxes. Neither Amazon or StockX allow the sale of sneakers without boxes. Poshmark and GOAT allow this so the real test is probably between those platforms and eBay. eBay has spent so much time and effort catering to sneakerheads, they’ve almost eliminated marketing to the people who participate in the circular economy. They’ve also eliminated the people looking for deals. eBay is now where you can sell shoes at the high end and shoes that are coveted. My ability to acquire new shoes, is almost meaningless there, but it’s a vital and growing aspect of StockX. I also sold another Blazer, but the buyer never paid for the shoe. This is a major issue on eBay.
My eBay stats are as follow:
You can see clearly that eBay was a non-factor in September: 2 pair = $284.91. I only sold two pair: an Air Jordan 5 Toro that was damaged, but not marked a B-Grade and a Nike Blazer BQ6806-100 brand new without a box. If I moved the hyped shoes from StockX to eBay I probably could have sold more, but eBay requires me to wait. StockX offers immediate gratification and sales. I created over 30 listings on eBay during September in a range of styles. On one shoe, a Kobe 5 Protro Bruce Lee, I had 7 offers. The process of sifting through the offers after using StockX for the last few years was extremely irritating. I refused every offer. eBay does have some opportunities. I finally hit on a new shoe that sold and had requests for sizes. Unfortunately, the person who bought the shoe, chose the wrong size and had to cancel. I had an e-mail for another size I didn’t have and there lies the difference. On StockX I can see offers in real time. When I work with consignors I can request a size with the highest value. The shoe was a Nike Phantom Run in women’s sizing. This shoe wasn’t listed on StockX. I intentionally didn’t submit it to my StockX rep so I could see if I could get the shoe on Amazon. I couldn’t. I’ll explain that issue in the next paragraph. Towards the end of the month, I submitted the new Phantom Run to StockX. I’ve sold 10 pair in two days.
Amazon: My Amazon account is old enough that I’ve been kind of grandfathered into the Sneaker sales. A new seller, or an old seller, can’t create new listings. Which isn’t much of a grandfather clause, but I can at least list against shoes already available. Nike doesn’t have a brand registry in the traditional sense with Amazon. They cancelled their pilot program, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of controlling the listings there. There was inventory I acquired, that I couldn’t put on Amazon at all. To add products that don’t exist, you have to file what’s called a Selling Application which reads, “This is a seller approval application for Nike. This brand is limited for listing to Sellers officially affiliated with the brand. Sellers that want to create ASINs, variations, or update this brand name must apply here.” In this sense, Seller Central on Amazon isn’t really a third party platform at all, but it is the channel that provides the biggest profit margin.
Here are my sales, returns and earnings for September on Amazon:
It’s clear that I shouldn’t spend any time on eBay after seeing the above right? I will continue to push forward, but the time placed into the platform when you don’t have heat, doesn’t really make sense since even new shoes are a slow burn and require you to constantly engage with people offering below the asking price. eBay may think that’s part of the charm, but with a minimum offer that accepts automatically, there really isn’t a reason for people to continuously write. On Amazon, I don’t have to think about this aspect at all. People simply buy, when they can. The problem is Amazon’s ownership of the listing. When a shoe is listed on Amazon, and a brand reuses a UPC code, it confuses the system leading to an incorrect picture or information. The owner of that listing has to update the listing, or another seller has to utilize a complex Excel sheet to create a parent and child sheet. This sheet has to be uploaded, but it takes days for changes to take. Customer Service is non-existent on Amazon and something as simple as updating the picture, doesn’t happen. For at least a week out of September I couldn’t sell the best selling shoes I had on the platform because the picture was incorrect and even right now the search is suppressed on the site for that same shoe. Also, if you notice my payouts for the 191 pair sold, with 18 returns, if you’re a new seller operating on a limited budget, Amazon can crush your business. Although it’s a good policy to wait for buyers who may want to return shoes, Amazon keeps thousands of the dollars earned between each payout. I earned around $20,000 in September, but only got $11,000 back to continue working. No other business or sales platform on the planet works this way.
StockX: StockX remains the cash cow and the best platform for resale. Their new Seller Program has my fees on shoes above 150 dollars at 6% and a 3% transaction fee. The only resale site with better fees is Kixify, and of course eBay over 100, but if you look at the transaction costs in the eBay section the under 100 shoes offset the losses above 100. This is an entirely different conversation that needs to be discussed.
- I sold 287 pair on StockX. Year over Year StockX should be worried. As Nike slows down with inventory, and the hype has died around the Jordan 1 Mid and shifted to the Dunk, neither is really available in big enough quantities for resale, the 287 compared with 696 as stores reopened last year (September 2020) and stimulus checks lifted every boat, is a dangerous area for the site. When compared with last month, August 21, I sold 382. Each month has declined, but there are factors beyond inventory. I work primarily with two consignors. One of them was gone for two weeks and the other had some issues, but overall inventory was the major culprit.
- Gross Sales were $30,109 – What has to be stated is September is the end of Back to School and sales usually slow from September into October and then pick up at the end of the month.
September HIGHLIGHTS
- Nike has the ability to retro shoes that aren’t hyped and they will hit resale. This months surprise was the Nike Free Run 2. The shoe dropped ten years ago and made a return this year and has been selling extremely well. I’ll cover this in which shoes sold.
- Amazon isn’t a sleeping giant. It’s an asteroid thankfully flying in a different direction from Earth, if Earth is third party resale. If the giant takes an active role in the sneaker world and adjusts… never mind. They ain’t doing it, lol.
- We lost two Footaction stores in this region and there isn’t anything replacing them in Jackson, TN. City Gear closed in the mall, Foot Locker closed a few years ago and now Footaction is gone. Hibbett Sports and Finish Line remain (there is some real food for thought).
What does all of this mean?
In this Versus battle there were three parties. Like the real Verzuz, it ended with two: StockX and Amazon. Inventory is slow and with all of the restrictions on purchasing, going out and using retail for resale remains a thing of the past. This is a Nike report and as it stands, I might as well write Nike and give them the info they need to adjust prices for next year. Nike could take more of this money for themselves as they did when they raised the price of the Jordan 1 Low and Mid recently, or they can leave that room to fuel the third party and drive engagement. It’s their world.