To Bot or Not? A resellers Guide To Buying Sneakers

For better or worse: resellers have drastically changed sneaker culture. Last week, Travis Scott’s Fragment Design Air Jordan 1 collaboration release was infiltrated by sneaker bots. 

According to Hypebeast, some of Scott’s fans used sneaker bots to secure the shoes. The men’s fashion website is reporting those who did not get a chance to add the shoes to their online cart shared their frustration on the Cactus Jack discord channel and via Twitter. 

One discord user shared a screenshot gloating about how they used automated bot software Linear AIO to enter Scott’s raffle on his website 25,000 times. 

The same customer shared an additional screenshot revealing several pending transactions for the coveted sneakers. On Twitter, Hypebeast noted, another customer tweeted a screenshot of 32,000 raffle entries and the coinciding emails with 87 new messages to checkout.

The exclusive shoes, which initially retailed for $265, are now being resold for up to $4,000 on sites like eBay, Flight Club and StockX. Stores have already begun to issue raffles for the low editions of the shoes, which drop Aug. 13.

In January, Complex caught up with a young enterprising reseller, Ari Sarafyan who used bots to build a mini empire. Here’s are some tips on using sneaker bots to cop kicks from the man behind cook group AK Chefs and resale shop Private Exhibition via Complex: 

Learning About Sneaker Culture

“This is a problem right now, because the people who care and know a lot about sneakers rarely exist anymore. It's very uncommon to find people that know actually about shoes from the bottom of their heart. I think it's getting to the point where people just look to what sells and what doesn't instead of knowing what the shoe actually is and what's the meaning behind it.”

Overhead Costs

“You're going to need a bot. A lot of bots are resold, believe it or not. And you can't get your hands on them besides paying resale for it, because they barely restock for retail. So if you can catch a bot for retail, it's going to cost you from $300-$500 a year. If you're going to pay resale, you could pay from $1,000-$8,000. There's a bot called Cyber, it goes for seven grand. There's a bot called Wraith, it goes for eight grand. There's a bot called Balko, it goes for $3K. There's a bot called Sole AIO, it goes for $2K. And there's so many more I could keep naming.” 

How to Join a Cook Group

“Joining a cook group is done through Twitter restocks. There's no group buys for 

cook groups. You have to join from Twitter restocks and you're going to have to catch a restock. It's usually Shopify restocks. When you join, you're going to have to read a lot of guides. When a new member DMs me, "Hey, I'm a new member. What should I do?" I say, "First, read the master book. After that, get familiarized with all the channels. Recognize all the staff, recognize your roles, your notification so you don't get spammed.”

How to Buy a Bot

“There's a couple bots you have to think of when going into the sneaker reselling market. There's going to be Shopify bots, Nike bots, Adidas bots, Footsites bots, Supreme bots, and Yeezy Supply bots. The best bots for these sites are going to be Cyber, Sole AIO, Balkobot, Splashforce, Polaris, MEKPreme, VeloxPreme, Wraith, and Nike Shot Bot.”

How to Use a Bot

“Having a bot doesn't mean you're going to cop any shoe you want. You have to get used to it. You have to know the delays. You have to know the style of release, how the site works, does the site have bot protection. It's all memory techniques you have to have in your mind. It takes months. It's not something you pick up once you get a bot.”