Meet The Sydney Sneaker Reseller Making $100,000+ A Year

As the sneaker culture becomes more mainstream in Australia, we are starting to see a lot of sneaker resellers surface.

‘Sneaker Reselling’ is already a popular way to turn a hobby into a substantial income for many people in sneaker-dense cities across the world, such as LA and London.

But for many Australians, Sneaker Reselling is still quite a foreign concept.

What is Sneaker Reselling? Where does one begin? How lucrative is it?

To answer these questions, we have sat down with one of Australia’s most notorious sneaker resellers to provide you with some insights.

He asked us to protect his identity so he will go by the pseudonym of ‘M’.

Here is the full interview:

PUSHAS: Thanks for taking time out of your day to answer our questions. We know you’d rather be cooking*…

M: Hahaha I still am.

PUSHAS: So why do you want to remain anonymous?

M: I prefer people to not know who I am because it just feels better that way. I just don't like a lot of people knowing what I do.

PUSHAS: That’s fair enough. So tell us about yourself.

M: I am 21 years old and I am currently a full-time student finishing off last semester before graduation. I study Marketing which I guess is why I’m really interested in business. But I don’t want to work a 9-5. Ever. Fingers crossed anyway.

"...the ballpark amount is around $100,000+ give or take in profit. That’s better than most of my friends who are working full time in a 9 to 5 that they hate."

PUSHAS: Yeah, me neither! What’s your favourite sneaker right now?

M: The Air Max 97 Undefeated in White.

 

 

PUSHAS: Since you’re the expert, could you explain to our readers what Sneaker Reselling is?

M: I wouldn’t say I’m the expert because I know heaps of people who are making so much more [than me] but the concept is really simple.

You basically buy sneakers for cheap and then sell them for a profit. You might find them from a plug**, or they might be sold out everywhere, and so the market price is higher. But basically, you just need to buy low and sell high.

PUSHAS: You know this was coming, but it’s still pretty awkward to ask… How much do you make a year reselling?

M: No worries bro. Well the ballpark amount is around $100,000+ give or take in profit. That’s better than most of my friends who are working full time in a 9 to 5 that they hate. Realistically, it’s more 9 to 8 nowadays if you’re working corporate.

Keep in mind, I also don’t resell all year round. I sometimes take breaks so I could be making more. And sometimes I don’t invest and buy all the stock I could (and make more profit) because I need the liquidity for other things.   

PUSHAS: What things?

M: Having a girlfriend is expensive bro… (laughs)

PUSHAS: (Laughs) Well at least you can afford one!

M: Hard.

"...that’s over $10,000 in profit a drop just yeezys alone."

PUSHAS: So how did you start off sneaker reselling?

M: So cliche, but basically when I first started getting into sneakers, during high school, I had no money. So I borrowed $200 from my mum to get my first pair of Air Max 1’s. At the time, the seller was also selling another pair for the low as well so I figured I buy both to save on shipping too.

They arrived a week later, fell in love with the Air Max 1’s but the other pair which was a pair of Air Safaris were trash so I threw em up on eBay for the price of both pairs which was about $200.

Few days later they sold for $200 so basically I got my Air Max 1’s for free.

From that day I realised I could get free shoes and eventually money out of doing that so I decided to take it on.

Fast forward a few years, I only started taking reselling seriously since January 2017 and I’ve hit 6 figures already by December last year.

PUSHAS: I’m not gonna lie, that’s pretty cool. What’s the best thing about reselling though?

M: For me, the best thing about reselling is that I get to make money from something I enjoy.

I make good money and I enjoy sneakers. I enjoy the journey, and seeing how far I’ve come. I went from  buying 1 pair of yeezys back in the day to 20 pairs or more each time they drop.

PUSHAS: By my calculations, you probably make $500 profit over retail per Yeezy, and that’s over $10,000 in profit a drop just yeezys alone. You sell so many other sneakers, like Air Maxes, Jordans, NMDs etc.

M: Pretty much.

Many resellers have tens of thousands of dollars worth of stock at any one time...

 

PUSHAS: I’m guessing it’s not all rainbows and sunshine for you... What is the biggest challenge you face as a reseller?

M: The biggest thing we face as resellers is getting stock. Getting stock is so competitive right now.

Like many resellers from Australia, I get most of my stock from international retailers and resellers.

However, nowadays everything is botted*** and goes really quick. For some hyped releases, you can only cop**** sneakers if you win the retailers raffling system, which is basically impossible since your odds are so small.

However, you just have to keep adapting as a reseller to figure out ways to get stock and quickly distribute it.

"... if I’m wasting my time dealing with individual customers (who might not even buy my sneakers), I lose so much time and money."

PUSHAS: You’ve spoken a lot about procuring stock but how do you distribute stock?

M: I might sell to people who know me already on Facebook, or through Facebook groups, but to be honest bro I use PUSHAS the most.

PUSHAS: You’re not just saying this because we’re interviewing you right? (laugh)

M: (Laughs) Nah, I’m dead serious. PUSHAS makes it easy for me to focus on my core problem - getting stock. I don’t need to worry about spending time on customers with meet-ups, negotiations and payments.

Instead, I get to specialise on how to get more stock and offload it to you guys.

Think about it. My goal is to move stock as quickly as possible to make a profit, and use that profit to reinvest to make more profit. If I’m wasting my time dealing with individual customers (who might not even buy my sneakers), I lose so much time and money.  

The small PUSHAS fee is a good trade off for me. I just offload my stock to you guys, you guys sell it (and deal with the customers) and then I get paid. It’s convenient and I end up actually making much much more in the long run.

PUSHAS: Touche. I don’t think many sellers think of it like that.

M: At the end of the day, the aim of the game is to flip your sneakers fast.

PUSHAS: Do you have any final advice for aspiring resellers?

M: "Google is your best friend". You'll get a long way by researching how to resell. You'll find everything you need to start and progress from there. That's how I started.

PUSHAS: Thanks for your time, I'll let you get back to it! I'm sure your story will inspire the future generation of resellers in this new age of Sneakers.

M: Nah, anytime bro. I'm not special, anyone can do it haha. 

 

As a sneaker reseller, your rotation is next level.

*Editor’s Notes

If you have some sneakers you're looking to sell, click here to apply to become a PUSHAS seller.

I also realised that there may be some words in this interview that needs defining and so I took the liberty of defining them the best I could. If it still doesn’t make sense, I recommend checking Urban Dictionary.

Cooking [sneakers]: The process of buying rare, often-sold out sneakers. A sneaker reseller is often referred to as a ‘Cook’ or ‘Chef’.

Plug: A contact (usually from another country) that can get sneakers for cheap in bulk. They usually are cooks themselves, but are able to get sneakers for a higher quantity or cheaper due to various reasons, such as lower currency exchange, or more stock in their country.

Bot/Botted: Software that auto-checkouts a sneaker. In the Sneaker world, since everyone is trying to buy the same sneaker, it might be quicker to code software to do it for you automatically, rather than manually clicking and buying a sneaker.

Cop: To successfully buy a sneaker.

 

By Justin PUSHAS