Students send shoes for resale

PHOTO: Junior Tai Hackett kept the first pair of Yeezy sneakers that he bought with the intent to sell for a profit.

By Lyle Hahn,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Making one’s own money is a common rite of passage in today’s society along with graduating high school and obtaining a driver’s license. There are countless ways to make money as a high school student, from counseling at a kid’s camp to working in a local restaurant.

One way that some Davis High students make money is buying items and then reselling them for a profit. Junior Hayden Tam buys and resells items because it “is an easy way to make substantial profit while going to school and not having to devote much time to the business,” he said.

Junior Tai Hackett also buys and sells items for profit using a similar method with Tam. Hackett said that his reason for buying and selling items is “the simple satisfaction that comes with making my own money.”

The general ideology of reselling items is to buy an item when it is relatively inexpensive and sell it after it gains value. One of the best ways to get an item that is likely to gain value is to order limited products directly from the manufacturer’s website.

When looking for an item to sell for profit Tam “[looks] at the hype around the release and low stock.” “Hype” is the anticipation throughout the community for the product before it is released and “stock” is the number of items released when the item becomes available for retail.

Limited edition sneakers from big name brands such as Nike and Adidas are some of the most popular when it comes to resale due to the hype surrounding them and the low stock.

For someone trying to find a buyer for their resale items there are websites and apps specifically for the purpose of buying and selling limited edition items. Tam and Hackett mostly buy off of a big name brand, then wait until the price of the product goes up to sell it.

The first time Hackett bought a pair of limited edition sneakers, he planned on reselling them for a profit, but  decided to keep them because “it was the first time [he] had bought an expensive pair of shoes with [his]own money.”

To prevent himself from keeping the products he buys, Tam tries to buy items in a size that he would not wear. However, he does “occasionally keep some stuff in [his] size.” 

People new to the resale business have the helpful resource of online forums which can help to “predict fairly accurately how a new release of shoes will do on the resale market,” Hackett said. After the item has been acquired, “finding a buyer is not very hard if you have hyped items to sell,” Tam said.

“Everyone should try it at least once,” Hackett said.