How to Make Thousands in Revenue Reselling Sneakers During the Holiday Season

It doesn’t really matter what the specific niche is. It could be that you target artist collabs or country-specific exclusives. The point is that by immersing yourself within that niche, you can find less-hyped shoes that go on to become home runs in the sneaker resell market. 

You will also gain an edge over those sneaker resellers who pop their head into your specific market for a hot second and try to guess whether the shoe is going to go up in value or not.

Hold Onto OG Sneakers

As is the case with any reselling business, timing is everything. Some sneaker resellers make the mistake of listing too early, screwing themselves out of hundreds or even thousands of further profit had they held onto them for longer. None more so is this the case than with original release sneakers (OGs). 

Remember that as Christmas approaches, buyers become more and more motivated. By mid-December, some will be desperate and be willing to pay whatever it takes to separate you from your OG Air Force 1s. 

It’s all about striking a balance, but you don’t want to be selling OGs in November. If you want to lock in the highest pre-Christmas profit, you should wait until the last possible date you can ensure they will arrive in time (maybe factor in express/tracked shipping with delivery guarantees).  

Remember, you could simply sit on them for a long time if you want to lock in major long-term profits. Popular OGs almost guarantee profits in the long run (even if you’ve paid significantly over retail several years later). So while that money won’t be in your bank account this Christmas, they will keep earning for you over the next 12 months, and you can cash during the next holiday season if you have changed your mind.  

Know When to Move Sneakers On

In many ways, sneaker reselling is like entering a trade. You buy a commodity at one price, hoping to sell it for a higher one. When we have an asset such as a sneaker, and its value starts to go down, we tend to hold onto it longer than we should in the hope that the price will reverse and go back up again. 

This phenomenon in the trading world is known as the sunk cost fallacy. You’ve invested time, money, and resources into acquiring these sneakers, so you feel that you should hold onto them until they return you a profit you’re happy with. 

However, that attitude is going to severely dent your long-term profits.

Sneaker Resale Sunk Cost Fallacy Example 

Let’s take the situation above as an example, whereby a limited-release shoe has a restock announced. You were previously looking at locking in a $180 profit. Now you’re looking at a measly $10 profit. The smart seller gets rid of their sneakers at this point and moves on. 

The inexperienced seller, however, holds onto the shoe, deciding it's a long-term play anyway. One year later, and a further restock later, you are facing a $250 loss, all because you couldn’t bring yourself to take the hit on your profits. 

So, just like the best stock traders do, always have a “stop-loss” in play. A figure at which you get out, even though you might not have made much (or anything) on that particular shoe. Not everything you pick up will be a winner. Those who manage to avoid emotion and protect themselves against huge losses will always outlast sneaker resellers that let emotions cloud their judgment.  

Being under the radar inherently means they are more challenging to find – unless you have the tools at your disposal to unearth hidden gems. That’s where having a service such as BrickRadar comes in handy. 

With an algorithm that analyzes millions of data sets per second, you can use BrickRadar to find sneakers that perhaps didn’t receive much love on release but are now subsequently gaining significant traction in the resale market. With a dedicated Brick Score, you can even figure out how safe your profit margins are, helping you make informed decisions regarding the best under-hyped shoes.