Forget everything you thought about buying sneakers online. Today we're outlining some of the basic ways you can beat the bots and give yourself the best chance to buy the sneakers you want for retail price. Whether it's the latest exclusive Air Jordan 1, Nike Dunk Low, Yeezy, Off-White, or general release, it's time to kick-start your journey in copping sneakers manually. No more StockX talk or Sneaker Twitter shenanigans. We here at SoleSavy have set you up with a beginner's guide to the sneaker game.

If this guide caught your interest and you want to learn more about how to get your shoes for retail prices without a bot, then a SoleSavy membership might just be exactly what you're looking for. We'll help you grow your sneaker collection, connect with other sneakerheads and stay ahead of the sneaker game. To all resellers: you're not welcome.

Why Can't I Cop?

In 2021, sneakers are not a niche anymore. On any given release there are hundreds of thousands of sneakerheads around the world going for the same pairs of shoes. With the groundbreaking, award-winning adidas Yeezy partnership in 2015 followed by luxury fashion label Off-White's THE TEN collection with Nike, exclusive sneakers have undoubtedly cemented themselves within the mainstream. Supply just does not match the demand for most releases in the billion-dollar sneaker industry, and the number of eager sneakerheads keeps climbing.

Take for example last year's Dior x Air Jordan 1 release. Dior held an online raffle for their $2,000 USD Kim Jones-designed sneakers. More than five-million entries were received. (This number takes into account the international Dior website's raffle and China's WeChat based lottery system for the shoes' release.) With only 8,000 pairs available, this results in only a 0.16% chance of winning. Sneaker raffles are lotteries, and it's hard to win the lottery.

Bots Are the Problem

In addition to the long queues and countless manual users aimlessly refreshing and slowing down a site, there's the issue of bots. Simply put, sneaker bots are sophisticated and expensive programs that can near-instantly buy products online without the need for human interaction. By the time you've clicked through a website's menus, refreshed, struggled on a captcha and filled in all your billing and shipping info, a bot has already checked out with multiple pairs.

Don't Focus On Foot Inc. sites or the Nike SNKRS App

With countless people and bots to compete with, you'd think your best bet would be big retailers like Foot Locker or even the Nike SNKRS app that boasts inside access to the latest launches, events and exclusive sneaker releases. Nope. Popular destinations like these are plagued with issues that almost always will result in you taking an L.

Nike and Jordan Brand are the biggest sneaker brands in the market, with fiscal 2021 sales recorded at $44.5 billion. As a result, the SNKRS app is where all the hardcore and casual fans of sneakers and fashion naturally gravitate.

Foot Locker does not use the e-commerce company Shopify, opting instead for their proprietary eCommerce platform. It's faulty. Botters have exploited all Foot Inc. sites (Foot Locker, Footaction, Eastbay, Champs) to the point where all a manual user can do is spam that "Add To Cart" button and hope for the best. This should be your last option.

You need to look elsewhere first. You need to be focusing your time and energy on stores with Shopify's Bot Protection. In the U.S. alone there are more than 20 stores with various levels of bot protection.

What is Bot Protection?

In 2021, most online stores use Shopify. As a result, you – the average customer – are protected more often than not by something called Bot Protection. Bot Protection is a series of online security measures happening behind the scenes that prevent bot users from buying their product. They can have a positive impact on the manual user's shopping experience and are a nightmare for botters. Shopify is a $1.58-billion company with its own division of talented programmers working tirelessly to ensure products get into the hands of consumers, not resellers.

Big sneaker releases like the Union x Air Jordan 4 collection, Concepts x Nike SB Dunk High "TurDunken" and Bodega's Nike Dunk High "Legend" were far smoother than the hyped drops of even a year prior. These are just some of the most recent releases in which hundreds of pairs of exclusive sneakers were copped by manual users while bots struggled. The development team at Shopify is always looking at how to better the user experience and disarm the botters. Anti-bot is your friend. So are monitors.

Monitors: Tactical Edge for Manual Shoppers

Monitors are easy-to-use programs that let you know the instant a new product is put up online. Instead of constantly refreshing on a store's new arrivals or product page hoping for your size to appear, a monitor will provide a link to a new release or restock the second it becomes available. With these "Add To Cart" links, you no longer need to worry about navigating laggy websites or waiting for a Tweet notification.

Take a look at one of our SoleSavy monitors above as an example. Instead of frantically browsing before release, you can just click or tap on your size and will instantly be brought to a checkout page for most drops. You just enter your info via autofill and you're on your way. Why doesn't everyone use sneaker monitors? Simply put, they're expensive and difficult to maintain. Monitors require constant maintenance, proxies, updates, and some programming know-how. SoleSavy monitors are included with every member subscription to ensure that anyone who wants useful technology can have it. You get this as well as access to a thriving community of real sneaker enthusiasts, weekly giveaways, and insider info, all for a portion of the price of even the most basic monthly monitor subscription.

Restocks

A regular sneaker release is already difficult, but catching a restock is just about impossible if you rely on refreshing or notifications from Twitter or other social platforms. To properly have a chance at any restock, you will need to leverage sneaker monitors to provide you with instant updates and "Add To Cart" links for your size. This, in combination with an understanding of Shopify's anti-bot measures, will greatly increase your chances of copping some heat for retail.

Release Strategy

One of the keys to success is your plan of attack on release day. As we mentioned earlier, focusing on Foot Inc. sites and SNKRS is the wrong decision. So what websites should you go to? Deciding between a dozen-plus stores with bot protection can be overwhelming, which is why you should consider a variety of variables such as available stock, sizing, shipping costs, applicable duties or taxes, and more. All of this information is part of SoleSavy's typical release coverage and preparation that we provide our sneaker community members.

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Bots don't have to win. Paying exorbitant retail prices shouldn't be the norm. Sneaker culture is about great designs, storytelling and community, not about trying to make a quick buck. SoleSavy is all about embracing real sneaker culture. If any of the above piqued your interest or sounds too good to be true, we implore you to take a look at the benefits of a SoleSavy membership today. Learn more about which stores to shop at, how to cop the hottest new releases, and much more when you join our sneaker community.