sneakers and streetwear culture, the emergence of a large-scale counterfeit market has risen to meet the demand for these highly sought-after sneakers. However, in response to the large counterfeit challenges, new companies have taken off. The shoe reselling market is currently dominated by StockX and GOAT. Sneakers have some of the highest resale multiples among retail consumer goods, and the two aftermarket websites (each of which also allows for buying and selling via custom-designed phone apps) currently have a de facto monopoly on the niche, though eBay launched its own authenticated-sneaker initiative to compete with them (and mitigate their reputation as a common outlet for counterfeit sneaker sales). The old-school sneakerhead community routinely expresses distaste for the resale community, especially buyers who only do so for profit's sake, not appreciation for sneakers' history or artistry. Due to the inflated resell market, it would be wise to look into replica sneakers as the quality have greatly improved throughout the years and are usually around retail price or lower. Apps like SNKRS were made to give ordinary buyers a fair chance to purchase a given pair, but with mixed results. While Nike has the financial wherewithal to continuously improve the app to prevent bots from exploiting it, this is generally not the case with small, independent sneaker boutiques; on many such sites, bots and proxy servers in particular (which "spoof" IP addresses to obfuscate the fact that dozens, hundreds or even thousands of purchase attempts are being made from a single buyer's computer) have made it effectively impossible in most cases for people to purchase hype sneakers via scheduled drops before they sell out, which typically happens within 2–3 minutes and sometimes within a matter of seconds. While StockX and GOAT have not disclosed how many sellers on their platforms sell goods en masse, they're believed to be the most popular outlets for doing so; StockX sold $1.8 billion in merchandise in 2020 alone (including sportswear and some other lines, but predominantly sneakers). Sneakers are resold for prices that can range from a modest 15%–20% above retail, and up to a 10x (or 1,000%) return on the most coveted, low-production drops. These sites provide a trusted platform where buyers can buy shoes from sneaker resellers, though on occasion both are accused of delivering counterfeit shoes that somehow passed their "legit checks," the specifics of which are kept close to vest. On both