The transition to digital storefronts has made the business of buying sneakers a lot more competitive. It used to be that you’d have to wait for hours in front of a store to get your hands on the freshest kicks. Now the chaos of in-store releases has moved online. And on the internet, most tech-savvy always wins the race.
The process of obtaining sneakers is called “sneaker copping.” Copping sneakers has become a war of speed and technical know-how, but it’s not fought between buyers. The real battle is between sneakerheads and the shoe manufacturers. Forget queuing in lines and fighting off crowds; modern sneaker copping revolves around the use of bots and proxies.
source:medium.com
While this whole article will dive deep into the world of sneaker copping, see more information about proxies and their other possible use cases here.
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Sneaker Bots
Sneakerheads have learned to use bots to secure a spot in online queues. These “sneaker bots” handle the entire ordering process, from logging in to picking a shoe size. They even automate the checkout process by inputting your credit card information. And they do it all without the need for any manual inputs from the user.
source:homegrown.co.in
When a sale goes live, sneaker bots can place an order and pay for it in less than a second. All this goes down before your average buyer has even finished typing in their username.
Many stores use anti-bot measures to make the process of sneaker copping more competitive. For example, they may limit purchases to a single item per individual. To get around this, some buyers own multiple accounts and assign a bot to each of them. With this method, they can buy multiple pairs of shoes at once.
Sneaker Proxies
source:bestproxyreviews.com
To dissuade buyers from making multiple accounts, stores look at where you live. If multiple accounts trace back to the same location, there’s a good chance they’re all the same person. By monitoring the IP addresses of buyers, they can flag and block users using multiple bots.
Of course, this hasn’t stopped avid shoe fans from finding a way around this mechanism. Sneakerheads use proxies to make their bots appear as independent users to the store servers.
A proxy acts as an intermediary between you and the internet. You tell the proxy what data you want to retrieve, and the proxy goes and gets it for you. Because the server you’re accessing only communicates with the proxy, it has no way of knowing who’s making the request.
By pairing each of their bots to a unique IP address, they can hide the fact that they’re all owned by the same person. Most sneaker proxies even let you choose the location of the addresses you use. A buyer can have many sneaker bots, each appearing to connect from different locations around the world.
Getting In on the Game
source:anothernikebot.com
Sneaker bots and proxies range in price, from free services to several hundred dollars.
If you want to get in on the sneaker copping game, stay away from free services. As the saying goes: you get what you pay for. When you pay nothing, you make yourself susceptible to frauds and scammers. Remember, you’re trusting your personal information with these companies — including your credit card information. The last thing you want to see is a mysterious charge on your credit card bill at the end of the month.
If you have coding experience, you can make your own sneaker bot. There are tons of tutorials online that will teach you how to make a bot from scratch. Community forums serve as hubs for sneakerheads to share their techniques and coding practices. With a lot of time and patience, you could even make your own bot to rival the premium services.
For the rest of us, there are always professional bot and proxy providers to rely on. If you’re a sneakerhead, you’re already prepared to spend some big cash on the hottest shoes. When you pay for a professional service, you’re getting security and peace of mind knowing your personal data is secure. Many sneaker proxies and bot providers also come with intuitive interfaces. Even if you’re not very knowledgeable with computers, you can learn to use them.
Choosing a Sneaker Proxy
source:rafichowdhury.com
Most of the top sneaker bot services have similar features. Spend some time asking around on forums and reading reviews to get an idea of which you want to go with. Picking a sneaker proxy, on the other hand, is a bit more complex.
Pick a proxy provider with a large IP pool. The more countries their IP addresses cover, the better. Don’t forget to make sure that they let you choose your location! Some proxy providers assign an address randomly from their pool. If you want to get a pair of sneakers that are exclusive to the UK buyers, you don’t want to connect with a proxy located in India.
Look into the background of the proxy company. Is it an actual company? If it is, that means it’s a legal entity and liable for any personal data leaks or misused information. This means they have a legal responsibility to keep your data secure.
Don’t forget to check forums and review sites for user opinions. Proxy users tend to jump from one service to another in search of a really good one. If users tend to stick with a company for a long time, that’s an indicator that it’s reliable and secure.
In reviews, one essential thing to look for – information about proxy speed. To make sure that your money doesn’t go to waste, you have to invest very carefully into proxies that are confirmed to be extremely speedy.
Summary
source:highsnobiety.com
In the digital era, copping sneakers has moved from brick-and-mortar shops to online storefronts. You’re no longer competing with the people in your city but with potential buyers from around the globe. To ensure their orders are processed before a pair of kicks sell out, sneakerheads automate the purchase process with bots and proxies.
