The giant sneaker resale StockX has removed their claim of “Verified Authentic” on their site, now the sneaker’s descriptions only say new. Therefore, StockX is no longer guaranteeing their shoes are authentic.
“Verified Authentic” (August 2022) vs. no mention of authenticity (November 2022)
Earlier this year, Nike called the giant consignment platform out for its unreliable authentication process. Nike alleged that StockX’s “99.95% authentication accuracy rate” is a baseless claim.
So most likely, they removed the claim “Verified Authentic” because of this vast legal battle with Nike.
Their page states that “the exact nature of the verification process varies by item,” which slyly tip-toes around the marketplace’s previous authentication promise.
StockX has responded with an official statement:
“Our comprehensive approach remains unchanged. While product authenticity remains core to our analysis, our verification process is a better reflection of our broader value proposition that we provide customers by reviewing all products sold on StockX.
We look at a range of indicators before sending a product onto a buyer and there are a number of reasons why a product may fail to meet our elevated standard of excellence, including incorrect size, missing accessories, a damaged box, a manufacturer defect, or if it shows signs of previous wear. Since our inception, StockX authenticators have reviewed more than 35 million products and we continue to invest in new technologies to use alongside human inspection and refine our policies to best serve the customer.”
Nike Cracks Down on Resellers and Bots
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Nike adds restocking fees, account suspensions as possible penalties for shoppers who buy goods with the intent to flip them.”
Nike wants to stop Bots; their goal is to get their shoes directly to the end consumer and take out the third-party market – resellers. That way prices aren’t getting gouged, and every sneakerhead that wants a specific shoe will be able to get that off the shelf. If there are no bots and orders get canceled there is going to be a lot more pairs available to the market.
If Nike executes these new terms and policies properly and they can get rid of many of these bot orders, they might find out that the real demand for their products is likely to be much smaller than they think. Therefore, with all these pairs sitting on the shelf or their website going straight to the end consumer, it might make stock levels seem way higher than usual, crushing the resale market value and lowering the demand.
Those shoes still have enough hype and demand that creates value for the sneaker culture to buy and resell; the sneakers are collectibles. That’s why we see so many sneakers conventions and all the hype around these shoes.
Whether Nike likes it or not, the bot game is here to stay, and probably nothing will change as they have been trying for years.