That's not always true though, usually shoes are between 50-100 above retail before release. Less people are buying them, because they want to try their hand at getting them for retail on release day. Once release day comes and passes the resellers will know that if you didn't get a pair you now have to buy from them and the prices can be anywhere from 100-250 above retail. My advice would be to cop before retail, but only 2 weeks early max or run the risk of them being b grades. I would only cop early if you expect them to be super popular with others. However, nowadays it's hard to tell how many of what JB will release, see fire red 4's, so many were made that you can still cop for retail even though it's an og colorway that is also very popular.