THE OFFICIAL NIKE KOBE FOOTWEAR THREAD: RIP LEGEND 1978-2020. MAMBA FOREVER | 3 Releases 4/13

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Got these sz 8.5 for sale
 
Public Enemy said:
You think so? I feel like it must be that they don't want the negative publicity from putting shoes out at a cost of $275 consistently, and other issues that arise when the market does what it does. Because otherwise, that's how capitalism and the markets are supposed to work. The price of a good should naturally settle at the price where there are steady sales. It's at what, $180 now, and the shoes instantly sell out. Like literally in 3 minutes nationwide. So if this was a generic company, on the next restock or release, the price should go up by whatever 'company x's market analysts think the market would bear. So the price goes up to $225, say. Would everybody still buy these at $225? You bet. Sells out nearly instantly still. Next restock/release, the price goes up to $280. Now, the product no longer sells out instantly, but would probably still sell out within an hour. People still take Ls though, and are upset they can't get the shoe. Price on next release goes up to $300. Now you've got a pretty good shot at getting the specific shoe you want if you're there at the release time.

Now with tax, you've got a shoe that anybody who has purchased it, has paid $330 or so. Is anybody regular playing in it? Probably not. The reseller market takes a big hit because with the fees, you've probably got to price the shoe at $400. So

1. The margins on each sale are smaller, as the upper bound of pricing should decrease to a narrow range above retail for the final price. Too high ($500+) and few are paying. Too low and there's no profit.
2. Hopefully fewer resellers have the capital in the first place to buy like 5 pairs and resell them. Right now if you did that, it's about a $950 investment (5 pairs). But if the price after tax is $330 per shoe, now it's a $1650 investment. Still possible, but hopefully more resellers would be locked out by that. And on top of that, the sneakerheads who really really want the shoe, who would be likely to pay that higher resale price, already got their pair since its possible now right at release time, so you're taking care of the demand that comes from the sneakerheads like us. So the reseller market will decline off of that too.
3. The more resale fails, the more that market dries up and the less people view that as an avenue to make money off of us.

But the downside is the publicity. It also hurts the company generally, because if you don't have $330 to spend for a shoe, that's it. You just don't have the money. People aren't clamoring over releases, and instead start to feel priced out of anything new, since all the new Jordan/Kobe/Lebron stuff will be $300, $310, $330 from jump. I mean those one Red/Blue Lebron 17s were $250 last year at release. Some pairs are still floating around, but they sold out a lot of sizes on NDC. But how many people would move to Adidas? Get some Dame 7s for $100. Get some Curry 8s for $150 or whatever.

There are a lot of considerations and this is only barely scratching the surface. I just think it's a lot more complex than (and I'm not saying you specifically said this) "make more pairs! it's that easy! but nike won't do it!".
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I agree with everything you say. It's definitely not quite as simple as making more pairs. The backlash Nike would likely receive from consumers, social media, and mainstream media almost certainly plays a part. But I likewise don't think potentially bad publicity is the sole reason, either.

That said, and I could be wrong, but on the front end of all of this is, to me, an obvious shortage on the supply side versus demand. As we've already noted, we have no idea how many pairs of these Kobes are being made. I do recall someone posting some info--and obviously I don't take it as gospel--in one of these Kobe threads for a different Protro V release this summer that purported to show the amount of shoes stores were getting, and it was comically low. Like 15 pairs low, or thereabouts. If we knew Nike was producing 500K pairs or more of each release and the market was responding in the way it is, fair enough. I just don't happen to believe that's what is occurring, but admittedly I have no data to back this up.

Regardless, there are more factors at play from a broader business view, and you hit on several of them. The false scarcity (false in the sense that it's up to Nike how many to make) skews where the price naturally settles, and that's really what I was getting at before about increasing the supply. Look at the PS5 situation. The price has naturally settled right now at, say, around $1K, but we know it'll be back to retail in a few months, solely because the supply will catch up. The same COULD apply to shoes. So, I don't think the resale price--which fluctuates drastically for a lot of shoes--is an absolute indicator to a company of what it could theoretically charge as the MSRP for a given product, at least not under its currently functioning long-term business model. I'm pretty sure no one at Sony is looking at this and saying, yo, we should just start selling this thing for $1K, because we can. Yeah, it could for a brief period of time, but it's not sustainable, so it quickly becomes a red herring.

There are some resellers who buy for the quick flip, and others that are willing to sit on stuff for months, a year or more, even, to make a buck. Just because resellers nab all this stuff and then list it for $300-plus doesn't mean it's actually moving quickly to the end consumer at those prices. And as you said, when it does move, it's then moving to a different type of consumer, not the more typical consumer or typical ballplayer or Kobe fan. Nike doesn't want its product sitting on shelves at $300-plus, taking months to sell out. Neither do the retailers, who want to clear inventory as quickly as possible. Resellers don't automatically have that problem. If I want to get a bot, buy up 30 pairs of Kobes, and if I have the financial ability, I can sit on those shoes for as long as I want or as long as it works for my lifestyle and cash flow. It varies from seller to seller, and that's not how Nike and its retailers run their business. Now, if the company has decided it wants to actively be in the business of Veblen goods, that's a different story entirely. But then it would find itself competing for the attention of a more affluent set of consumers who probably don't look at a pair of retro basketball shoes with much enthusiasm.

It's all pretty fascinating stuff from a pure business/marketing etc standpoint. Still, yeah, I do believe that if the production volume was cranked up hugely, it would make a difference. Maybe not solve everything in the short term, but it sure as **** wouldn't hurt matters. Even with bots etc, there's a tipping point where it becomes a lot easier for people to purchase the product for retail. Maybe it's not guaranteed everyone gets a pair, but a lot more people would be able to than is happening at the moment.
 
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Didn't hit on the Bruce Lee V's in three raffles. To be honest I wasn't really expecting to either. Got an offer of €255 shipped and inlcuding Paypal fees for the Bruce Lee V's. It's around $300 US. Better to cop or wait it out?
 
Wait it out. This things falling fast since Asia getting their pairs. How good are fakes nowadays? That’s the only reason I’d buy now before the reps become too good
 
rainking said:
There are some resellers who buy for the quick flip, and others that are willing to sit on stuff for months, a year or more, even, to make a buck. Just because resellers nab all this stuff and then list it for $300-plus doesn't mean it's actually moving quickly to the end consumer at those prices. And as you said, when it does move, it's then moving to a different type of consumer, not the more typical consumer or typical ballplayer or Kobe fan. Nike doesn't want its product sitting on shelves at $300-plus, taking months to sell out. Neither do the retailers, who want to clear inventory as quickly as possible. Resellers don't automatically have that problem. If I want to get a bot, buy up 30 pairs of Kobes, and if I have the financial ability, I can sit on those shoes for as long as I want or as long as it works for my lifestyle and cash flow. It varies from seller to seller, and that's not how Nike and its retailers run their business. Now, if the company has decided it wants to actively be in the business of Veblen goods, that's a different story entirely.
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Veblen. Now there's a name I haven't thought about in a while. Great post!
 
Able to cop from PH for almost retail. These resellers already flipping it while the shoes “ still in trasnit “. They knew the resell price are getting lower every minute :lol:
 
If somehow every site could do this, I think it would greatly help in limiting bots/resellers from scooping up multiples. The sites that do an early charge for raffles also kinda helps, but let's be real, resellers probably have cc's with high limits so they are able to do a bunch of those. Just maybe not as much as the unlimited bot entries that they could do on sites like sheikh with no pending charge before hand for raffles.
 
About to trade my 5x purple pair for carpe diem 4s. Here are pics of the insole and tags. Anything I should be looking out for in terms of fakes??
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