Sneaker proxies are intermediary servers that are designed to boost your efficiency in sneaker copping. Like any other proxy, a sneaker proxy changes your IP address to the effect that you would gain more anonymity and avoid various restrictions while making your purchases.
Buying a new pair of sneakers might seem a simple task at first. Things get way more complicated when you are trying to get more pairs, or you get involved in the whole sneaker copping culture with its so-called sneakerheads and end up trying to compete with different buyers for limited items.
Serious sneaker copping these days include using bots and proxies. Sometimes even sneaker servers are employed for more efficient work.
Let’s start from the beginning and see what improvements sneaker proxies provide.
Types of sneaker proxies
There are two most prominent types of proxies – datacenter proxies and residential proxies. Their sneaker counterparts can also come in both forms.
Datacenter proxies are using simulated IP addresses inside a powerful server. They indicate different locations and allow you to mask your different tasks as if they would be done by different users. However, these IP addresses are operating from a single location which is in a datacenter.
This type of proxy is faster and cheaper. All your traffic is routed through proxy servers instead of the network given by your ISP that routes all your traffic.
Residential proxies, on the other hand, are operating from real different locations because they use real physical devices with IP addresses assigned to them by an ISP.
These types of proxies are more anonymous and have a larger variety of IP addresses. Instead of using your IP address and routing your traffic through your ISP, you are using different IPs given by different ISPs.
Both types can be used for sneaker copping and have their advantages that fit better for one task or the other.
Breaking limits for purchases
When a limited edition of sneakers comes out, many stores apply a policy that doesn’t allow customers to buy more than one of that item. Your IP address is used to indicate you as a single buyer, and so you are restricted to a certain number of purchases.
If you create multiple accounts to seem like different users, you will be identified and receive a block on the site. However, if you are using a proxy, you can change your IP address as many times as you wish. It means that you can perform multiple purchases because each of them can be done with different IP, making it seem like a different customer.
You can use either type of sneaker proxy for this purpose.
Accessing geo-restricted sales
Economic inequality worldwide results in having different prices in different countries for the same product. Or even having different goods with different quality depending on the region.
If you live in Argentina or Vietnam and try to buy, say, Nike Air Jordan 1s, you will have to pay double the price compared to American customers.
Using proxies that indicate different locations allows you to unlock items and prices that are available only for certain countries. If your proxy gives you an IP address that indicates a location somewhere in the USA, you will be able to buy the same stock for the American price.
Residential proxies are better for geo-restricted sales since they have many more IP addresses that cover more locations. Datacenter proxies can also cover lots of them and, therefore, can be used, however, it might be harder to find the required location.
Enhancing your usage of bots
Bots are usually used in sneaker copping for improving your speed and time usage.
When there are only a few items for sale, and you want to get them, you must be ready to refresh the page all the time and get all the purchasing done in seconds when it becomes available. Otherwise, you could end up with your hands empty.
Unfortunately, using bots is considered an impermissible advantage over other customers. Most of the stores will block you and your bots because they share a single IP address and can be easily detected.
Using them is useful only when you can bypass such blocks. Proxies open this possibility by changing your IP address and allowing your bots to work with different IPs too. If your IP address changes in short periods, you will not exceed the number of requests that a site allows, and both you and your bots will not be spotted as doing something suspicious.
Datacenter proxies might be better suited this time because they are faster.
Avoiding captchas
If you are acting too fast on the site by refreshing it all the time or making your purchases too fast, you will receive a checkup where you must confirm that you are not a robot.
Your precious item can be lost in the time that you are wasting filling in this checkup. Your bots will also struggle as they are not only more likely to get checked because of their enormous speed, but they are more likely to get stuck in it.
Proxies help you reduce these check-ups to the minimum. When you are working with a different IP address that changes over time, you will raise less suspicion because your different actions will not be linked and counted on the same IP address for a longer period.
Your bots will also be freer and avoid these captchas since they are more difficult to be seen as abnormally acting, let alone to be tracked and identified. Additionally, you can always switch IP addresses if a captcha appears.
Both types of proxies can do this task equally well. You can also read more about the applicability of sneaker proxies and their importance in sneaker copping.
Final thoughts
Sneaker proxies, much like using bots, are an inseparable part of a successful sneaker copping strategy that goes hand-in-hand with its culture. By changing your IP address, you can stay anonymous and increase your efficiency with additional tools without getting caught and blocked.