Flip App Makes It Easy to Buy and Sell Rare Sneakers

With an estimated value of $1.2 billion USD, the scramble to capitalize on the secondary sneaker market continues to grow at a breakneck pace. Fueled in part with every Yeezy release, companies like StockX are eschewing eBay to focus on the niche business. A new app called Flip is also hoping to provide a platform where users can sell and buy sneakers, through a curated marketplace. Twenty-six-year-old founder Kemar Newell describes it as the “eBay for the Snapchat generation” and guarantees that every item will sell within 90 minutes. A sneakerhead himself, the Brooklyn native started his own consignment business using Twitter bots and turned it into a six-figure business before launching Flip. The current inventory boasts more than 15,000 pairs of rare sneakers and starts bids at 30-40% below the gray market value to attract new customers. Flip acquires a 10% commission on the final transaction, compared to eBay’s commission which can go upwards of 13-15% per sale. The app is available on iOS now via iTunes.