How To Create Sneaker Proxies

When you were a kid, nothing made a weekend shopping trip with your mom or dad exciting. Nothing, that is, except stopping at the shoe store for some new sneakers. There was just something thrilling about running between the shelves searching for a pair of shoes with that eye-popping color scheme, that revolutionary style, or—if you really hit the tennis shoe jackpot—the holy grail of sneaker fashion, that light-up-with-every-step flashing feature that made all your friends' shoes look second rate.

Although your love for buying a killer set of sneakers likely hasn't changed these days, the buying process has. Whether you're a seasoned sneakerhead or someone just trying to get your sneaker collection kick-started, shoe buying—or "copping", if you prefer—has never been more challenging. Which is exactly why we're here to help.

In this two-part series, we'll cover various aspects of today's limited-edition shoe copping game and highlight two of the core components needed to land yourself pair upon pair of exquisite kicks. The first of those two components is sneaker proxies. Use our table of contents to kick you right to the section of the article you're after, or simply read on for all the answers you need. In either case, if you're ready to take your sneaker buying prowess to the next level, step up, and let's get started.

1. What Are Sneaker Proxies?
2. How to Use Sneaker Proxies
3. The Best Proxies for Sneakers
4. How Much Do Sneaker Proxies Cost?

What Are Sneaker Proxies?

best rotating sneaker proxies

Anyone who wants to cop sneakers needs to know it starts with a dedicated sneaker server. It doesn't matter what kind of computer you have, without one you won't be able to compete in the big leagues. No server, no sneakers. It really is that simple.

But that's a topic for another of our articles. Right now, we're here to talk about proxies. So, just what the heck are sneaker proxies?

As their name suggests, sneaker or shoe proxies are appropriately named for their intended use of enabling the buying of multiple pairs of limited-edition shoes online. Over time sneaker proxies have been adapted to buy other special edition or highly coveted goods like concert tickets, but the name remains the same. In short, a sneaker proxy is a way to host one or more IP addresses while online.

Now, you may be wondering why you need to use shoe proxies at all. Can't you just log on to the computer, find the pair of sneakers you want, and buy them? Certainly. But it's important to know that shoe manufacturers and retail sites often place a limit on the number of limited-edition sneakers any one person can buy. Since websites log your IP address each time you access their sales page, once you purchase your allotted number you won't be able to buy anymore. Sneaker proxies, as they make requests on your behalf, let you purchase multiple items without your limit ever being reached.

How to Use Sneaker Proxies

Shoe proxies

Before we get into how sneaker proxies work, we have a question for you: Have you ever wondered why after each new sneaker launch you come up empty hand—err, bare footed? One reason may be that you don't yet have a designated server and sneaker proxies. The other more likely reason, however, is that you're up against asneaker bot.

We've discussed these software tools in-depth before, but essentially these bots automate the sneaker buying process. And they work faster than humans do, too. When you combine the power of a server and the anonymity of sneaker proxies with the speed of a bot, you can move up in line, online, and beat out all the other manual (human) shoppers in your way. That way, you can cop pairs of sneakers one after the next. Anymore, this approach is the key to getting limited-edition kicks.

One of the hottest bots on the market right now is the Better Nike Bot, which offers a ton of top-of-the-line features like automatic captcha solving and random delay between requests, which helps the bot simulate human activity. It even boasts hosting of early release links and an almost flawless success rate in navigating authentication barriers. As good as this bot is, however, it's useless without proxies.

Sneaker proxies—the footmen of sneaker shopping

Copping sneakers is a cutthroat competition, with collectors, fashion setters, secondary marketeers, and sneakerheads alike snatching up the limited stock within seconds of the shoes being released. Some people assume they're set to cop sneakers once they get the server and the bot, but that is a huge mistake. Remember that bad blood between sneaker manufacturers and bot users? Well, you will after being shut down by the sneaker sites you're trying to cop from.

Not having sneaker bot proxies means your personal computer and bot will contact the sneaker site with the same detectable IP address time and again. When that happens, the site will easily recognize you're trying to trick the system and will block or outright ban your IP address, thus ending any hope you had of obtaining some new sneaks.

A sneaker proxy works against this problem by masking your IP address from the sites you're accessing, keeping your identity and location of the request hidden while providing a substitute IP address unique to the proxy itself. This allows you to not only to bypass geo-location restrictions, such as purchasing sneakers from a country they aren't launching in, but also makes you (or your bot) less suspicious and more human-like while shopping online.

Even better, since a shoe proxy hides from where or whom a request is originating, it helps circumvent the one-per-person purchase limit that often accompanies releases of new Yeezys or Jordans. Housing multiple IP addresses allows the proxies to act as multiple people and clear a website's bot-defying defenses so you can continue copping sneakers from Adidas, Nike, and other brands you love without fear of being detected.

In other words, sneaker proxies are on the front line of the shoe copping campaign. They are the infantry carrying out your orders directly, with your bot acting as the blitzkrieg-favoring general and the server as your tactical support and base of operations. Each piece plays a pivotal role in the Launch Day battle, and the better your "men," the better chances you have at winning the war against worn footwear.

The Best Proxies for Sneakers

What are sneaker proxies

When competing against the best sneaker collectors in the world, you need to likewise be at your best. The best sneaker proxies will provide a few key components such as fast speeds, dedicated support, and captcha resolution. Unfortunately, though, many people don't know how to pick quality proxies, so they don't get the most out of them. To ensure that you aren't one of these people and that you can cop a ton of highly sought after sneakers, here are four tips for when choosing a great sneaker-copping set of proxies:

Avoid free proxies

Free. That's a great word, isn't it? Unfortunately, while it undoubtedly sounds good, free sneaker proxies aren't a good idea if you're serious about buying sneakers online. Hackers often run free public proxies so they can steal information from unsuspecting shoppers. If you don't want to end up having your identity stolen or risk your bank and credit accounts being compromised, you're much better off going with a paid proxy. These are safe, reputable, and provide customer support in the event something suspicious happens.

But let's say you're one of the lucky ones who find a legitimate free proxy and IP address. First of all, congratulations. It's not easy to do, so you must have put a lot of effort into the process. You have another problem on your hands, though: legitimate free proxies are typically slow.

Even if you have a powerful host and a fast bot on your side, a slow proxy can prevent you from copping sneakers. If you want to get your shoes, you need to have a fast proxy in order to complete the process. Otherwise, you will end up in the back of the line, and the store will be out of shoes by the time you make it to the front.

Our advice, though, is to stick with paid proxies from a trusted and dedicated provider.

Choose rotating sneaker proxies

Nike, Adidas, and other brands keep a watchful eye on who or what is buying their sneakers. Translation, they are especially mindful of bots. It's not just the manufacturers, either. Footlocker and other retailers are also in on the game, doing their best to identify automated bots and limit people to one pair of shoes on limited-edition releases.

That of course is where your sneaker proxies come in, with your proxies masking your identity while still providing an IP address. Of course, using the same sneaker proxy with each purchase means you will use the same IP address with each purchase, and before long the manufacturer and retailers' sites will catch on and block you from buying any more shoes.

Rotating proxies solve this problem by generating a new IP address for every connection you make. For example, if you want to shop 100 different websites, your rotating proxy will generate 100 different IP addresses to do so. It goes without saying that this will make it hard for the websites to keep up, keeping you kicking on the hunt for new kicks.

Check your proxy location

Remember, one of the crucial aspects of copping sneakers successfully is speed. One of the ways to maximize speed is to strategically place your proxies and network host near one another. It's also a good idea to choose private proxies over public ones because, again, security is much better. Trustworthy providers like Blazing SEO offer both private sneaker proxies and dedicated servers from within the same data center. That eliminates latency between the two networks, increasing speed. If your sneaker copping components are in two different locations, they will have to connect with one another before you can connect to the sneaker site. Even a split second of latency can prevent you from getting your shoes.

Choose a trusted country of origin

The country of origin is very important when selecting a proxy. People often choose sneaker proxies from far off regions because they are cheaper, but you need to go with top-tier proxies, such as those from the United States, because they are more secure, reliable, and trusted. When these proxies make requests on websites, the site administrators don't give it a second thought. However, if tons of requests from Nigeria come into the site, the administrators might think the site is under attack. They will look at the traffic more closely, and they could ban your proxies. Then, you'll have to start from scratch.

How Much Do Sneaker Proxies Cost?

How much do sneaker proxies cost

As complex and sophisticated as the shoe buying game has become, the question of how expensive it is to play no doubt has crossed your mind. You've heard us speak about the pitfalls and danger of free proxies and why we believe they are never worth the potential risks. That said, how much it'll cost you to buy sneaker proxies isn't the same for everyone. The price varies based on location and type of proxy you want.

To get you started on the right track, here's our pricing calculator which you can use to learn more.

In the end, though, the cost to acquire safe, secure proxies with greater speed and reliable support amounts to much less than risking everything—identity, bank account and credit info, peace of mind, reputation, the chance at your dream sneakers—to keep a few more pennies in your pocket.

Tying Things Off

Hopefully this article has cleared up any confusion you may have about sneaker proxies and how you can use them to your advantage when searching for that next grail of specialty sneakers. In Part 2 of this "Copping Sneakers" series (click here to read now! we'll discuss the value of servers and why they are so crucial to successfully copping the sneakers you've always wanted. If after reading this article you're already set to cop, however, then gear up your proxies and get to cooking.

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