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Mikayla Alston
6 min read
For some people, using proxies to buy shoes might sound insane. But if you’ve already clicked on this article, you know that the idea is quite smart. We’re glad to welcome you, fellow sneaker fan. And we’re willing to share with you some tips on how to get those kicks you want so much using proxies.
What are proxies?
A proxy is a medium between your device and the website you want to reach. Basically, it is a remote device with a unique IP address. Using a proxy, you connect to that device and route your traffic through it. Thus, you pick up its IP address, and when you finally go to the website, you will appear to have the IP address and the location of that device.
Therefore, using proxies, you can disguise your real location and IP address and pretend you’re someone else. It’s like a virtual mask that helps you to stay anonymous online.
What are sneaker proxies?
These simply are proxies that you’re using to buy the sneakers you desire. You can use both datacenter and residential proxies for these needs. Datacenter proxies are cheaper, and they resemble a remote server through which you can reroute your traffic. And residential proxies are real devices with IP addresses issued by an internet service provider: They allow you to appear as a resident of any country to the target servers, so they’re more expensive.
How to make sneaker proxies?
A proxy provider creates datacenter proxies by renting or buying servers and then setting them up as proxy servers. Several users can connect to one proxy server, thus sharing the same IP address.
Residential proxies are acquired differently. A provider needs to have the person's consent to use their device as a proxy. At Infatica, for example, we do that with the help of our SDK — a network of app developers who've agreed to become our partners.
🔎 Further reading: Residential Proxies: A Complete Guide to Using Them Effectively
They implement the Infatica SDK in their apps, and then users can choose to join Infatica’s network or to decline the offer. Once they choose to become our peers, they will receive certain benefits — premium features, ad-free apps, and so on. The developer, on the other hand, will get a monetary reward from us. Thus, devices of these users become residential proxies.
Naturally, you should only join the networks by ethical proxy providers.
But if you need proxies for buying sneakers, you don’t have to go through all this process. You simply have to choose whether you want residential or datacenter proxies and pick the number of IP addresses and countries you need. We will take care of everything else for you.
Free sneaker proxies: are they safe to use?
You can find providers that will offer you proxies for free. But as you already might’ve noticed, creating proxies is not that simple — let alone managing a proxy network. Therefore, such a service can’t be free and high-quality at the same time. Getting proxies for free you’re risking to end up with a bunch of already blacklisted IP addresses that will only make things more difficult for you.
✅ Further reading: Paid vs. Free Proxies: What’s the Real Price to Pay?
Paid proxies are quite affordable, especially considering that you can choose the number of IPs you need. Infatica offers flexible and custom pricing plans so that you can get exactly as many proxies as you need without overpaying.
Are residential sneaker proxies better?
They can give you more freedom for sure. You can get more IP addresses if you choose residential proxies. And since you’ll be rerouting your traffic through real devices, your bot will appear like a genuine resident of a chosen country to the destination server. So the chances that you’ll get detected are very low with residential proxies.
However, datacenter ones are also very helpful, even though they might be not as scalable as the residential type. Considering that datacenter proxies are cheaper, they will also let you reduce your expenses on sneaker shopping. So both kinds of proxies are fine for this purpose — it’s up to you to choose between lower prices and better coverage.
When do you use sneaker proxies?
Sneaker brands like Nike, Adidas, and other popular companies release unique limited editions of their footwear. And the number of pairs is incredibly small. So the whole edition gets sold within minutes. The main challenge here is to win the race and become one of the lucky sneaker owners.
Also, online shops would give only one pair to one buyer. How do they recognize if it is the same person buying? By the IP address which represents the device and location of the user. So it’s quite easy to understand who the user is and refuse to sell them another pair of sneakers.
Both difficulties are easy to solve with proxies since they help you to hide your real IP address. Just connect to the sneaker website using a proxy, and you will be able to buy an extra pair of shoes. More proxies — more IP addresses, and, therefore, more sneakers. It’s really simple, isn’t it?
But how do proxies help you to get a pair from a limited collection? Brands create some kind of queue before launching the collection — a virtual alternative to real overnight queues in physical shops. In the real world, it’s rather hard to cheat and be the first in the line. But it is possible in the virtual one.
Smart guys have invented bots that will try to get those sneakers instead of you. They will relieve you from the manual copping. And proxies will multiply your chances to get the pair you want. Say, you have 50 proxies — that’s equal to 50 people standing in line for you. The more proxies you have, the more certain you can be that you will finally buy those shoes.
There is one more case of using proxies to buy sneakers online — geo-restrictions. Most brands would allow only so many countries to access the limited collection. And you want to be located in that country. Using a proxy, you can appear to be in the needed location without physically moving there.
So, you can use proxies to:
- Buy several pairs of sneakers.
- Use them with a bot to raise your chances.
- Access collections available only in certain countries.
- Bypass anti-bot measures.
How do sneaker bots work?
Sneaker bots are apps that run based on automated scripts to speed out the shopping for you and increase your chances to get as many pairs of sneakers as you need. To begin shopping with a bot, you need to provide it with the data required for making orders online — your name, delivery address, credit card details, and so on. Then you’ll need to give a bot a link or relevant keywords and let it do the work.
Bots can checkout purchases every 0.2 seconds — that’s the speed we, humans, can never reach. However, sneaker sellers are trying to protect their goods from bots. That’s another reason to use proxies — to mask the activity of your bot making its requests look like they’re sent by a real user. You can set up the process so that a new proxy — and, therefore, a new IP address — will be assigned to a new request. Then, quite likely, your bot will remain unnoticed.
Why you should choose Infatica proxies
- Only real locations for residential proxies. You will never get blocked using them.
- High speed and reliability. Stay safe without any inconvenience.
- Create a schedule. Set the connection duration you need.
- Rotating addresses. Get a new IP with each request.
- Clear pricing. You always know what you pay for.
Infatica works with all popular copping bots:
- AIO Bot,
- SneakerHead-Bot,
- Heated Sneaks Bots,
- Supreme Bot,
- Sole Slayer,
- NikeShoeBot,
- Easy Cop Ultimate,
- Nike Bot,
- Better Nike Bot,
- Another Nike Bot,
- ANB Supreme Bot,
- ForceCop,
- Superior,
- Sole Slayer,
- and many others.
