Do shoes from Goat pass the smell test?

Buying a new pair of sneakers is sometimes a challenge, especially if you are looking for a particular style of shoes. You can go hunting from store to store, looking for those Nike KD VI “Aunt Pearl” shoes. That’s a tedious chore, though, and for the most popular shoes, probably fruitless. That’s where Goat comes in.

Goat is a worldwide marketplace of all sorts of sneakers, from the most popular to the least. If you’re looking for a good pair of basketball shoes, Goat is a great place to start. Private sellers offer their old sneakers, or shoes they’ve bought but never worn, through Goat.

After you register on Goat, you can search for the shoes you want. Find a pair and the app will tell you if anybody is selling those particular sneakers in your size. If not, you can add those shoes to your profile and get a push notification when someone lists them for sale. You can find shoes new or used, in the box or out of it.

For shoes over $300, Goat requires sellers to send their sneakers in for verification, first. Goat’s experts examine the shoes and make sure they’re authentic, and your purchase is backed by a buyer’s guarantee whether the sneakers are verified or not. If you buy a pair of fake Nikes, you can send them back and get your money back.

Want to offload a pair of shoes? It’s easy with Goat, and done in a few simple steps. You just take some pictures of your shoes, specify the size, and set your price. Goat does all the rest, and only keeps 9.5 percent of the purchase price for its commission. By way of comparison, eBay and Flight Club hold on to 13 and 20 percent of the sale price, respectively.

I looked around Goat’s listings, and only found a few used pairs of sneakers. Most of the listings are new sneakers, and that’s probably a good thing. After all, if you buy a pair of already worn sneakers, Goat doesn’t offer any way to make sure the shoes pass the smell test, just the authenticity test. Still, I love the app and will probably buy my next pair of sneakers this way.

Goat – Sneaker Marketplace is designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and is available for free on the App Store without any in-app ads or purchases.

Image credit: Wikipedia

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