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Nike fights bots on SNKRS app

May 4, 2023 3:04 PM
Nike fights bots on SNKRS app

Acquiring exclusive sneakers through the Nike SNKRS app can sometimes be a significant challenge. Resellers use bots or bugs to obtain large quantities of sneakers, causing you to miss out on your favorite releases. Nike is taking action and introducing different ways to filter out bots during releases.

Nike SNKRS app

The sneaker scene can be an unfair world at times. Big resellers use bots to buy the most sought-after sneakers in large quantities, only to resell them at a higher price. It's good business, but frustrating for sneaker lovers like you and me. Nike has recognized this problem for a while and is now fighting back against large resellers.

SNKRS VP and GM Lucy Rose discussed how the brand approaches honesty and transparency during a meeting at Nike's S23 Studio in New York City. In late October 2022, Nike announced that the company had updated its sales terms and conditions and could cancel orders, charge restocking fees, and limit purchase quantities.

In recent years, Nike has achieved up to 98% success in disabling bots. During these releases, you may have noticed a 'Verifying submissions…' screen that appears after you've made your payment. This pop-up confirms that the internal system is doing what it can to exclude suspected fake accounts and make the release as fair as possible.

Room for improvement

Rouse said that these technical issues have decreased over the past year, but indicated that there have also been issues that caused unrest among app users. Rouse hinted at the recent restock of the Air Jordan 1 High 'Lost and Found' at the end of April, when consumers were unable to pay for the sneaker.

On the other hand, Rouse said the release of the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low 'Olive' that dropped a week later went smoothly. Travis Scott's releases are highly coveted and attract a lot of resellers. During the recent release, Nike was able to detect 1.9 million bots and filter out most of them.

“What we’re constantly trying to do is provide enough information so that we’re giving consumers confidence", vertelt Rouse. "But not give too much information because that can result in it being leveraged to botters. It’s a real balance, one that we’re [always] trying to navigate.”

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