The Complete Guide on Obtaining A Sneaker Bot

Some highly-coveted shoes, such as the Adidas Yeezys, can sell out in a matter of seconds after limited-edition releases. As a result, the traditional methods of camping out in front of the store or buying online are doomed to fail.

Using sneaker bots is pretty much the only way you can cop limited-edition sneakers online these days. You may know what a sneaker bot is, but do you know how to get a bot for sneaker releases?

Not all sneaker bots are created equal. When it comes to getting a sneaker bot, you need to know what to look for in the ideal bot so you can buy the latest shoe releases online. This blog will detail how to get a sneaker bot for any site and additional tips to make buying sneakers easier. Feel free to skip sections using the table of contents.

Types of Sneaker Bot

The first thing you should know is the different types of bots out there and how they’re different. This will help you make an informed choice before committing to a bot.

The type of shoe they’re associated with is what sets sneaker bots apart. Here are some common sneaker bots and the sneakers they cover:

Nike Bots

The Nike bot was the first type of sneaker bot to pop up on the market. Nike announced the original Air Jordan IX “Doernbecher” would release on November 30th, 2012, through a “first-come-first-reserve” method via Twitter DM.

This new method meant people had to find the most effective way to directly message the Nike Twitter page to guarantee a pair of Air Jordans. People soon realized that manually entering this data was inefficient and time-consuming; they needed a way to quickly message the Nike Twitter page from multiple accounts to reserve as many Air Jordans as possible.

Thus, the first Nike sneaker bot was born. This new type of bot automated the entire sneaker purchase process from crawling the retailer’s product pages, selecting the product, adding to the cart, entering shipping and payment details from stored data, and finally finishing the checkout process. It did all of this in a fraction of the time it would take a human to do the same.

Nike sneaker bots work well for purchasing Nike shoes, but not with other sneaker brands. That’s because every shoe vendor has a unique site structure with varying code components and a different checkout process. Therefore, a Nike bot will be programmed to work best with Nike vendor pages. Another limitation is that the bot user must create multiple accounts to purchase sneakers successfully. Nike is well-aware of Nike bots and deploys anti-bot measures to hinder them.

Adidas Bots

Also known as the Yeezy bot, this type of bot specializes in Adidas sneakers and shoes. Their priority is Adidas Yeezys, a collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West, which still sells out within minutes.

Some may argue that Adidas bots are relatively straightforward compared to Nike bots because customers can buy Yeezys from multiple platforms, including the official supply websites. They won’t have to worry about creating multiple accounts to avoid IP bans. But unfortunately, Yeezy bots still have to deal with anti-botting and detection measures.

All-In-One (AIO) Bots

As the name suggests, All-in-One bots can work with a wide range of sneaker brands rather than specializing in a single supplier and its products.

The major advantage of AIO bots is versatility. You can use a single AIO bot over several shoe supplier websites such as Footlocker, EastBay, or Champs, just to name a few. These bots can even cop sneakers from Adidas and Nike, although they may not be as effective as their specialized counterparts.

If you’re wondering how to get a sneaker bot for any site, the simple solution is an All-in-One sneaker bot.

How To Get a Bot For Sneaker Releases in 4 Easy Steps

Now that you’re up to speed on the different types of sneaker bots, it’s time to discuss what to consider when buying one. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the bot-buying process, the steps below should give you a rough roadmap.

Step 1: Assess Your Needs

Properly assessing your needs will help you determine which bots are suitable and which you need to rule out entirely. It doesn’t matter if you purchase the best-rated bot on the market for the lowest price possible; if the bot does not do what you need, you’ll end up throwing money away.

Here are some questions to ask yourself and factors to consider when assessing your sneaker bot needs:

Define your goal. Do you want to buy sneakers in bulk to resell, or do you just want a pair of the latest release sneakers yourself? Are you looking to bypass geo-restrictions since the sneakers are not for sale in your country?
Think about which sneaker you want to buy. Are you a die-hard Nike Air Jordan fan, or are Adidas Yeezys more your style? Is the shoe you want to buy a limited-edition release or a more generic product with abundant stock?
Determine which websites you’ll buy from. Are you buying from an official retailer or a third-party vendor? Does the site you’ll purchase from have a lot of traffic? Is it a well-known target for bots and deploys anti-botting measures?

Though you may not have all the answers immediately, thinking about them before looking for bots will help you make a better purchase. It will also help you develop a plan of action for copping your dream sneakers online.

Step 2: Set a Budget

Once you’ve properly assessed your needs, the next step is to set a budget for your bot. There are many bots out there, but not all of them may be worth the purchase. It doesn’t matter if the bot is cheap or expensive: if it doesn’t meet your criteria, you’re better off not buying it.

At the lower end of the spectrum, you have “autofill bots.” These bots are very cheap; you can get started with an autofill sneaker bot for as low as $10. As the saying goes, though, you get what you pay for; autofill bots are not suitable for copping sneakers in bulk. Most of the time, they’re just simple browser extensions and do not have a stand-alone software architecture.

What’s more, autofill bots offer little protection from anti-botting measures and will quickly result in an IP ban or blacklist.

Moving up on the price scale, we have the “add-to-cart” bots. These bots are a step above autofill bots but also usually browser extensions. You can get such bots for as low as $30. Still, these bots do not guarantee success and are not suited for large-scale sneaker copping.

To improve your odds, you want stand-alone software that will automate the entire checkout process for you, not simply just fill in your purchase and cart details.

These bots are known as auto-checkout bots and are ideal. Expect to shell out anywhere between $300 to $800 for a decent auto-checkout bot. You can pay more for a bot if you have the budget, but remember that a higher price tag doesn’t automatically mean higher quality.

One more thing: try not to spend your entire budget on the bot alone. Not only do you need initial capital to buy the sneakers, but you also need to save for a proxy service. We’ll explain why in step 4, but for now, keep in mind that you should spare an additional $30-100 per month for a decent proxy service.

Step 3: Compare and Contrast Bot Options

With your goals set and a budget ready, you can start comparing different sneaker bot options and shortlist potential candidates for your final choice.

It can be hard to choose as there are hundreds of bots on the market. Here are some tips to help you better decide:

Look for a bot with a decent reputation and reviews. Online sneaker botting communities, or “cook groups,” are an excellent place to read others’ experiences with a particular bot.
Follow Twitter sneaker-copping pages or sneaker blogs. These pages will often list good-quality bots once they’re available for sale.
Prioritize well-established bots with a good history. Although some newer bots can be just as effective, your odds of avoiding scams and shady bot resellers are much higher if you go with a tried-and-tested bot that’s been around for a while.
If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Be wary of bots that claim to be the best on the market but reveal very little about the product or have no credible reviews.

Once you’ve narrowed down your list to around five bots, it’s up to you to decide which one to pick.

Step 4: Pick a Proxy

Although this step may seem optional, seasoned veterans in the sneaker-copping scene will all tell you the same thing: a proxy is a necessity, not a luxury.

Companies like Adidas and Nike are not only aware that sneaker bots exist, but they actively deploy measures to stop bots from buying their products.

Some of the simplest anti-bot measures include the following:

CAPTCHA. The Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart is a common anti-botting measure. These tests can include selecting an object from a randomized image set. CAPTCHA is relatively easy for humans to solve but impossible for bots to beat. Your bot’s best bet against CAPTCHA is to avoid it in the first place.
Honeypots. Even if a bot successfully evades captcha, it can fall into a honeypot. These are traps lure sneaker bots by exploiting a bot’s known behavior. Once a bot falls into the trap, the site can easily identify the visitor as non-human and ban the bot’s IP address. Examples of honeypots include links with nofollow tags or links only visible to bots using the CSS element display:none.
IP bans and blacklists: If a bot fails a CAPTCHA test or falls into a honeypot, the result is usually an IP ban or blacklist. Suspicious behavior such as rapidly sending checkout requests or crawling a webpage too fast can also result in IP bans and blacklists. IP bans will block your IP address from accessing a website entirely, whereas blacklists will restrict only specific pages like a product’s listing page.

Using a proxy will help protect your bot against such measures. Otherwise, you’ll practically ensure a permanent IP address ban, especially with big-name retailer websites such as Nike or Adidas. Proxies can also reassign your bot to a different IP address, even if you run into an IP ban. This can help your bot bypass restrictions and continue copping sneakers uninterrupted.

Although free proxies exist, they often have limited servers and do not offer a wide range of rotating proxies. In addition, free proxies are also much slower due to a higher user base, ads, and limited bandwidth. The extra time wasted can sometimes be the difference between getting limited-edition sneakers on release day or leaving empty-handed. Buyers with faster proxy servers will inevitably beat you to the purchase.

The alternate is to get a private proxy instead. As private proxies have subscription fees, they don’t need to run ads for revenue and offer higher bandwidth and greater connection speeds. The extra amount you’ll pay for a private proxy service provider will eventually pay for itself with the extra sneakers you’ll cop and resell.

One last thing to consider is the type of proxy you’ll get. You generally have two proxy options:

Data center proxies: These proxies are not associated with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or real IP address. They usually come from cloud service providers.
Residential proxies: Proxies that have IP addresses coming from an ISP. These are not based on the cloud but use real IP addresses corresponding to real-world geolocation.

Each type of proxy has its pros and cons when pairing with a sneaker bot. Data center proxies are generally faster and cheaper than residential proxies. At the same time, some websites can detect whether you’re using a datacenter proxy. If a site detects you’re using a proxy, it can sometimes ban or blacklist your IP address, although the odds are much lower with private datacenter proxies.

While residential proxies are more expensive and comparatively slower than data center proxies, they also provide the user with continuous server uptime. Additionally, residential proxies offer much higher protection against IP bans and blacklists. That’s because residential proxies correspond to an actual IP address, so a site cannot detect and ban them like datacenter proxies. Additionally, residential proxies with rotating IP addresses can avoid triggering CAPTCHA.

The bottom line is that buying a sneaker bot is incomplete without purchasing a private proxy, whether a data center or a residential proxy.

How To Get a Sneaker Bot For Free

Although the word “free” is tempting, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Just as a free proxy doesn’t guarantee you success, a free bot is also not worth your time if you’re serious about copping sneakers online.

While you can sometimes find autofill bots or add-to-cart bots for free online, you’re better off not trusting them. Remember, a sneaker bot will handle sensitive information such as your full name, contact details, shipping address, and complete credit card information/PayPal details. Sometimes these free extensions are spyware that hackers use to steal your payment details and hijack your online payment accounts.

Other times, a “free” bot is just malware in disguise that can infiltrate your system undetected. Ransomware is especially notorious, as it will encrypt your system files and demand payment in exchange for regaining access to your computer.

Even in the best-case scenario, a free sneaker bot can’t compete with proper bots. A free bot will result in IP bans, blacklists, or failure to purchase sneakers while they’re available.

Additional Tips For Sneaker Bots

Check if the bot you’re purchasing supports the websites you wish to buy sneakers from beforehand.
Do a trial run with your sneaker bot before sales day to ensure everything runs as expected.
If you buy a sneaker bot that does not work out, try and resell it on a reputable platform. Reselling can help you get your money back and budget for a new one.
Look for rotating residential IP proxies for your best chance at success.

Choose the Best Proxy For Your Sneaker Bot

Although buying a sneaker bot may seem complicated at first, you’re good to go if you know what to look for and follow the steps we’ve outlined in this guide. Just remember that even the greatest sneaker bot in the world is worthless without a high-quality proxy.

Need proxies for your sneaker bot? Rayobyte Data Center Proxies can provide you with a custom private proxy plan that best fits your budget. Rayobyte Data Center proxies guarantee data rates as low as $2/IP, unmetered bandwidth, and lightning-fast data speeds of 1 GBPS.

If you’re especially worried about IP bans and blacklists, you can try Rayobyte rotating residential proxies instead. Rayobyte rotating residential proxies are fast, reliable, and secure and offer a large IP Pool to choose from.

Final Thoughts

Answering the question, “how to get a sneaker bot” is easier than you think. Understand what you need, know your budget, compare and contrast the different types of bots and pick out a great proxy provider. Whether you’re a small-time sneaker enthusiast or wish to start a sneaker bulk reselling operation, you’ll be unstoppable with a proper bot and a great proxy.

Ask questions, explore new content and connect with the proxy and sneaker community through our Discord channel! Join here.

The information contained within this article, including information posted by official staff, guest-submitted material, message board postings, or other third-party material is presented solely for the purposes of education and furtherance of the knowledge of the reader. All trademarks used in this publication are hereby acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

How To Get A Sneaker Bot: The Ultimate Guide