There's a Secret Shop in NYC's Chinatown Making Millions By Flipping Supreme on eBay

Yeah, millions.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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If you've ever explored the underground retail tunnels below New York City's Chinatown, you might not be surprised that there's some iffy shit going down at a storefront that calls itself Unique Hype Collection. It's impossible to find using traditional directories, and you won't find this place on Google, but this closet-sized retail space rakes in millions of dollars selling items from Supreme on the second-hand market.

The business strategy is simple, and one that kids have been employing since the Internet contribute to the proliferation of streetwear in the early 2000s. Unique Hype Collection buys a shitload of Supreme, waits until it's no longer available, and then re-sells it at exorbitant prices. While not necessarily black-market material, this occupies a space in the ubiquitous grey-market, and we imagine that the 30-year-old owner named Peter had good reason to not give his last name or be photographed by the New Yorker when they profiled his business.

“I’ve brought in seven figures a year for the last two years,” Peter said. Curious as to how you can potentially make milllions of dollars by simply copping and then selling gear? Here's a breakdown of some of Peter's tactics:

  • Peter pays kids $100 to stand in line at every Supreme drop. 
  • There are 10-30 people waiting on line that work for Unique Hype Collection.
  • Goods sell for more than double what they cost at Supreme.
  • Peter does a lot of the dirty work himself. “I do everything myself. With the eBay store, I even pack it and ship it myself,” he said.
  • He is in constant communication with other "major flippers" who sell everything from the latest Supreme to the latest Nike drops. 
  • Peter never buys too much product at once. A fellow flipper bought 100 pairs of Nike Yeezys, and got a call from Nike. Peter said, “I only got thirty-five pairs. He attracted too much heat. Too much attention.”
  • Peter and other major flippers deal with the simple laws of supply and demand. Because the demand is so high, the gouging prices they set don't really matter. 

So there you have it. If you're a fellow Supreme Stan like Peter, who's been rocking the brand since the '90s, these are the steps and practices you can take to make millions off re-selling streetwear. Only in America, kids. Only in America.

[via The New Yorker]

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