Making any sort of substantial money in high school can be difficult, but junior Bobby Swerer has turned his passion for sneakers into something highly profitable. Swerer is a junior who sells designer sneakers via Ebay. He has been selling shoes for roughly a year and is making a lot of money doing it. His most recent acquisitions, Adidas Yeezy sneakers, are his main focus right now.  

Aaron: How did you get into selling shoes?

Bobby: I accidentally bought three pairs of this one sneaker that was pretty rare. I love sneakers and it was a pretty limited shoe so I sold the other two on Ebay and made about $100 on each pair. At that point I went  “Dang, I might have something here,” and it all just escalated from there.

What was that first pair of shoes you sold?

It was a LeBron 12 actually. It wasn’t a Jordan or anything super limited. It was just a LeBron 12 BHM. I sold them for $300 on Ebay each and they retail at $220 so I made like $80 on each pair.

What’s the most profitable shoes you’ve sold?

I mean, Yeezy’s are the most popular shoes I sell. A lot of people have fake ones but the real ones go for a lot of money. I just sold a pair a couple days ago and made a huge profit there and I still have three pairs, so it was a good day.

Is it the money that keeps you going? Or something else?

It’s everything. Like, you wouldn’t get it. You have to be into sneakers to understand it. You have a passion for something, and my passion is sneakers and making money. If there’s something I can do to combine those two into my job that’s also something I love to do–I just love sneakers–so I mean when you combine sneakers and selling them to people willing to pay the money for them, that’s perfect for me.  

The whole process seems to be pretty complicated (to get them and sell them).

Yeah, it’s super complicated. I can’t reveal how I get them. I mean all the people that do this don’t tell you how because it would give it away. I know some people and I do some other things to get them. I’m using my brain; I’m not just getting them. I put a lot of work into it. Everyday I go home and I have to do a lot of work. I probably put a couple hours a night into it. But it’s growing and growing. I hope I can get to the point one day where I’m making a living.

Is that where you’re trying to go with this?

Oh, yeah. It can definitely get that way. I know a lot of people who make tons of money off this. Benjamin Kicks for example. He’s 16 and he’s made $2 million just selling sneakers. I mean, he lives in Miami, Florida. He lives by DJ Khaled. DJ Khaled was the one who got him into it because he introduced him to all the rappers and now he’s just crazy. He drives a Lamborghini, a BMW i8. I mean, he’s just loaded and he’s 16. It can be done. It’s possible. You just have to get into it.

If it’s so profitable why aren’t more people doing it?

Because other people don’t know how to get their hands on exclusive sneakers. I’ve been doing this for a year now and I’ve just now gotten to the point where I can actually get a hold of some of these Yeezy’s and other exclusive sneakers pretty confidently every drop. So, I mean, you have to talk to people, you have to get into it, you have to research it and go with it.

So how does the system work? A shoe gets dropped and then what happens from there?

So a shoe drops and in Colorado we don’t get anything. LA, they get Yeezy’s at some of their stores like a Champs or an East Bay. In Florida they get shoes, New York, too. But Colorado doesn’t get anything, so I usually don’t pick up the shoes in person. I get them from other places, and then a shoe will rise in value depending on the quantity and how exclusive it is. Some shoes drop, like right now the Yeezy’s are dropping a little bit, but in a month I assume they’re going to go way back up again. And, I mean, you never know what Kanye is going to do either. If he ever drops Adidas, those shoes will go through the roof and be worth six grand a piece, so you never know what’s going to happen.

It sounds almost like the stock market

Exactly. It’s exactly like stocks but it’s not as risky. Like, gambling is the next thing from a stock and it’s even more risky, you know? But you can win big. This is just like stocks but that shoe and the value you buy it at never really goes below retail value, at least not the shoes I buy. I’ve only had one case where I bought eight pairs of shoes and the value stayed the same so I lost about $10 a pair. I ended up losing like $80 there, but in the long run it was worth it.

So buy them at a low value and sell them off high?

Yeah, I buy them at retail and some of the shoes are impossible to get because they sell out instantly. People buy them up and there’s people that know people in stores where the raffles are rigged and the store people pull the name they want, so it’s all about knowing what’s going to sell out and be worth a lot of money.

How big is the shoe game?

It’s huge. It’s everywhere. People don’t think about it, but it’s a huge market. People are always buying sneakers. It’s a huge, huge market. I put a lot of money into this. I mean, a ton of investment into it but it’s paying off. Slowly, but it is paying off.

How much have you gotten out of it?

It depends. Each month it depends on what drops are happening. It just totally varies and I’m still putting money into it, so it’s an investment. It’s not like I’m getting the money and just keeping all of it. I’m always putting money in.

So what drives you and keeps you passionate?

Anything you like to do, whatever you like in life, it may not be making money right now, but you can always think of a way to make money off of it. I never really thought there would be a way to make money off sneakers but I turned out to be totally wrong.

*This interview has been edited to limit specific information on Swerer’s income