Sneaker Raffles: Everything You Need To Know

Raffles are the backbone of the sneaker industry. Hundreds of thousands of sneaker enthusiasts enter raffles hoping to get that highly-coveted, limited-edition pair before it gets sold out. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned sneakerhead, raffles give you an adrenaline rush.

They give you a fair chance to get your hands on the sneaker pair you want, especially if it’s in high demand. But if you want to win a sneaker raffle, you must know how they work, where to find them, and how to enter.

In this blog, we’ll cover everything you need to know about sneaker raffles and even give you a few tips to increase your chances of winning.

Let’s get into it.

What Are Sneaker Raffles?

Sneaker brands hold raffles on their websites, apps, or stores to sell limited-edition sneakers using the fairness of randomization. Since hyped sneakers usually sell out quickly, many people end up without their favorite shoes.

This is when sneaker raffles come into play! They ensure everyone has equal chances to buy sneakers.

But winning a raffle doesn’t mean you’ve bought a pair. Instead, it means you have won an opportunity to buy the shoes you want before others.

How Do Sneaker Raffles Work?

The easiest way to understand how sneaker raffles work is to think of them as a lottery or a draw. You enter a raffle with your information and wait to see if you’ll win.

Usually, there’s a timeframe, such as 10 minutes, a day, or a week, when you can enter the raffle. When the timeframe ends, the sneaker retailer collects the pool of customers who signed up for the raffle and randomly chooses the entries that win.

If you’re one of them, you’ll be notified via email and probably asked to confirm your email address so you can make the purchase. However, sneaker raffles vary based on the company hosting them.

For some of them, a raffle entry is like pre-purchase, so you’ll have to provide information such as your sizing, payment details, and shipping. This way, if you win, the price of the sneakers is automatically deducted from your account, and the shoes are shipped to your address.

For others, winning a raffle means having the sneakers reserved for you. Once they inform you that you’re one of the winners, they give you a specific timeframe to buy them from their website, store, or mobile app.

If you don’t make the purchase in the allotted time, whether 10 minutes or a week, the sneakers go to the next person on the list.

Why Do Retailers Hold Raffles?

Raffles were invented out of necessity, even before online sales. At first, they were extremely helpful for brick-and-mortar retailers, but now they are equally beneficial for online retailers.

Originally, they emerged from the drop culture – a movement initiated by brands releasing items in limited quantities at a precise time. Hence, the term sneaker drops.

The combination of this product drop phenomenon with the hype and urgency created by scarcity marketing made sneakers high-demand items.

Soon, people were lined in queues outside stores, sometimes camping for days. It was loud and crowded for the neighbors but dangerous for the sneakerheads out there.

Fights started over sneakers, so companies needed to find a solution to avoid the long queues and violence.

This was when sneaker raffles came to the rescue. People no longer had to get in line first or camp out. Each sneakerhead gets an entry and an equal chance to win.

Raffles didn’t stop when sneaker drops moved online. Major brands still run sneaker raffles online, not to avoid fights or crowds but to give everyone an equal chance to buy a pair. After all, manufacturers can’t produce enough pairs of shoes for everyone seeking them.

Also, many retailer websites like Foot Locker, Nike, and Adidas started crashing during hyped product drops, unable to handle the traffic levels from hundreds of thousands of people. With sneaker raffles, they tackle these sudden traffic peaks more easily.

Maintaining customer loyalty is another reason companies hold sneaker raffles. Imagine Foot Locker releases a new pair of shoes. The sneakers are highly sought after and sold out online and in stores within a few hours of their release.

Sneakerheads who can’t access the website or don’t have a Foot Locker store in their city may feel disadvantaged.

Thanks to sneaker raffles, they can send in an entry one day ahead and have an equal opportunity to get the shoes they want.

While sneaker raffles are helpful for regular customers, they are most profitable for resellers. This way, they can get their hands on the hyped pairs of sneakers and sell them for a high profit.

How to Enter Sneaker Raffles

Entering a raffle depends on the shoes you want to purchase and the type of raffle offered. Whether you want to enter a raffle on the company’s app or website, it’s usually straightforward.

Let’s explore some options:

App Reservation

The most common way to enter a raffle is through retailers’ apps such as Foot Locker, Adidas CONFIRMED, and Nike SNKRS.

You can submit a raffle entry a few days beforehand or at the release date. The app notifies winners and automatically charges them or provides pick-up instructions in-store.

Here’s the process of entering a raffle on a few popular sneaker retailers’ apps.

Nike SNKRS

This is Nike’s official shoe app, where you can find a raffle for almost any sneakers. Additionally, it provides the most comprehensive selection of raffle schedules and information on upcoming sneaker releases.

Usually, a raffle on Nike SNKRS is held at 8 AM on the release date. To enter a raffle, you must create an account with your email address and leave your payment details.

The app awards loyal users with the “Exclusive Access” feature, allowing them to buy the sneakers they want before others.

Adidas CONFIRMED

This is Adidas’ official app for raffles for shoes, including releases from Adidas Original brands and partners, such as Prada, Craig Green, Human Made, and Pharell. For more information on other sneaker releases, you should check out the company’s official website.

If you get a notification about an upcoming sneaker release, you can use the Adidas CONFIRMED app to verify whether a raffle will be held and to learn the entry process. Unlike other companies, Adidas usually holds sneaker raffles a few days before lunch, giving you enough time to enter the desired one.

For best results, you should sign up with your email address and payment details in advance, allowing you to enter a raffle ASAP.

Online Sneaker Raffles

To enter online raffles, whether on a website, a Reddit group, or a forum dedicated to sneakers, you should sign up with your email address and payment details beforehand.

While many online sneaker raffles exist, finding listings for specific stores can be challenging.

For instance, you can find Supreme and Adidas raffles on almost any online store, but not for Nike. Generally, this is the simplest type of sneaker raffle, as you only need to enter your contact details, email address, and name online.

Once the raffle is closed, the retailer notifies the winners and contacts them to arrange payment for the desired pair of shoes.

In-store Sneaker Raffles

To submit an in-store entry, you must be physically present at the company’s store on the day your favorite sneakers are released.

While it depends on the retailer, you’d probably have to provide your name, email address, home address, and payment details.

The raffle winners are usually allowed to buy the desired pair of sneakers from the store immediately. Due to the increased popularity of online sneaker raffles, these are less competitive.

How to Find Sneaker Raffles

To enter a sneaker raffle and even win, you first need to know where to find it. Since they usually last a few hours or a day, it’s important to be aware of upcoming raffles.

However, this can be quite the task for newbies, so here are a few places to consider when looking for a raffle.

Sneaker Cook Groups

As a community of sneakerheads, a cook group is a perfect place to find sneaker raffle links. The members help each other find and win a specific raffle online and suggest websites and apps with useful tips on entering and winning sneaker raffles.

News Sites

Sneaker raffles with a longer timeframe can be found on news sites, allowing you to submit an entry without rushing. Don’t forget to read the rules to ensure you meet the deadline.

Social Media

Join sneakerhead groups on social media sites to connect with other sneaker enthusiasts. You can also check out Twitter for users sharing pictures of their sneaker raffle entries or just search hashtags such as #raffles or #raffle.

Retailer Websites

Don’t forget to check out retailers' official websites and apps, as they often share news about a new sneaker release. Some of them even feature a release calendar. You can also follow their social media accounts to stay informed about upcoming drops and raffles.

How to Sign Up for Sneaker Raffles

If you’re a newbie in the sneaker game, being familiar with the process of signing up for a raffle will ensure you don’t miss out on an opportunity to get the pair of shoes you want.

Once you’ve found the desired raffle, you usually need to provide the following information to sign up for it:

Name – your real name serves as an identification when signing up for a sneaker raffle, making it easier to track you down when needed

• Address – raffles require an address, preferably residential, to ship the sneakers to the right person

• Email address – most raffles send daily updates and information about the timeframe and release dates via email

• Phone number – some raffles ask for your phone number as an additional way to confirm your identit

• Payment information – this is how they can charge you when the sneakers are ready to be shipped. Some raffles give payment options like Apple Pay or PayPal, so you may not even have to provide bank account details.

After providing this information, you can consider your raffle entry counted.

Depending on the retailer, you can submit the entry on the release day or beforehand. Then, you just wait to see if you win.

How Do You Know If You Won a Sneaker Raffle?

Well, it depends on the type of raffle and the retailer. In-store raffle winners are usually notified on the spot, whereas those winning online raffles get an email.

Some retailers reach out to raffle winners through their customer support agents or social media.

If you’re lucky to win, you can purchase the shoes online or in the physical retail store, depending on the retailer. Some may even send you vouchers after winning to redeem in-store.

In most cases, you get a link to buy sneakers that are still unavailable to others. Sometimes, the retailer temporarily holds the funds in your bank account, but the purchase is only processed if you win the raffle.

When entering raffles, read all the rules in advance, including what happens if you win them. This way, you’ll know when and how to make the purchase.

What Are Your Chances of Winning Sneaker Raffles?

Although there are no up-to-date insights regarding the odds of winning a raffle, there are certain factors that affect your chances of winning. They include:

• Availability – the more pairs of shoes available, the higher the chances of winning because the retailer will most likely hold more raffles

• Demand – the more hyped the sneakers, the fiercer the competition

• Number of people – the more raffle entries or people who have joined it, the slimmer the chances of winning

How to Win Sneaker Raffles

Here are a few tips to help you win a raffle and get your hands on your favorite pair of kicks.

• Send multiple entries

Open multiple accounts and send multiple entries to increase your chances of winning a specific raffle.

Since you’ll probably need different email addresses for your accounts, you can either ask your close ones for their emails or use proxies to open multiple email accounts from your device.

• Use sneaker bots and proxies

If you’re interested in sneaker copping, it’s best to use sneaker bots to send multiple entries faster than any human can.

You’ll have to combine them with sneaker proxies to keep your bots hidden by making your entries look like they come from multiple customers in different locations. Just make sure you use both tools responsibly to avoid getting detected and blocked.

• Find the right raffle list

Download apps that will inform you about raffles worth copping and allow you to enter them. Some of them are SNS, Kith, END, Sole Retriever Mobile, Footpatrol, Finish Line, etc.

Final Words

Getting a limited-edition pair of sneakers at retail price is harder than ever. Enter sneaker raffles. But to win a raffle, you need to know where to find them, how they work, and how to sign up for them.

With our guide on sneaker raffles, you have everything you need to understand them and maximize your chances of winning those coveted pairs.