Feel free to call it hot air, but there have been threads in which it's been well discussed about the illegal and shady elements involved in the Chinese and Taiwanese shoe running business. Sites selling pure fakes and labeling as much aren't doing huge business. The real business is coming from MS, SDS, and Air Randy who pass off stuff that may or may not be fake, or stuff that uses real materials but isn't put together in Nike authorized factories. Sure, Nike could step up their security, but they don't directly run the factories and thus give up some control in order to make the highest possible profit margins by using them. That aside, how is it bad for the community to use sites like this? Real sneakerheads trade shoes, interact with each other, etc. Just in the last page people talked about taking their suspect pairs and putting them on ebay and what not. Is that okay? I don't think so. I don't want your potentially fake shoes that you plunked down 3 or 4 bills for.
More than that though, you're giving scummy profiteers in China your money rather than giving it to American businesses that run legitimate operations and pay legitimate people while we're still pulling out of the worst recession in 80 years. Sure, Jordan Brand isn't losing on shoes like this because they'll sell out, and neither are the stores. But that's a net loss for profit and revenue in the United States, not to mention customs costs and search time (that taxpayer dollars go to) as well as paypal and credit card fees that needlessly run up to allow these Chinese businesses to get American dollars. It's a racket, it's cheap, and as we'll see on here in the coming weeks, the countless hassles and quality issues will dominate the discussion rather than the actual, authorized and authentic product itself. Far be it from me to stop you from spending your money however you want, but yes ignorance (which is somehow an insult now on here?) and compulsive consumption fuels so many people on here it's sickening to some of us, especially to watch all the drama needlessly created by so many purchases gone wrong prior to release. That's why I said I'm bowing out of this thread. It's bound for the same fate as the Concord thread, which was pure garbage after all the scummy Chinese dealers were ready to suck the blood out of the thirsty beasts on here.
