That's How It Happened

SBTG x UNKLE Dunk auction. At the time of writing these dunks have attracted 55 bids, up to a price of $3250. To clarify the situation, they are one of only 24 extant pairs. Of those 24, only 12 were ever sold, out of Surrender, a shop in Singapore, in mid-March 05. They are a non-official Nike product, though they do seem to have had the official blessing of UNKLE and Futura, whose Pointman logo appears on them. The original official UNKLE Dunk (of which I own one of 400 pairs) is selling on eBay for no more than $400 right now. Other shoes customised by SBTG are selling for even less. If you are a non-sneaker head you are probably wondering what the fuss is all about. After all, for $3250 you could buy a Segway. Personally I can see the appeal. What really fascinated me though, is that the top bidders have hardly ever bought anything off eBay before. The current top two are both from the UK, with minimal feedback. They're both taking a terrible chance. If I had any advice to give, based on my endless experience trying to pluck shoes off auctions in HK/Singapore/JP, it's that online fraud controls, particularly with regard to the far east, aren't all they're cracked up to be. If I had $3251 spare, I'd seriously consider coughing up the extra money for a flight to Singapore, just to be able to hand over cash, and inspect the product in person.