Is GOAT Legit? Will You Get Scammed?

Buying a pair of “fake” sneakers has never been easier, and it has never been easier to get scammed into buying knockoffs online. Therefore, it makes sense to try to be super careful, but even then, you might end up on the receiving end of a bad deal.

GOAT is allegedly trying to change that. They claim to provide a marketplace for buying and selling authentic sneakers. But is it legit? Keep reading to find out.

Is GOAT Legit and Safe to Use?

Right off the bat, GOAT is a legit site, and the chance of getting scammed is incredibly low. The team behind the app assures users they’re doing everything in their power to verify the authenticity of items sold through their platform.

But GOAT is a marketplace, which means any verified sellers can market their shoes through the app. So, how exactly does GOAT do quality control?

From its early stages, GOAT has employed a ship-to-verify model. In short, when someone buys a pair of sneakers from a vendor, those don’t get shipped to the buyer.

Instead, the sneakers ship to GOAT’s team first. GOAT’s team of experienced sneaker specialists examine each item, ensuring they are authentic and in the condition promised by the seller.

Then, the sneakers get shipped to the buyer with GOAT’s guarantee of authenticity. They also have a money-back guarantee if they make an inaccurate determination.

Moreover, GOAT has an AI-assisted process to spot fakes before they even get to the experts. With thousands of unique styles and models in their warehouse at any given time, it’s hard to get to each one in time.

Using an expert-trained AI image recognition system, they’re able to screen out fakes instantly. The system is trained with a massive list of signals that can trigger fraud detection.

Ultimately, GOAT acts as an expert middleman between buyers and sellers to verify the authenticity of their products. And, they do that very well as they’re in the top 100 selling apps.

In 2018, the sneaker titan, Flight Club, merged with GOAT in a 60-million-dollar deal that strengthened the position of both companies. Furthermore, Foot Locker invested another $100 million in the newly formed partnership.

Pros of Using Goat

By and large, the service does what it claims to do. But that doesn’t mean you’ll love it.

Here’s what GOAT does well:

1. It’s simple to use. It has an intuitive interface, and when you find the product you like, you can choose to buy new or used. The app will show you a list of vendors and their asking prices.
2. It has seller ratings. Every seller on GOAT has a user-submitted rating, so you know who to do business with and who to avoid.
3. It offers flat-rate shipping. Regardless of what sneakers you buy or sell, they always use a flat $5 shipping rate, which is deducted as a seller’s fee. If you’re selling sneakers, as soon as you set your price, you can see your expected profit after costs as well.
4. They have a knowledgeable team of experts with an exceptional track record of spotting fakes and eliminating them from the pipeline.

Cons of Using GOAT

Like any large service, GOAT falls short every now and then too.

In the main, people’s complaints about GOAT relate to their customer service. Support requests sometimes go unanswered, and returns occasionally aren’t processed on time.

On rare occasions, people report receiving the wrong shoes. Not knock offs but the wrong model, which can be very frustrating.

Is GOAT Really the Greatest?

GOAT is a reliable service that comes through on what it promises. It has its fair share of strengths, as well as some weaknesses.

Will you get scammed? The odds are microscopic. However, you may find yourself a little frustrated by their customer service as a seller.