Explainers on the mechanics behind prices — style codes, retailer types, import duties, what a price history can and cannot tell you. Written once and kept true, not regenerated daily. For today’s actual numbers, see the price reports.
Buying guide
Ten of ten page-one results for one Gucci price query were resale listings. Marmont, Jackie 1961, Horsebit, Ophidia — and the style-code check that confirms two listings are the same bag.
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One Replica sneaker, $599–$790 across retailers on a single day. Tabi cuts, the Replica line that isn’t a counterfeit label, and why MM6 is a separate line — told apart before you compare.
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Since August 29, 2025, no US-bound parcel is too small for duties. DDP, DDU, importer of record, and how retailers responded — plus the one question to ask before checkout.
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Fourteen models, two spelling traps, and a brand that holds no seasonal sales on its own site — which makes every retailer discount a real cross-store difference worth checking.
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Regional price lists, markdown calendars, parallel imports, and duties — the four forces that pull an identical shoe’s price apart across retailers, and what each one means for you.
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Price anchoring makes any discount look irresistible. Five checks — from cross-retailer reference prices to price history — that separate a genuine markdown from a manufactured one.
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VAT deductions, DDP versus DDU shipping, EU and UK sizing conversions, and cross-border returns — the checklist for buying from an overseas retailer without surprises.
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Style codes and MPNs identify one design in one colorway — more precisely than any listing title. Where to find them on labels, boxes, dust bags, and listings, and how to compare with them.
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The same genuine item can reach you by three different routes, and the route changes the price, the returns, and the warranty. How to read the signals and pick your trade knowingly.
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Reference prices are claims; recorded prices are facts. Reading flat lines, staircases, and sawtooth charts — why the timestamp is part of the price, and when an alert beats buying now.
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