How Yofi Helps Retailers Spot Fake Buyers in Seconds: Taylor Swift, Air Jordans, and the $1B Resale Economy

Businesses struggle to identify real customers online. Many shoppers use multiple email addresses, bots, and reseller tactics to gain an unfair advantage. This creates inventory distortions, fraudulent demand, and an overall poor experience for legitimate consumers.

Yofi, a digital identity platform, helps brands separate human customers from bots and fraudsters. Initially focused on sneaker bot mitigation, Yofi now addresses resale issues in industries like ticketing, e-commerce, and consumer goods.

The Problem: How Bots and Fraudulent Accounts Disrupt Commerce

Bots Skew Inventory Planning

Companies rely on sales data to forecast inventory. Bots distort this data by generating artificial demand. Nike, for example, struggles with sneaker releases because automated scripts purchase high-demand shoes within seconds. Nike’s internal fairness score revealed that only 20% of sneaker purchases were made by real consumers. This means that 80% of buyers were likely resellers or bots.

In one case, a sneaker retailer received 400,000 raffle entries for just 50 pairs of Air Jordans. Without a filtering system, most winners would be bots, leaving real sneakerheads with no chance to buy at retail prices.

Bots also manipulate pricing in other industries. The Dyson Airwrap, a popular hairstyling tool, often sells out within minutes. Resellers use bots to buy in bulk, then flip the product for a profit. The same happens with GPUs, CPUs, and PlayStation 5 consoles, making it difficult for regular customers to purchase directly from brands.

Taylor Swift, Air Jordans, and the $1B Resale Economy

Bots don’t just take products from brands—they create artificial scarcity and drive up prices. Concert tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour were nearly impossible to buy at face value. Bots secured large portions of the inventory, forcing real fans to pay inflated resale prices on secondary markets.

The same problem exists in restaurant reservations. In cities like New York, bots instantly grab prime-time bookings at high-end restaurants. These reservations are then resold at a markup, preventing genuine diners from securing tables.

Discount Code Exploits Hurt Brands

Many companies offer first-time buyer discounts, but bots and resellers exploit these promotions. One major retailer struggled with customers creating multiple email accounts to repeatedly claim 20% off discounts.

Another case involved CVS discount codes. Resellers bought products in bulk using discounts, then undercut the brand’s prices on Amazon. This forced large distributors like Target and Walmart to demand lower wholesale prices, reducing the brand’s profit margins.

Even Dum Dums lollipops, a simple candy brand, lost millions of dollars because resellers took advantage of price differences between retail and bulk distribution.

Yofi’s Solution: Real-Time Consumer Prioritization

How Yofi Detects Bots and Fraud

Yofi ranks each customer’s purchase attempt on a 0 to 100 scale. This score determines whether the order is likely from a real person or a bot.

The platform uses graph-based clustering to detect fraud patterns. It can identify:

• Multiple accounts created from the same IP address

• Bulk purchases made with slight variations in customer data

• Accounts that repeatedly use discount codes with different emails

By using this scoring system, brands can prioritize real customers over automated scripts and resellers.

Practical Use Cases

Sneaker retailers use Yofi to filter out bots in raffle-based sales. Instead of selecting winners randomly, they can prioritize buyers with legitimate purchase histories.

E-commerce brands use Yofi to stop bulk buyers from abusing first-time discounts. Instead of blocking all repeat customers, Yofi allows brands to assess behavior before rejecting orders.

Ticketing platforms and high-end restaurants use Yofi to ensure that real fans and diners get access to reservations, not bots that resell them at a premium like TableTurn NYC.

Technology Behind Yofi

Yofi’s system analyzes customer data in real-time. It detects connections between accounts, flags suspicious activity, and allows brands to take immediate action.

The platform integrates with:

• Shopify

• Salesforce

• Other e-commerce and CRM tools

Yofi’s graph-based clustering creates networks of related accounts. If multiple accounts share the same browsing behavior, payment details, or IP address, Yofi groups them together and assigns a fraud probability score.

Challenges and Market Positioning

How Yofi Differs from Shopify’s Bot Protection

Shopify provides bot protection, but only for high-tier customers. Yofi offers a more accessible solution for retailers of all sizes.

Unlike Shopify’s approach, which blocks all suspicious traffic, Yofi allows brands to analyze behavior first. This prevents legitimate group purchases (like college roommates buying sneakers from the same network) from getting flagged incorrectly.

Balancing Resellers and Real Customers

Resellers aren’t always bad for business. Brands want 100% sell-through, but they also want loyal customers who will return for future releases.

Yofi helps brands:

• Prioritize real consumers without eliminating resale entirely

• Increase the lifetime value of legitimate customers

• Avoid stock shortages caused by fraudulent bulk purchases

As of December 31, 2020, Yofi pulled in $552,000 in annual revenue.

Yofi works with big brands to help them cut losses on inventory and stop resellers from gaming the system. Since it saves companies a ton of money, it can charge a percentage of those savings—making it a seriously valuable B2B business.

Full credits to My First Million, SoleSavy, and Founder's Pack.

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