(Yicai Global) April 6 -- China’s Dewu,a major secondhand sneakers trading platform,has taken down some listings for limited edition running shoes to curb over-the-top resale prices.

Dewu pulled 20 limited edition sneakers made by Chinese sports brands such as Li-Ning and AntaSportsand closed the accounts of three vendors as ‘sneakerheads’ are suspected of maliciously pumping up prices, theShanghai-based companysaid today.

Big gains can be made from selling limited edition sneakers on the secondhand market. A nearly new Way of Wade 4 All-Star Silver running shoe from Li-Ning, for example, could sell for CNY48,889 (USD7,464), when the sticker price is just CNY1,499 (USD228).

Speculation had been focused on foreign brands, but since many of them are being boycotted for suggesting that the cotton from China’s western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is made using ‘forced labor,’ attention has shifted to domestic brands.

Sales in brick-and-mortar outlets are just as hot. Long queues could be seen outside the stores of Li-Ning and Anta Sports, China’s biggest sports brand, over the recent Qingming Festival holiday.

Dewu is calling for rational consumption and will monitor products with big price swings, it said.

Editor: Kim Taylor