The Yeezy Supply Website Uses a "Waiting Room" to Give Everyone a Chance to Make a Purchase

Over the years that Kanye West has been one of the biggest faces in music, he has branched out into numerous other ventures. Inarguably his most successful of those have been forays into fashion, with his Adidas Yeezy line effectively cementing his billionaire status and making his products some of the most sought-after footwear on Earth.

With that level of demand, however, comes a certainly known difficulty when fans try to purchase any of Kanye's shoes, which tend to sell out in seconds upon their release. Kanye's official web store, Yeezy Supply, lets people purchase his product directly, but some aspects of its operations remain a mystery for many.

So, how does the "waiting room" on Yeezy Supply work, and does it actually give fans a fair chance to buy shoes? Here's a breakdown.

Like any other website, Yeezy Supply is prone to crashing on sneaker release days thanks to the high volume of traffic it receives in mere seconds. Website developers created a virtual "waiting room" in which everyone who enters the site during a release is placed to lessen the load on the website and allow those who get through to check out smoothly.

Picture it like a funnel, with a large entry point and a narrow, controlled exit point (the checkout line).

Now, this system is far from perfect. It assigns everyone who enters the site a random position and there is really no rhyme or reason as to how it actually selects who gets through the "waiting room," but there are a few things potential buyers can do to help their case.

Firstly, the waiting room for shoes tends to go live at a random time within the hour prior to the official release time, so it's important to check the site sporadically and see when it opens.

Some have reported that refreshing the page too frequently before the "waiting room" goes live will automatically ban you as the website believes you're a bot, so it's important to not spam the refresh button.

Once you have entered the "waiting room," the true waiting game begins. Don't refresh your page under any circumstances at this point, as it will reset your potential position in line. The website will automatically update every few seconds without intervention.

If you're one of the lucky few to get through the "waiting room," your page will automatically refresh to the product listing, where you can select from available sizes and check out normally as you would on any other online marketplace.

Be warned, however. Many users have complained that Yeezy Supply tends to have longer shipping times than other stores that stock Kanye's sneakers, such as the main Adidas website and retailers like Foot Locker, Champs Sports, and Dick's Sporting Goods.