If you've ever found yourself frantically refreshing the Pop Mart site at 10:01 PM on a drop night, heart pounding, only to be met with a soul-crushing error message, then you're my people. Welcome to the club. The sweat, the anxiety, the sheer panic, it's a rite of passage for any serious LABUBU collector.
As the owner of PopNya, I'm on both sides of this chaotic battlefield. I'm a fan trying to get the latest Kasing Lung creations for my personal collection, and I'm a small business owner trying to secure stock for you guys. I've seen it all, and let me tell you, the process is designed to be a nightmare. But it's a nightmare you can learn to navigate.
So let's talk about how to reserve a LABUBU, and more importantly, how to keep your sanity while doing it.
The "Reservation" Game: It's Not What You Think
First, we need to be clear. When people talk about "reserving" a LABUBU, they usually mean one of three very different things, and the strategy for each is completely different.
1. The Online Drop Hunger Games: This is the big one. This happens on the Pop Mart global or regional websites during a new series launch. "Reserving" here means successfully adding an item to your cart, which then starts a 5 or 10-minute timer for you to complete your purchase. This is where you'll encounter the most pain. 2. The Roboshop Snipe: This involves using the Pop Mart app to select and pay for a specific box from a physical Roboshop vending machine. You're reserving a physical item for immediate pickup. It's a much lower-stakes game, but has its own quirks. 3. The In-Store Lottery: For hyper-exclusive releases, some physical Pop Mart stores will run a lottery system. You "reserve" a spot to have the chance to purchase. This is less common in the US but a big deal in Asia.
For today, we're focusing on the first two, because that's where 99% of the battle is fought. The core of the problem, and the reason Pop Mart uses this system, is to create a sense of urgency and perceived fairness. By holding an item in a cart for a limited time, it theoretically prevents one person (or a bot) from adding 500 boxes to their cart and clearing out the entire stock before anyone else gets a look.
Theoretically. In practice, it just creates a different kind of chaos.
My Playbook for Online Drops: This is War
If you want to know how to reserve a LABUBU on Pop Mart during a hyped launch like The Monsters Let's Christmas or the new Macarons, you can't just show up at drop time and hope for the best. That's like walking into a final exam without ever attending a class. You need a game plan. This is mine.
The Pre-Drop Ritual (The Day Before)
This is the most important part. If you fail here, you've already lost.
* Account is Ready: Do you have a Pop Mart account? Is your shipping address saved and 100% correct? Is your credit card information stored? Don't wait until the drop to do this. Do it now. * Payment is Pre-Authorized: The absolute best method is Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Shop Pay. These are one-click payment systems. Fumbling with CVV codes is a death sentence. I have lost countless drops because my bank decided to text me a verification code at the worst possible moment. Set up and test Shop Pay beforehand. * Know the Exact Time: Follow Pop Mart's official Instagram or Twitter. They will announce the drop time, usually in PST or EST. Use a world clock website like time.is to sync your clock. We are talking about seconds here. Not minutes. A drop at 7:00 PM PST means you are refreshing the page at 6:59:58 PM. * The Multi-Device Ambush: I use my computer and my phone. On my computer, I have one tab open to the full case/set page and another open to the single blind box page. On my phone, I'm logged into the app, ready to do the same. Sometimes the app is faster. Sometimes the website is. You can't predict it.
The Moment of Truth: Drop Time
The clock hits 6:59:59 PM. Your heart is in your throat. This is what you do.
Start refreshing. Don't be shy. Mash that F5 key or pull down to refresh on your phone. The moment the "Add to Cart" button appears, you click it. Don't hesitate. Don't think. Just click.
Pro-Tip from a Seller: Everyone goes for the full case of 12. It's the best value and guarantees no duplicates. Because of this, it's often the hardest thing to get. Bots are programmed to target the case. Sometimes, I have better luck snagging two or three individual blind boxes. It's a riskier pull, but your chances of actually getting something into your cart can be higher.
Once it's in your cart, you are not done. You have entered the reservation timer. You have 5 minutes. This is not the time to browse for other things. GO. TO. CHECKOUT. Use your pre-saved payment method and confirm the order. Do not breathe until you see the order confirmation screen.
Decoding the Messages of Despair
More often than not, you won't get it on the first try. You'll be met with one of two soul-crushing messages.
"this box is reserved by another customer popmart"
This is the message you'll get when you try to add a specific box from a Roboshop or, in some cases, on the website. It means exactly what it says: someone else has it in their cart. It's the digital equivalent of seeing someone pick up the last item on the shelf right in front of you. Your only option here is to wait and hope their payment fails or their timer runs out.
"popmart all boxes have been reserved"
This is the big boss. This is the screen you see on major online drops. It means every single unit of inventory, every last box, is currently sitting in someone's cart. It looks like "Sold Out," but it is NOT.
This is the single most important tip I can give you: DO NOT GIVE UP.
This screen is a lie. Or rather, it's a temporary truth. Remember that 5-minute timer? People's credit cards get declined. Their Wi-Fi cuts out. They get distracted by a phone call. Their cart expires. When it does, that box goes right back into the available inventory pool.
Your job for the next 15-30 minutes is to become a professional refresher. Keep trying to add it to your cart. I have personally secured "sold out" LABUBU sets 20 minutes after the initial drop time by just stubbornly staying on the page and trying again and again. The wave of people gives up after five minutes. The persistent collectors are the ones who snag the restocked carts.
Real Talk: My Honest Take on This Whole System
Look, I'm gonna be straight with you. The Pop Mart reservation system is a mess. It's a system that, while designed to prevent hoarding, actively rewards bots and people with fiber-optic internet connections living next to the server farm. It creates immense frustration and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which is a deliberate marketing strategy.
This manufactured scarcity is what fuels the insane secondary market. I've seen a LABUBU The Monsters Camping figure go from its $17 retail price to over $100 on eBay within hours of a drop. Why? Because hundreds of real fans were stuck on the "popmart all boxes have been reserved" screen while a handful of people with bots cleaned up.
As a seller, it's a double-edged sword. It makes securing stock for PopNya an absolute nightmare. I've spent countless nights fighting the same battle you do, and it's why getting wholesale LABUBU stock is a whole other level of difficulty. But it also means that the pieces we do manage to get hold their value incredibly well, which is good for collectors in the long run.
One thing nobody tells you: The quality control can sometimes vary between batches. I've noticed that the figures from the initial super-hyped drop sometimes have minor paint flaws, almost as if they were rushed out the door. The restock batches a few months later can sometimes be a little cleaner. It's not a hard and fast rule, but it's something I've observed handling hundreds of these boxes. So missing the first drop isn't always the end of the world.
You Failed the Drop. Now What?
Okay, so you tried everything. You were there on time, you had your payment ready, you refreshed for 30 minutes, and you still came up empty. It happens to me, too. Don't despair. The reservation game isn't the only game in town.
* Check Local Stores: This is your best bet. Many smaller, independent designer toy stores get an allocation of LABUBU. Their drops are often less publicized and less targeted by bots. It pays to follow your local shops on social media. My journey to find LABUBU in NYC taught me that sometimes the best finds are tucked away in unexpected places. * The Roboshop Hunt: Use the Pop Mart app to check inventory at physical Roboshops near you. They often get restocked on a different schedule than the website. It can be a bit of a treasure hunt, but I've found older, sold-out series just sitting in a machine in a mall. Just be careful, I once drove 45 minutes to a Roboshop in San Francisco based on the app's inventory, only to realize I was looking at the stock for a different location. Double-check the location pin on the map before you go! * The Secondary Market (Safely): Sites like Mercari, eBay, and dedicated Facebook groups are your next stop. But be smart. If a price looks too good to be true for a new release, it's probably a scam or a knockoff. Check a seller's ratings and history. Ask for tagged photos (with their username and date on a piece of paper). Never, ever pay using a method that has no buyer protection, like Zelle or Venmo Friends & Family. * Patience and Persistence: This is the most underrated tool. Pop Mart does restocks. What is impossible to get today might be available in a few weeks. And while you wait, it's always worth seeing what independent shops have managed to acquire. You can always browse our LABUBU figures at PopNya; we're constantly hunting so you don't have to. We might just have the one you missed.
Trying to reserve a LABUBU is a genuine rollercoaster of emotion. It's agonizing, it's thrilling, and it can feel deeply unfair. But when you finally see that "Order Confirmed" email after a long-fought battle, the victory is so, so sweet.
Happy hunting. And may the cart timers be ever in your favor.
--- Disclosure: PopNya may earn a commission if you purchase through links on this page.
