You've seen them everywhere. Those mischievous, buck-toothed little monsters with the floppy ears. LABUBU. And now you want one. You head to the official Pop Mart website, ready to buy, and... They're all sold out. Or the one you want is, anyway. You hear about a new drop, set your alarm, and by the time the page loads, they're gone.
Sound familiar?
As someone who runs PopNya and has spent more late nights than I'd like to admit trying to score these figures, I get it. The question of how to buy Labubu on Pop Mart is less about "how to click a button" and more about "how to win a small, digital war." It's a process. A frustrating, sometimes exhilarating, often soul-crushing process.
So, let's talk about how it really works, from one collector to another.
The First Rule of Pop Mart Club: Know Your Arena
Before you even think about a drop, you need to understand that there isn't just one "Pop Mart website." There's the Global site (popmart.com) and then there are regional sites, like the US site (popmart.us). They are not the same. They have different stock, different shipping origins, and sometimes, different drop times.
- The Global Site: Ships from... Well, globally (usually China). Shipping takes longer, and you might have to deal with customs depending on your country and the order value. The stock here can sometimes be more extensive, but it's also competing with the entire world.
- The US Site (and other regional sites): Ships from a warehouse within that country. For the US site, this means faster shipping (usually). But the stock allocation might be smaller.
My advice? Create an account on both. Check both for stock. Sometimes a figure that's sold out on the US site is still sitting on the Global site, or vice versa. This is your first basic advantage.
Your Pre-Drop Battle Station: The Non-Negotiables
Thinking you can just show up at drop time and casually check out is the number one mistake. You will lose. Every time. The people who succeed are the ones who prepare. Here's your checklist. Do this an hour before the drop, not a minute before.
1. Account & Address: Signed In and Saved. This is basic, but people forget. Be logged into your Pop Mart account. Go to your account settings and make sure your shipping address is pre-filled and 100% correct. You will not have time to type "123 Maple Street" when the timer hits zero.
2. The Payment Gauntlet: Your Most Important Choice. This is where most people lose the race. Manually typing in your credit card number is a death sentence. You have two good options:
- Shop Pay / Apple Pay / Google Pay: These are your best friends. They are one-click payment systems that store your card and shipping info. When you get to checkout, you just authenticate with your fingerprint or face, and it's done. It bypasses the entire manual entry process. I have won drops using Shop Pay that I absolutely would have lost otherwise.
- PayPal: A solid second choice. It's usually faster than manual entry, but it does redirect you to the PayPal site, which is an extra step and a potential point of failure. I've had the PayPal window lag and cost me an item. I stick to Shop Pay when I can.
Seriously, set this up now. Go buy a cheap, in-stock Dimoo or something just to test your checkout flow and make sure your payment is saved and works smoothly. This is your training run. Knowing how to buy on Popmart quickly is 90% about the checkout.
3. The Drop Time Conundrum. Pop Mart usually announces drops in PT (Pacific Time) for the US site or Beijing Time (BJT) for global events. Do not trust your brain to do time zone math under pressure. Use a time zone converter website. Set an alarm for 10 minutes before the drop, and another for 1 minute before. Be at your computer, on the product page, ready to go.
The Main Event: Surviving a Hyped Drop (e.g., The "Have a Seat" Massacre)
Let's use a real-world example: the recent Pop now labubu have a seat series. This was a bloodbath. The hype was immense, and they sold out in what felt like negative time. This is what it's actually like:
T-Minus 5 Minutes: You're on the product page. The "Add to Cart" button is greyed out and says "Coming Soon" or "Sold Out." Your heart is starting to pound. You have the page open on your computer and maybe your phone as a backup (sometimes the mobile site is faster, sometimes it's not, it's a gamble).
T-Minus 1 Minute: You start refreshing the page. Not frantically, maybe once every 5-10 seconds. You're watching the clock on your phone like it's a New Year's Eve countdown.
Drop Time (e.g., 7:00:00 PM PT): Refresh. The button is live! You click "Add to Cart" with the speed of a striking cobra. You select the quantity (usually limited to 1 or 2 per person for a full case).
The Moment of Truth: You hit the checkout button. This is where a few things can happen:
- Scenario A (The Dream): You're instantly at the checkout screen. You click Shop Pay. Your face scans. The "Thank You for Your Order" screen appears. You can breathe. You have won.
- Scenario B (The Glitch): You get an error. "Item in your cart is no longer available." It's gone. Someone with a faster internet connection or a bot beat you to it by milliseconds. The pain is real.
- Scenario C (The Purgatory): The page just loads. And loads. And loads. You're stuck in a queue or the site is crashing under the load. This is agonizing. Don't refresh! Wait it out. If you refresh, you lose your place. Sometimes it goes through after a minute. Most of the time, by the time it loads, the item is sold out.
For the "Have a Seat" series, most people experienced Scenario B or C. I know seasoned collectors who were ready to go and still missed it. That's just the reality of the game now.
Real Talk: Just How Hard Is It to Get a LABUBU?
This is the million-dollar question, isn't it? And the answer is: it depends.
For a brand new, super-hyped series like the Macarons or the recent Zimomo collaboration? It is incredibly hard. You are not just competing against other fans. You're competing against sophisticated bots run by reseller groups who can complete the entire checkout process in under a second. Your human clicks, no matter how fast, are at a massive disadvantage. The odds are not in your favor. I'd say a manual user has maybe a 5-10% chance of success on a drop like that. It's basically a lottery.
But for an older, evergreen series like The Monsters Animals or Fall in Wild? It's easy. You can often find them just sitting in stock on the Pop Mart site for weeks or months. You can take your time, browse, and check out like a normal person.
The problem is, the ones everyone is talking about are always the hard ones to get. The hype cycle is real. I've seen a figure like the Macaron "Soymilk" go from its $17 retail price to over $100 on the secondary market within a week of release. The demand is just that insane. This is why learning how to get a Labubu on Pop Mart at retail is such a sought-after skill.
If you're finding the official drops too stressful, you're not alone. Sometimes it's worth exploring other avenues. I've had many days where I missed a drop and just had to wait for stock to trickle into trusted retailers. It's a different kind of hunt, like the one I detailed in my field report from hunting for LABUBU in NYC, which can be its own adventure.
The Post-Purchase Hangover: Shipping and Quality
Let's say you did it. You scored. Congrats! Now what?
Now you wait.
If you ordered from the US site, my packages have typically arrived within 5-7 business days. It's pretty standard. But if you ordered from the Global site, be prepared for a journey. I've had Global orders arrive in two weeks, and I've had one take over a month. It gets stuck in various international shipping hubs, and the tracking can be vague. Just be patient.
Then there's the quality control lottery. This is a detail that gets lost in the hype. Pop Mart's QC is generally good, but it's not perfect. I've opened hundreds of boxes, both for my personal collection and for PopNya. I've seen it all:
- Perfect, flawless figures.
- Figures with tiny paint smudges or a speck of dust sealed into the paint.
- Figures with slightly loose joints.
- One time, I got a box where the accessory was missing entirely.
It's a mass-produced collectible, and small flaws are part of the territory. If you get a majorly damaged figure, Pop Mart support is usually decent about helping, but for a tiny paint flaw? You're likely just going to have to live with it. It's a bitter pill to swallow after fighting so hard to get it.
My Honest Verdict: Is Buying from Pop Mart Worth The Fight?
Okay, let's put the playbook aside. Is this whole song and dance actually worth it?
My Take: For the thrill and the retail price, yes. For your sanity, probably not.
It feels like you beat the system. And, of course, getting a full case for $200-ish instead of paying $400+ on the aftermarket is a huge win. If you enjoy that chase and have the time and patience, go for it. It's a core part of the modern collecting experience.
However, I've seen so many people in the community get completely burned out and discouraged by this process. They spend an hour of their evening stressed out, only to walk away with nothing but a faster heart rate and an empty cart. For many, the time and emotional energy just isn't worth the potential savings. The difficulty has led many to wonder if there are other ways, which is a big reason why I wrote about the brutal truth of LABUBU wholesale for those thinking of starting their own store.
If you just want to enjoy Kasing Lung's art and add a cute monster to your shelf without the drama, there are better ways. Supporting your local designer toy store or finding a trusted online retailer is a perfectly valid, and much more relaxing, way to collect. You might pay a small premium, but you're trading that for convenience and a guaranteed figure.
At PopNya, we do our best to get stock of these hyped releases. We fight in the same digital trenches as everyone else. When we succeed, we love being able to offer them to collectors who missed the main drop. It feels like a more sustainable way to be part of the community.com/collections/labubu) and see what we have in stock.
So, good luck on your next drop. May your internet be fast and your Shop Pay be faster. And if you miss out, don't despair.Disclosure: PopNya may earn a commission if you purchase through links on this page.
