Where can I buy a Labubu at retail price instead of paying resellers?
Retail price means buying from Pop Mart itself: website and app drops, POP NOW online boxes, a Pop Mart store or a Robo Shop vending machine, all guaranteed authentic by Pop Mart. The website is the cheapest route to a specific current series, but popular restocks sell out within seconds, so turn on Pop Mart's restock alerts and treat a nearby store or Robo Shop as the backup. Pay a reseller only for a retired series you cannot get any other way, after checking the box code.
Everything below is taken from Pop Mart's published US help pages and policies and from named press reporting on how its stores and Robo Shops are stocked, rather than first-hand use.
The official channels compared
| Channel | How you buy | What Pop Mart's own pages say (checked October 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pop Mart website and app | Order online; subscribe to NOTIFY ME WHEN AVAILABLE on a sold-out series | Popular products may sell out within seconds of being restocked; orders are processed in 2-3 business days and ship from the US or from China | A specific current series at retail |
| POP NOW online blind box | Buy a box and open it digitally, seeing the figure immediately | The opened box counts as consumed, like a digital product; no cancellation, and no return for personal preference | The pull itself, when you do not need a sealed box |
| Pop Mart store | Walk in, pay retail, inspect the box | Defective items, including duplicates in blind box sets, can be returned within 15 days with the receipt | Set-building and inspecting before paying |
| Robo Shop | Vending machine in a mall or airport | Guaranteed authentic alongside the stores; Times Union reports one restocked every three to four days with most items around $20 | Impulse buys and rotating stock |
Channel 1: the Pop Mart website and app
The website is where series launch and where Pop Mart runs drops that do not reach shelves. Times Union's reporting on the Albany market notes that while versions of the Pop Mart series are stocked in stores or robo shops at varied times, they are also dropped exclusively on the Pop Mart website at certain times, a method an associate professor of marketing at the University at Albany compared to fans queuing for concert tickets. Pop Mart's own FAQ is just as blunt about demand: popular products may sell out quickly within seconds of being restocked, and the company's advice is to subscribe to NOTIFY ME WHEN AVAILABLE for the first chance when stock returns. Asked when it will restock, the FAQ says it does not have a specific date just yet.
Three mechanics on the website decide what you actually pay and receive:
- Membership and shipping. Members get free shipping on US orders over 159 USD, and the free-shipping threshold counts the product subtotal only, excluding shipping fees and taxes. The shipping policy warns that to qualify for any member rate you must be registered and logged into your member account before checkout, and that guest orders are charged the non-member rate without a retroactive refund. Pop Mart also states that it will cover tariffs, so no additional customs fees land on the customer.
- Dispatch and delivery. Confirmed orders are typically processed for shipping within 2-3 business days, and products may be dispatched from either the United States or China depending on availability; Pop Mart estimates 3-7 business days from the US and 7-15 business days from China. Pre-order items carry a Pre-Order label and ship when everything in the order is in stock.
- Single boxes versus sets. If you buy several single boxes at once, Pop Mart's warehouse decides whether to ship single boxes or a whole set based on stock at the time of shipment. More importantly, duplicates received from the single box purchase link fall within the scope of normal random shipping and cannot be addressed through after-sales support for exchanges or refunds. If you want the full run of regulars, buy the set link; whole case or single boxes runs the numbers on that choice.
Payment is Google Pay, Apple Pay or a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB or Diners Club card.
Channel 2: POP NOW online blind boxes
POP NOW is Pop Mart's online unboxing. You buy a box and the site reveals the figure immediately, which Pop Mart describes as a digital unveiling experience; once the box is opened it is considered consumed, similar to a digital product, and the company does not accept returns on it to keep things fair for everyone. The shipping policy adds that POP NOW items are not eligible for cancellation, so the Cancel button never appears on those orders, and the returns policy repeats that products opened through POP NOW are not eligible for order cancellation or returns due to personal preference.
What you get in exchange is certainty about the pull before the parcel ships, and a lower free-shipping bar: members get free shipping on POP NOW orders over 49 USD in the US. What you do not get is any say in the design, because Pop Mart's shopping policy applies the same rule to every blind box: sold as sealed, randomized units, with no requests for specific designs or direct selection of individual figurines. POP NOW suits a collector who wants the reveal and would open the box anyway; it does not suit a buyer who wants a sealed box to gift or to keep.
Channel 3: Pop Mart stores
The store network is newer in the US than the hype suggests. Pop Mart's own announcement of its first permanent US store, at American Dream in New Jersey in 2023, described a company already running over 400 stores and 2000 Robo Shops across 84 countries and regions worldwide. By May 2024 Fortune counted eight retail stores and 15 Robo Shops across the US, against more than 450 retail stores and over 2,300 Robo Shops globally, and reported that Pop Mart's blind boxes typically retail for $14.99 a pop at that time. Pop Mart's Find a Store page is the live map; both of those counts are dated snapshots and the US footprint has kept growing since.
Buying in a store gives you two things the website cannot. You see the box, the seal and the code before paying, and you get the store return policy: defective merchandise can be returned to any Pop Mart store within 15 days of purchase with the original receipt, and Pop Mart's list of issues considered defective includes missing parts, broken or scratched components, duplicates in blind box sets, instability, stains, discoloration and excessive glue. That line about duplicates in sets is the reason a set bought in store is a safer set than one assembled from single boxes online.
Channel 4: Robo Shops
A Robo Shop is Pop Mart's vending machine, and the company lists ROBOSHOP vending machines alongside its website and stores as channels where products are guaranteed to be authentic and verifiable. Times Union's report from Colonie Center in New York describes the local machine as one that looks and operates like a vending machine, restocked every three to four days with a rotating variety of Pop Mart's most popular collections including Molly, Dimoo, Skullpanda, Hirono and Harry Potter, with most items costing around $20 each. The same report has a collector buying the last two Baby Molly figures in stock on a lunch break, which is the Robo Shop in one sentence: it is where you buy what happens to be there, at retail, with no queue and no shipping.
The limits are the flip side. Stock rotates and is finite, there is no staff to ask about restocks, and whichever Labubu series is hottest is the one least likely to be sitting in the machine. Treat the Robo Shop as a backup to website alerts, not a substitute for them.
Amazon and other marketplaces: when they count as retail
Pop Mart's authenticity page extends its guarantee beyond its own website, stores and Robo Shops to other authorized online platforms, and its FAQ sends after-sales service for anything bought from a distributor back to that distributor. On a marketplace, then, the question is not the platform but the seller: an authorized storefront sells at its own retail price, while a third-party reseller prices a sold-out series however it likes. Two checks settle it. First, read the seller, not the listing, which is the whole of our guide to buying blind boxes online without getting burned. Second, know the code: Pop Mart's self-service check has you scratch off the coating on the box label code to reveal a verification code and enter it on its verification page, and it warns that a result of genuine with multiple scans means the code has been scanned several times before, which is a reason to ask questions about a sealed box.
For a current Labubu series, Check price on Amazon and compare the seller against those two checks; for the newest pendant line specifically, Check price on Amazon. Amazon prices are not printed on this page because they are set per seller and move daily; the point of the comparison is whether the listing is at or near Pop Mart's retail, not whether it is the cheapest box on the internet. Our fake Labubu checklist covers what to inspect when the parcel arrives.
When paying a reseller is the right call
There is one honest case for a reseller: a retired series that Pop Mart no longer lists and that no store or Robo Shop will restock. Even then, go in with a number. A Pop Mart spokesperson told the Associated Press, as quoted by Times Union, that most Labubu toys are priced between $20 and $300, and the top of that range is where resellers of sold-out series live. Decide your ceiling before you look, which is the whole discipline behind setting a pull budget that survives a chase, and if what you want is one specific figure rather than the sealed-box experience, buy it opened and verified instead; buying opened figures safely covers that market. Times Union also notes that the plush toy's popularity has spurred the production of fakes, often referred to as Lafufus, and the cheaper a reseller's sealed box, the more that word should be in your head.
FAQ
Does Pop Mart restock sold-out Labubu series?
Pop Mart's FAQ says it is working hard to restock but does not have a specific date just yet, and it asks buyers to subscribe to NOTIFY ME WHEN AVAILABLE on the product page. The same FAQ warns that popular products may sell out quickly within seconds of being restocked, so the alert gets you to the page, not a guaranteed box.
Is a Robo Shop cheaper than buying from the website?
No. It is the same retail price without shipping. Times Union's report put most items in the Colonie Center machine at around $20 each, and Pop Mart lists Robo Shops among the channels whose products are guaranteed authentic. The trade-off is selection: the machine carries a rotating assortment, not the full catalogue.
What happens if Pop Mart sends me a duplicate?
It depends on the channel. Online, duplicates from the single box purchase link count as normal random shipping and are not eligible for exchange or refund. In a store, duplicates in blind box sets appear on Pop Mart's list of defects that can be returned within 15 days with the receipt.
How do I confirm a Labubu is genuine before paying a reseller?
Ask the seller for a clear photo of the box label code, then use Pop Mart's self-service check: scratch off the coating, enter the code on the verification page, and read the result. Genuine on a first scan is the result you want; genuine with multiple scans means the code has been used before and deserves an explanation.
Can I choose which Labubu I get if I buy from Pop Mart?
Not in a blind box. Pop Mart's shopping policy states that all blind box products are sold as sealed, randomized units and that it does not support requests for specific designs. Buying a full set gets you every regular; a specific single figure means the secondhand market.
Sources
- FAQ — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- Shopping Policies — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- Shipping & Delivery — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- Authenticity Check — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- Returns & Replacements — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- POP MART News — POP MART US (checked October 2026)
- 'The craze of what everyone else is doing': Labubu, blind box trends gain traction in Capital Region — Times Union (checked October 2026)
- This millennial-founded Chinese company scored a $6 billion valuation selling mystery toys. Now it wants to cash in on America’s cuteness craze — Fortune (checked October 2026)
The Pull Report
New waves, changed ratios, and circulating fakes — one email a month, nothing else.
