A few months ago, I purchased the entire Snoopy Space Exploration figurine series from Pop Mart. The entire series comes as a box set with 12 blind boxes inside. I made the purchase from Amazon which also has this marketing copy:
“In case your set contains a repeated figurine, we will take the extra one back and send you the missing item.”
Unfortunately, I had a repeated figure. Or, to be more correct, the wrong figure was put in the box for the “Leave a Mark” figure. I had an extra Charlie Brown, not the Snoopy I needed.
Of course, I reached out to Pop Mart to get this corrected. They were quick with their responses. However, after many exchanges, they were not able to get me the correct figure as they no longer had any. I requested the “hidden edition” special figurine as a substitute, which was also denied. Finally, they offered a Snoopy blind-box figure from another series as replacement. I decided to take the offer. Pop Mart didn’t request the incorrect figure back.
Shipment for the Pop Mart figurine took about two weeks. I was never given a tracking number like they said they would send. I get notifications from USPS daily on what’s arriving and oddly, this package said it was shipping from AliExpress. Keep that in mind for later.
Completing My Collection
All the back and forth led me down the avenue of figuring out how to complete the collection. eBay was an option, but I didn’t want to spend $20-30 for a figurine shipping from China when the figurine originally cost just $15. I didn’t want to put more money into this than I had to.
The other option I found was AliExpress. If you’re not familiar with AliExpress, it’s a direct from China shopping portal. It’s a grey area of online commerce where you can buy what you hope are legitimate Peanuts products, but there’s plenty of knock-off Peanuts products to make you wary of everything. Plus, some of the prices seem too good to be true.
A fellow Peanuts fan, Corine, had reached out to me to let me know she had purchased from AliExpress. It’s the only way she’s able to get Popmart figures where she is. From what she shared, the figures she received were exactly the same as what I received directly from Pop Mart. However, her figures had some production flaws that made us think they were factory seconds.
Between the low prices, Corine’s photos, and the Pop Mart replacement shipping from AliExpress, I decided to see for myself what AliExpress had to offer. For just under $13, I picked my missing figure to be sent to me. There were multiple sellers offering the same Pop Mart figurines at different price points. I purchased mine from “FUNNY BLIND BOX Store.”
After just under two weeks of waiting, the figure arrived. It was the exact same shipping box as the Pop Mart replacement. Inside, was a pre-opened box from the Snoopy Space Exploration Pop Mart Series. The figurine was still sealed in its bag and revealed itself as the correct “Leave a Mark” figure. Thank Goodness!
As expected, the figurine was less than perfect. From a distance, he’s fine. Up close, there are a lot of little flaws. It is what it is.
Final Thoughts
Would I buy from Aliexpress again? I might consider it if there’s a legitimate product I just really wanted to have. Most things, however, as much as I might want them, I decide to just pass on if I can’t get it through more standard ways. Aliexpress also tries to get you back to the site with constant shipping updates you can only get by logging into your account and seeing more stupid cheap deals. Finally, when I was looking around for possible solutions, there was a cheap Snoopy item I’d love to have for just $1, no added shipping charge. Too good to be true! I tried multiple times to buy it and it kept failing. Aliexpress came through for my Pop Mart figure, but I’m still wary of the shady practices it employs.
Is Aliexpress a better option than eBay? Without buying the same thing from eBay, I can’t be sure. eBay has many listings that are basically clones of the Aliexpress listings. They both use official images and don’t actually show you the real figurine you’ll be receiving. If you want perfection, I would only buy from a seller who is showing the actual product you’re receiving. I didn’t pay twice as much from eBay because I suspect I’d have gotten basically the exact same “Factory-second” quality figurine. This is a common strategy for eBay sellers to buy from Aliexpress for resale.
Where should you get your Pop Mart figurines? If you want a specific one and you’re ok with a few flaws and the box being ruined, then save some money and go to Aliexpress. Personally, the whole thing has soured me on Pop Mart. They’re cute. They’re well done (when you get them from Pop Mart.) They’re a nice size. The price is a bit more than I want to spend and I hate blind boxes.
Remember to buy what you love, not because it’s a “collector’s item.”
Have your own Pop Mart experience? Leave a comment with your experience on the video.
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