The pandemic has seen rise to many a bizarre trend, one I love? People obsessing over and collecting ceramics. I have been doing so for a few years so the surge of new popular creators has been lovely. What has been awful, however, is trying to snag some of the pieces. Ceramic drops are now akin to rare sneaker drops - you have to have a certain skillset to acquire them. Here are all my best tips for shopping for those sought after mugs and pots.
Follow the ceramicist on social, and turn on post notifications. Creators usually post information about drop dates/times on social. Some will even put countdowns in their Instagram stories, and if you click on these countdowns, it will remind you when it ends.
I personally put a reminder on my phone for about 5-10 minutes before the drop so I can make sure I am by my computer or logged in on my phone at the right time.
If they have a newsletter, sign up for it. A few ceramicists I follow announce the dates and times of their drops only on their newsletter.
Some ceramicists give early access to shop to their email subscribers.
If their site allows, create an account and save all of your payment and shipping/billing information ahead of time so you don't have to type it out during the sale - I have lost many a mug in the crucial seconds it takes to type out my CC info.
If their site does not allow you to create an account, save this information instead on your Chrome Wallet (it's an extension) and be sure to use that browser during the sale. This feature allows you to quickly auto-fill your information instead of typing it out.
Ask if they have Apple Pay - if they do, this is actually the fastest way to check out. So on the day of the shop update, you'll want to be shopping from your phone to use this payment option.
Stalk their social/emails to see if they do previews. Not everyone does, but if they do - this is crucial. A preview usually happens a few hours before the shop update and allows you to see the inventory live on the site without shopping. Save the links of each item you want on an open tab. Once the previews are over these links will disappear on their site but you will still have the URL saved. Sites like MudWitch have a long scroll shop and it trying to scroll down to the piece you saw on her IG in time to buy it won't happen. You need to save the URL so when the site goes live you can navigate directly to the item you want and add it to your cart.
Don't try and buy multiple items at once. Truly, this is annoying but the back and forth clicking is what will lose you an item. It's safer to go back and make multiple single item orders - most places will refund your shipping and combine your orders if you message them afterwards.
Or you can enlist the help of a friend or loved one and give them your login info and have them set up the payment on their chrome browser. Assign different items/URLs to different people, so you can all check out at the same time if you're worried there will not be enough time to go back and get the other items you want.
Check and see if they sell their pieces at any stockists and contact those stores directly to find out if they have anything in stock you can buy
Have patience. It has taken me months and multiple tries to snag some of the pieces I wanted. There are still ceramicists I have yet to be able to shop from (looking at you Mimi Likey) but I know someday, hopefully, I will.
There you have it! Now if any of you start snagging more pieces than me I will be mad.
Happy Shopping!
Claire