Clearance mosaic and subway tiles
Small format tiles, sold by the sheet or the box. This is the category where clearance makes the most sense, because the areas are small and a finite lot usually covers the whole job.
Buying mosaic and subway tiles: what actually matters
Mosaics use a lot of grout, and the grout does the work
A mosaic sheet has an enormous amount of joint per square metre compared to a large tile, so grout is a much bigger share of both the cost and the finished appearance. Buy more than the bag calculator suggests. And choose the grout colour deliberately: on a mosaic the grout is not a gap between tiles, it is roughly a third of what you are looking at. A contrasting grout turns the same sheet into a completely different product.
Epoxy grout in a shower is worth the extra, especially on small formats
Cement grout is porous and, on the sheer joint length of a mosaic, that is a lot of surface for soap scum and mould to get into. Epoxy grout costs more and is harder to work with, so some tilers will resist it, but on a mosaic shower floor it is the difference between wiping it clean in five years and scrubbing it. If you use cement grout, seal it.
A subway tile at a 50% offset has the same lipping problem as a plank
The traditional half-brick bond is what most people picture, and on a long thin subway tile it runs into the same bow issue as timber planks: the middle of one tile meets the ends of its neighbours, so any slight curvature shows as a lip. On a 150x450 or longer, drop to a third offset or a stack bond. On a classic short 75x150 subway, 50% is fine.
Why this stock is such good value
Clearance tiles are not seconds. Everything here is first grade. It is cheap because it is finite: a line an importer is clearing, a colourway a manufacturer has stopped making, or the tail of a container that nobody wants to keep warehousing. The catch is not quality, it is that you cannot get more. On a normal tile you can go back in six weeks for another two boxes. Here you cannot, so the quantity you order is the quantity you will ever have.