At A Glance

For Steven Loney, collectibles went from a hobby to a side hustle to a thriving E-Commerce business that fulfilled 2.4 million orders last year. His story shows the sales potential of digital platforms and the value that can be unlocked when you adapt to the ever-changing landscape. As you read about how he went from eBay listings to manufacturing licensed products overseas, you’ll see why he lists flexibility as one of the most important attributes for any entrepreneur.

Who is Steven

Meet Steven Loney, Co-Founder and CEO of Toynk.com.

About Tonyk.com

Founded in 2001, Toynk sells collectibles, toys and costumes, specializing in licensed pop-culture products. Not only does Toynk sell products through wholesale and retail channels, it’s grown to the point it’s involved in the creation, development, and manufacture of those items as well.

Steven’s entrepreneurial journey

Steven studied accounting in college, became a CPA and was wearing a suit to work in the corporate world. He hated the repetitiveness of the routine, though. He didn’t like dressing up for work, either. “I always wanted to wear shorts and flip-flops to work,” he said. “That was one reason I knew the entrepreneur life was for me.” He was living above a Tower Records at the time, which sold Simpson’s action figures. “I'd buy them and then just start selling them on eBay,” he said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, this works. You can make a few bucks doing this.’ “ Within a couple of months he was tracking down distributors, sourcing the toys himself and selling them out of his apartment. In 2001, he and a group of friends founded Toynk – which rhymes with doink – selling costumes, toys and collectibles out of Steven’s apartment.

Their catalog has expanded significantly over the past 24 years. The platforms they’ve used to sell these items, however, has changed even more dramatically starting on eBay, then incorporating Amazon and now using platforms like TikTok and eBay Live. “​​Selling online is kind of like the wild, wild west,” Steven said. “It's just non-stop changing.”

Toynk’s team structure

Toynk currently has just under 100 employees, but that total will climb past 200 over the final three months of the year when business spikes. The company is based in Gilberts, Illinois, a small village about 45 miles northwest of Chicago. The headquarters is 285,000 square feet, including both a warehouse and offices. Workers have the freedom to work remotely as Steven says he wants the company’s employees to have the type of freedom he craved when he was working a corporate job.  “As long as you do you get your stuff done, you can work from anywhere,” Steven said.

The CX factor

Early on, Steven says he had a tendency to be a little more skeptical of customer complaints, worried that he might get taken advantage of. Over time, he took a more long-term view of the situation. “I just realized it's about keeping customers happy and having an experience so they can return,” he said. Part of this is practical. It’s very difficult to build a successful company when customers make one purchase and don’t return. There’s a secondary benefit to making customers happy, though: They tend to tell other people about it. “You hope to build the brand so customers talk about it,” Steven said. “ ‘Oh, I shopped on Toynk, it was an amazing experience. I had a problem. They took care of it.’ “ This is especially true with some of the more expensive items such as prop replicas and hand-painted statues.

One customer purchased a statue for $3,000. When he received it, he was unhappy with the paint job. Toynk exchanged it for another one. The customer was not satisfied with the paint job on the second statue, either. Steven wanted to get it right, sending him a third statue, which the customer loved.

And then?

“That guy actually ended up becoming like one of our best customers,” Steven said. “He just kept buying from us. He just had an issue with that one statue and never had problems again. So it worked.”

Eyes and ears open

Collectible markets aren’t just prone to trends, they’re driven by them with Labubu being a current example. It’s not always possible to predict what will become popular. However, you can learn to spot the early signs of rising popularity. “I make it very clear to everybody,” Steven said, “Keep your eyes and ears peeled for what's new, what's happening, what are people asking for.” Toynk attends about 80 different conventions and tradeshows annually from comic cons to trading-card shows. “It’s exciting to get out to promote our brand and learn from our customers. After 20+ years of doing this, we know if a trend has retail potential, it starts with customers asking for merch at the cons.” 

Managing the holiday surge

Collectibles are a very seasonal business: Half of Toynk’s revenue comes between January 1st and October 15th. The remaining 50 percent comes during those final two and a half months of the year. After more than 20 years of experience, the company has established a solid routine. Summer months are the time for prep work. The seasonal hiring starts in August, and often adds another 100 to 150 people to manage the sales surge when Toynk goes from 3,000 orders a day to as many as 30,000. “We've gotten better and better at it,” Steven said, “I think we're now the most efficient we've ever been at being able to do that.”

Navigating tariffs

Most of the action figures and other three-dimensional items that Toynk creates are manufactured in China. To say that tariffs complicate this is an understatement. Steven lists managing the tariffs as his No. 1 goal currently. One workaround is sourcing inventory that has already landed in the U.S. It also helps that Loney’s trading-card company, Cardsmiths, does all its printing domestically, which means that tariffs aren’t a factor. “We've been putting a lot of effort into our trading-card business,” Steven said, “and it’s one of the hottest categories in collectibles right now so that's been a focus.

Steven’s advice to other entrepreneurs

Steven said the most important trait in E-Commerce is flexibility. When Toynk was founded in 2001, eBay was the primary platform. Five years later, Amazon became a prominent marketplace. Then Walmart and Target popped up along with other retailers. Today, it’s live shopping. “We've had to change and adjust the entire way,” he said. “If we would have just stuck with what we started with, we wouldn't be in business anymore. Be flexible. Learn  to adjust and be agile because things change very quickly.” That evolution is only accelerating.