Fair Play at Scale: How Toymate Brought Order to Pokémon Chaos
Australian-owned retailer Toymate has gone through many cycles of ‘hot products’ in its 20+ years of business. However, even seasoned retailers were surprised earlier this year when the demand for Pokémon Trading Card sets hit unprecedented highs.
Toymate sought a solution to not only improve the experience around Pokémon releases for their fans but also protect their stock from bots and bad actors.
The Challenge
According to Conor Hilton, Buyer at Toymate, the company was facing two major problems:
- Online sellouts to bots: “As soon as a product went live on our site, it would be instantly cleared out—not by real customers, but by people using scripts to buy everything.”
- In-store chaos: Limited allocations and long lines created a frustrating experience for fans, many of whom left empty-handed
The result? Limited visibility into actual demand, unpredictable in-store traffic, and no clear way to engage or reward the store’s real fans.
Around 2019, I started to see bots taking over. I knew they were only interested in the resale value of the art, rather than appreciation for the art itself. This beautiful collectors vibe was being replaced by a cutthroat commercial vibe.
The Fix
Toymate began using EQL to power their Pokémon launches in early 2025. The onboarding process took just a few days, and Toymate was able to get more control over the launch process from start to finish.
With EQL:
- Launches were protected from bots and bad actors.
- Fans entered for a fair chance to purchase, online or in-store.
- Toymate gained real-time insight into the size and shape of demand.
“We were shocked when we saw the actual number of signups. We thought we had a good idea of what the interest was, but seeing the actual unique entries on one product signaled that the demand was way higher than we originally thought. And these weren’t just clicks—they were people entering full payment details. That kind of engagement was mind-blowing.”
The Outcome
After running multiple EQL-powered launches, Toymate saw game-changing results:
381:1 hype ratio — for every product available, 381 people tried to buy it
Significant boost in social engagement, with EQL launch posts outperforming even the store’s most popular giveaways
New customer acquisition: Many entrants were new to Toymate’s database
Perhaps most importantly, Toymate now has proof of demand from its fans. While Pokémon is still riding a wave of popularity, Conor sees the long-term value: “When supply finally meets demand, we’ll have the customer insights—and the infrastructure—to scale.”
While many retailers continue to “set and forget” their Pokémon sales, Toymate is playing the long game—prioritizing customer experience, data-driven strategy, and scalable infrastructure.
“When fans lose, but they at least know it was fair, they come back. Since moving these launches to EQL, we’ve had fewer complaints, fewer calls, and a much better in-store experience, and that was the goal.”
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