stephen_rockefeller Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 wrong on this one. I was banned and went into a Lego store and used $230.00 in points no problem. Even gave me multiple promos.It differs by store then because one of my local stores wouldn't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicblast Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Another reason why LEGO could have banned your account is due to the risk that you stole the credit card info that you are using. Buying a lot of sets in a short period of time as a new members always has businesses suspect you more than a "veteran" member, who has consistantly been buying X amount of sets. But to be honest, a bad first experience should not make you want to quit this early in the game. First impressions can change... LEGO investing could be your next best friend. You never know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legodelorean Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 i called Lego back to discuss it with them. I am a newbie VIP (new to Legos also grandkids got me interested a few weeks ago) and explained that I am not a reseller. They said so far I was only "blocked", not banned as of yet. There is a review process. The customer service person told me not to stress out about it. I am thinking most likely I will be banned, but if I do, I will be really ticked off and may very well return everything I have purchased. While I can see investing is worthwhile, there is a TON of work involved for little return per hour. So I may be out a few hundred bucks, but call it a learning experience. At the very least I am annoyed at Lego, because they really are not protecting anyone by limiting sales. Unless there is a shortage of plastic I do not see why they are concerned if they sell 1000 sets or a million sets. It really doesn't hurt anyone that I can see. Basic economics would show that the more are sold, the more are available after retirement so prices will be cheaper to the public, thus serving them. If no one stocked up on sets, then there would be none available for the future and prices would skyrocket. That would only benefit the lucky ones. Better than pick on us , they should pick on true retailers that withhold inventory because of rumors of retirement, etc. or jack up prices before retirement (i.e.. Target) Maybe I will cool off in a few days, especially if I get a favorable ruling from Lego. IF BANNED, my investing days are done, no matter how good the return, because I just don't believe in the philosophy of limiting sales of less than 5. Its not like I ordered 100. The only reason I ordered so heavily in the last 10 days, was because of my enthusiasm. I easily could have spread it out had I known better. I wouldn't let this get you down. I am a newbie as well and have bought all of my stuff on sale at Target, eBay, and on Amazon. I never seem to know about deals on the Lego website. I'm always late. It also helps if you like Lego as well. When I say that, I mean to like it for non-investment reasons. If you love Lego and you love investing in Lego, I think that's one of the keys to being successful investing. If you are just doing it to make a quick buck and have no interest in it otherwise, then I can see how you can get turned off and just give up on it completely. Good luck with your investing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legoman12323123 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 I had my Lego account blocked today. I have been ordering a fair amount in the last couple of weeks.... 4 or 5 of a couple of sets. Other than than, nothing to speak of? Did I do something wrong? why was I blocked? Did you order to good to be true legos from drop shippers on ebay? Thats the only real reason why you would be banned. I will never buy to good to be true lego exclusives on ebay from low feedback buyers never lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neocacher Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 Great news today! I heard from Lego LEGO Shop at Home and they honored my order which got blocked a week ago. Apparantly I got unblocked (unbanned) for whatever reason. Maybe because I called and tried to reason with them. Thanks to all you well wishers for your support in this thread. I will tread lightly in the next few months ordering from the LEGO Shop at Home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjsrt8 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Space out your purchases don't buy 3 or more of the same set in 1 month triggers them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legodelorean Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Glad to hear you are unbanned. Giving them a call probably helped you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Mack Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Don't buy multiples of exclusives, especially in one order. Use LEGO S@H for hard to find exclusive sets and promotions. Buy bulk sets elsewhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buggy Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Ban is not end of the world, but for example in Slovakia we have no official Lego Store (even SaH not send to us - I have to use Czech address), or Wallmart, or TRU, Targer, ToysRUs or anything else with good deal opportunities. Just ebay and amazon with very expensive post costs. So, not to be banned in SaH is important in Slovakia when you want to trade with Lego. Its a shame for Lego I thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weakside Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Throw in a pick-a-brick custom order to throw them off your reselling scent or some items from their sales and deals section. Being banned is not the end of the world but obviously better flexibility to be able to order online from LEGO Shop at Home and get their promotions. Have fun staying ban free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudcatsfan Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 So you made at least 13 orders (but sounds like 15) over 10 days? Each one of those orders includes a balloon cart, I'm sure. Lego is going to wonder what you're planning to do with all of those. And with 13 different balloon carts. Just focusing on the balloon carts, those are promos. They know people are selling them for $15-20 each on eBay. They can only assume you're planning on doing the same. Why else would you need 13 balloon carts? I think this is the biggest problem they have with banning. They only have so many bonus items, and the point of those items is to get a UNIQUE customer to make a purchase, not to supplement one customer over several purchases. They specifically say, One per household, yet they dont do anything programatically to enforce it, which they could. Are there legit reasons why you might 'deserve' more than one per household? Sure, i have 2-5 kids, i spent two grand, etc, but their 'rule' is one per household. Therefore anyone subverting that, by ordering multiple one per order is violating their process, and instead of proactively preventing it, they're reactively punishing it. Not saying its right or wrong, but i believe that is their issue. Also i fully understand many folks have gotten around this, and managed to get something like 50 Martian Headhunter figures, but like we said, Lego seems to be a random and capricious god. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicblast Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Throw in a pick-a-brick custom order to throw them off your reselling scent or some items from their sales and deals section. Being banned is not the end of the world but obviously better flexibility to be able to order online from LEGO Shop at Home and get their promotions. Have fun staying ban free. I understand the PAB order mentality, but why would purchasing sets from the Sales and Deals section suggest that you aren't a reseller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrickLegacy Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I don't have any objections to them blocking this account. It appears to be, from their point of view, a shadow account for a reseller. That sort of buying activity is not normal behavior. I hope they just issue a warning however since it could be plausible that someone with a large disposable income and a lot of kids/grandkids just rediscovered LEGO. That's not very likely so they froze the account and investigated. I hope it works out for you and they give you a second chance. Please read the forums to learn the best strategy for staying under the radar. In your case, you'll have to be very careful going forward. I enjoy not being banned because I like the promos. Sent from my iPhone using Brickpicker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I did speak to customer services (using a false name and somebody else's phone for obvious reasons) last week about this in the UK and they said that Lego reselling is rife in the US and results in a severe shortage of stock to fulfill orders to genuine end users. Apparently there is no such concern in the UK at this time and orders will simply be cancelled rather than impose an outright ban. What I did hear though was that US prices may have to increase slightly to bring them more inline with Europe and Asia. Believe me, I'd have been banned long ago if I lived in the US! No doubt this also belongs to the "What I heard from a Lego employee" thread and take it as you will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddamon Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I have been banned and I think the way they handle it is not clear nor transparent. They like the sales, and at the end of the day they are a retail front not a secondary. They know that adults are a big piece of the market. Very few adults (me included) would drop top coin for the really large expensive sets for their kids. Those are geared towards adults. If LEGO really was concerned about reselling as a problem for their business all sets would be one per household limit, not 5 or unlimited as well as they would manage promos and freebies to one per household. The reality is that they would see a serious drop in sales if they did this. They would also not allow orders beyond the limit. This would be easy to process, Amazon can do it (if only for 7 days ass they like the sales as well). LEGO is managing their image plain and simple, if not for the adult market they would not be the #2 toy company and they know it. Either way there are quite a few ways to purchase LEGO other than on-line from their store. Downside to my town is that there is no LEGO store to go to. I would also say that in the US they may be using the free PROMO as a way to flush out Re-sellers. This was implied to me in the communication that I received from them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naf Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Lego can obviously track how much each VIP customer purchases. I don't understand why they don't just check how many of a particular set you've purchased in the past as part of the order fulfillment process. They wouldn't have to do this for every set, just exclusives as most resellers are going to buy non-exclusives on discount from other retailers. If it shows that Joe Customer already bought 5 GE's, and he tries to order another one, they simply cancel the order and send a friendly email stating that Joe has already ordered their limit on GE's. A limit of 5 is more than enough for 99% of households if they wanted to buy one for each of their kids. And most resellers would want more than 5, so they'll start looking elsewhere for stock (we already do this in fear of the banhammer). This seems like a much more customer friendly approach than banning people due to some non-transparent mysterious line they crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TabbyBoy Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Lego UK didn't bat an eyelid when I made 19 orders of 5x Mars Rovers a few days apart. Even my last back-order arrived without fuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Mack Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I have been banned and I think the way they handle it is not clear nor transparent. They like the sales, and at the end of the day they are a retail front not a secondary. They know that adults are a big piece of the market. Very few adults (me included) would drop top coin for the really large expensive sets for their kids. Those are geared towards adults. If LEGO really was concerned about reselling as a problem for their business all sets would be one per household limit, not 5 or unlimited as well as they would manage promos and freebies to one per household. The reality is that they would see a serious drop in sales if they did this. They would also not allow orders beyond the limit. This would be easy to process, Amazon can do it (if only for 7 days ass they like the sales as well). LEGO is managing their image plain and simple, if not for the adult market they would not be the #2 toy company and they know it. Either way there are quite a few ways to purchase LEGO other than on-line from their store. Downside to my town is that there is no LEGO store to go to. I would also say that in the US they may be using the free PROMO as a way to flush out Re-sellers. This was implied to me in the communication that I received from them. I agree with this. LEGO can easily upgrade their entire S@H Point of Sale system to track and limit whatever they want. The conveniently keep their system in the Dark Ages and customers in the dark. They don't want to come out with a press release stating the fact that resellers are affecting them. That would be like adding gas to the Brickpicker fire. They send multiple promos to me and not to others. They ban some people for multiple orders and don't ban others that have ordered 100 of the same set, because they want to unload them. I value S@H and buy reasonable amounts of sets through them, but it is not the best place to buy sets in many cases. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinP Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I understand the PAB order mentality, but why would purchasing sets from the Sales and Deals section suggest that you aren't a reseller? Most of the sets and stuff that is in the Sales and Deals section are sets that are horrible investments. And most of their sales are only 20% off. You could find better sales on the same sets from Amazon and other retailers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biniou Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I'm really tempted to have a 4th order... in a week. Because for each order (it ends in few hours, July 7th) you can get the 5002812 set (http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/10619-5002812-d2c-minifigure-retro-set-2014-white-astronaut/) Those sell about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinP Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I'm really tempted to have a 4th order... in a week. Because for each order (it ends in few hours, July 7th) you can get the 5002812 set (http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/10619-5002812-d2c-minifigure-retro-set-2014-white-astronaut/) Those sell about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legodelorean Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 From what you're saying, it looks like you ordered different sets for each purchase, except for the Ecto-1. I would try to get a different, and maybe, larger set like an exclusive. Or you could get a set for yourself. Which ever one you want, but I don't think by placing a fourth order this week will get your account blocked or banned. I just ordered a GE this morning with my card and I have some funds in Paypal that I could use to get another one. I just couldn't buy 2 on the same card. Is this the road to Bansville USA? I don't want to miss out on the availability on the Lego website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinP Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 I just ordered a GE this morning with my card and I have some funds in Paypal that I could use to get another one. I just couldn't buy 2 on the same card. Is this the road to Bansville USA? I don't want to miss out on the availability on the Lego website. You shouldn't get banned for that. You get banned (easily) if you make purchases that include various exclusives, over and over again. I don't know how many GE you have ordered from Lego so far, but you should be fine. The best way to prevent getting banned is to space out your purchases and make sure that you don't buy too many in a short period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddamon Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 The BANNING scare is in full affect on this board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinP Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 The BANNING scare is in full affect on this board. I don't get it. A lot of members are scared about being banned when it is not the end of the world. If you do get banned, there are always other places to get exclusives and often at slightly better prices. It is also very easy to prevent getting banned. Don't buy too many of one set in a short period of time, especially exclusives. It is that simple. Space out your purchases and you will be fine. Also, you don't always have to buy from Lego. Other retailers have them. The only time I buy from Lego is when they are the only retailer to have the set in-stock or the monthly promos are really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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