LEGO Bans - Open Discussion

[TheBrickClique]

As for operating with a single account to stay within the vendor’s technically-enforced limits, I believe this is the current state of things.
 

Cliff notes: you’ll be fine as long as you don’t go on a spending spree at Target.com, and try not to bring attention to your buying patterns by dealing with online customer service for small gripes that can be dealt with in store instead.

Target - the easiest place to get banned based simply on purchase volume online and the most aggressive against resellers in store — employees trained to identify resellers loading up carts for example.  Can still use red card in store after online ban, but using with a new email account will result in repeat ban — start receiving auto cancellations and email about possible issues including payment purchase method.  Some people have bans lifted after a period in timeout. Others indefinitely. The amount of purchases that may identify you as a reseller and get a ban? One data point: I have been unable to purchase online going on 18 months now after two months of $5k purchases on the red card. Same red card still works fine in store.
 

LEGO shop at home — with the purchase limits mechanics implemented a few years ago, it is much more difficult to get the SAH ban hammer. If you exceed a limit on any item based on past purchases of the same item, they will cancel your entire order. Be warned that if they cancel an order with a VIP Rewards purchase, the reward is not automatically credited back to your account. Also, if they cancel an item due to inventory issues, the system still tracks it as qty purchased. Qty purchased in brick and mortar stores that are purchased with VIP accounts are not counted towards SAH limits and and limits in store are done at the individual store’s discretion. If you do have to call customer service to resolve an issue, they do have easy visibility to all of your previous orders and will make comments about you “really liking LEGOs”.  No indication that that is how the ban process starts, but unless you really have an issue that needs CS, might be best to just let the small things go. 
 

Amazon — shop away. Their limits are tracked to the second on a 168-hour FIFO.  Limits apply and are tracked in that window only to items sold and shipped by Amazon.com. Buy as many third party items as you wish. Anecdotal stories of bans for excessive returns, but no clear information on the metrics used. Generally, probably best to save the returns for the really bad boxes.  Creating multiple accounts will get noticed and is the quickest way to get the warning shot emails. 
 

Barnes and Noble — similar to LEGO, has a five qty per item lifetime limit online. Exceed that amount and just that item will be cancelled from the order. No reports of bans. In store purchases do not appear to be tied to online memberships as far as adding to your 5-count quantity.  
 

Walmart — most LEGO are limited to two per order, but they won’t say how often that limit is reset.  Doing a couple of multiple limit orders in the same day has worked.  Doing dozens has resulted in order cancellations of those specific items but no bans that I am aware of. Generally, I have found one limit order per day has never resulted in a cancellation. 
 

ShopDisney — some items have limits but they are selectively enforced. If you put in multiple limit orders at the same time, they might cancel those items. If you space them out, they will be fine. I ordered a dozen castles (limit one per customer) last year and they all went through. Sometimes two in two consecutive days. 
 

Costco — has item limits on some items, but I haven’t seen any on LEGOs. Even with items with limits, possible to space them out without issue.  In store limits are usually “per day”. 
 

Best Buy — unsure on LEGO as I’ve never pushed the limits on them. In the past, I would make 50 purchases at a time of 2-dollar items that had limits and they would all go through.  I have tried to make multiple purchases of Xbox consoles and those were cancelled.  So YMMV. But no reports of bans.

Anyways, those are my observations.

[Pseudoty]

Im not in US. Can i use my credit card (not US address) to buy lego from Shop@Home, ship to my friend's address in US, and then ask them to send to me?

 

Will this method work? 

I agree with what Greg says. Also if your friend buys lego from LEGO Shop at Home then there is a chance he will get banned. 

[MarleyMoose]

I still haven't received word on why my $75+ order was cancelled on 9/3 but I still have the purchase pending in my checking account.

[gregpj]

I still haven't received word on why my $75+ order was cancelled on 9/3 but I still have the purchase pending in my checking account.

If they tell you why, I'd be surprised. They are usually evasive with their reasons.

[MarleyMoose]

I still haven't received word on why my $75+ order was cancelled on 9/3 but I still have the purchase pending in my checking account.

Well, my cancelled order is now in warehouse except for the MM that is back ordered. Phew!... I was worried there for a bit.

[risingsun11801]

Well, my cancelled order is now in warehouse except for the MM that is back ordered. Phew!... I was worried there for a bit.

Did you call and ask what happened or did you just wait it out? I also had an order from last week cancelled and the balance on the gift card I used still gone as well. 

[MarleyMoose]

I emailed them and never got a reply. I was going to call them but the order went through before I could. I believe it was some kind of error because I ordered while Shop was have issues with people signing into their accounts.

[sharky1999]

I prefer to blame others

I'll sell my blaming rights to the highest bidder.

[waddamon]

Banning is stupid but they do it. Seeing what people are getting banned for now is crazy. I probably spent 60k, tons of freebies, maxed all the points before I was banned. Any serious builders cannot buy quantity from Lego and that is stupid. But, that is how it is. I have a few proxy buyers now, but I don't use them much, so they won't get banned as well. I do miss the freebies and minifigs.

[areyounormal]

thought I would add my .02 cents here: as some may already know I am not a reseller, just a collector, and recently had my LEGO Shop at Home orders being cancelled automatically.  For reference I had been placing average 2-4 orders from LEGO Shop at Home per month usually single items or if it was a seasonal promo like Painting Easter Eggs or Valentines Day i would order 2 of those sets, and never more than 1 of any exclusive set and I never had any issues.  Right before my problems started I placed an order for a DO and about 2 weeks later ordered another so I could make a MOC and expand it (and this was the first time I ordered more than 1 exclusive).  In between I also ordered some small pieces from the pick a brick website.  For the large orders I had them sent to my work so I could sign for the packages and for the pick a brick orders I had sent to my home since I knew they would fit into my mailbox.  My guess is that as a result of the orders with different shipping address - although I have used those 2 addresses for the past several years - my account was flagged and all orders I tried to place after the 2nd DO are cancelled automatically.

Now each time I place an order I phone as soon as I see it is cancelled and they push my order thru to "review" and then 2 days later or so it goes thru.   My guess is they check my purchase history each time?  The customer service people have been very helpful and friendly through the process but did alert me that my orders would likely be cancelled automatically over the next couple of months and I should keep close watch on my orders and phone in each time I see cancelled.

Not sure if this info helps anyone but I guess it is worth a phone call if you could be in a similar situation as I am...

[Frank Brickowski]

How many people around here have been banned for buying "too much" in an OFFLINE (B&M) LEGO Store via their VIP card? Is the ban hammer looming offline, too, or have there been no offline cases yet?

[waddamon]

I can and have in volume used my vip card in store when I'm out of state. Points accrue and I can use them.

[cmartin33]

Did anybody else get the below email? Does this mean I'm banned? I did make a bunch of orders (around 25) on October 13th recently to get lots of holiday trains and 2X VIP but I always stayed within their limits with a few exceptions (ordered 2 Pet shops and 2 Red Fives even though I've ordered 2 of each 6+ months earlier). Other than that though I've mostly stayed under the limits treating them as lifetime limits. For what it's worth, I did receive most all my recent orders though. 

Thanks for your interest in LEGO® toys.

LEGO.com/service, LEGO.com/shop and the LEGO Stores are dedicated direct-to-consumer sales channels. In order to provide the highest possible level of service to our consumers, we have instituted a policy of not selling or shipping products or individual bricks and pieces to retailers or business owners/companies via these channels.

Due to our policies, your recent order couldn’t be processed and has been cancelled. Any future orders will also be cancelled.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns.

[Val-E]

Did anybody else get the below email? Does this mean I'm banned? I did make a bunch of orders (around 25) on October 13th recently to get lots of holiday trains and 2X VIP but I always stayed within their limits with a few exceptions (ordered 2 Pet shops and 2 Red Fives even though I've ordered 2 of each 6+ months earlier). Other than that though I've mostly stayed under the limits treating them as lifetime limits. For what it's worth, I did receive most all my recent orders though. 

Thanks for your interest in LEGO® toys.

LEGO.com/service, LEGO.com/shop and the LEGO Stores are dedicated direct-to-consumer sales channels. In order to provide the highest possible level of service to our consumers, we have instituted a policy of not selling or shipping products or individual bricks and pieces to retailers or business owners/companies via these channels.

Due to our policies, your recent order couldn’t be processed and has been cancelled. Any future orders will also be cancelled.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns.

Hammer time, unfortunately.

[Ed Mack]

Did anybody else get the below email? Does this mean I'm banned? I did make a bunch of orders (around 25) on October 13th recently to get lots of holiday trains and 2X VIP but I always stayed within their limits with a few exceptions (ordered 2 Pet shops and 2 Red Fives even though I've ordered 2 of each 6+ months earlier). Other than that though I've mostly stayed under the limits treating them as lifetime limits. For what it's worth, I did receive most all my recent orders though. 

Thanks for your interest in LEGO® toys.

LEGO.com/service, LEGO.com/shop and the LEGO Stores are dedicated direct-to-consumer sales channels. In order to provide the highest possible level of service to our consumers, we have instituted a policy of not selling or shipping products or individual bricks and pieces to retailers or business owners/companies via these channels.

Due to our policies, your recent order couldn’t be processed and has been cancelled. Any future orders will also be cancelled.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns.

You are banned.  Sorry.

[dcdfan]

[Ciglione]

[cmartin33]

Oh man I am really banned. The same email keeps coming...... I've now received it 5 times! So it must be some automated system vs. a manual review.

[Ciglione]

Oh man I am really banned. The same email keeps coming...... I've now received it 5 times! So it must be some automated system vs. a manual review.

Are you sure? I would call them and ask for a confirmation.

[cmartin33]

Are you sure? I would call them and ask for a confirmation.

I'm too scared to call. It looks like my "in warehouse" and "back-ordered" items haven't been cancelled yet though on the bright side. The only items that have been cancelled were the Birthday Table Decoration (40153) which is dumb because I only ordered 5 and there is supposedly no limit for those.

[Val-E]

Are you sure? I would call them and ask for a confirmation.

Yes, call them and say you made multiple orders of EOL items to get lots of Holiday Trains. Everything will turn out just great.

[dcdfan]

Are you sure? I would call them and ask for a confirmation.

I agree. Something more formal than an email...

Edited October 19, 2015 by dcdfan

[Pedilego]

I... I just wanted to make a really, reaaally long Holiday Train. I was going to run my Chrismas lights through them and hang the lines from my roof. It would've gone viral, Lego! It would've gone VIRAL! You're missing out on a great marketing opportunity by banning me!

[Ciglione]

I agree. Something more formal than an email...

And if they do not answer your calls or emails... go over there!

[Val-E]

I agree. Something more formal than an email...

Then it would be "What a Lego employee told me". Surely an official email is clear enough.

Seriously, though, it doesn´t hurt to double check - it wouldn´t be the first time Lego has had an IT freak up.

[mfortunek]

Did anybody else get the below email? Does this mean I'm banned? I did make a bunch of orders (around 25) on October 13th recently to get lots of holiday trains and 2X VIP but I always stayed within their limits with a few exceptions (ordered 2 Pet shops and 2 Red Fives even though I've ordered 2 of each 6+ months earlier). Other than that though I've mostly stayed under the limits treating them as lifetime limits. For what it's worth, I did receive most all my recent orders though. 

Thanks for your interest in LEGO® toys.

LEGO.com/service, LEGO.com/shop and the LEGO Stores are dedicated direct-to-consumer sales channels. In order to provide the highest possible level of service to our consumers, we have instituted a policy of not selling or shipping products or individual bricks and pieces to retailers or business owners/companies via these channels.

Due to our policies, your recent order couldn’t be processed and has been cancelled. Any future orders will also be cancelled.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sorry to hear this.  But thanks for being honest about your purchase history.  So many people get banned and they swear they only placed one order in the last six months or whatever.  "Officer I swear I only had two beers.  Just two..."