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.

[asharerin]

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.

I would wait until your pending orders all get delivered (I have had them re-route packages back to them) and then call if you want. I would not worry about the ban as 99% of their products can be purchased elsewhere and you can still purchase and use VIP points instore. I was bummed when we got banned but it forced us to be creative and adapt and it ended up being a huge blessing in disguise.

[newbie77]

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.

its not the end of the world. if you are motivated and really want to be with lego selling et al. there are other ways of getting items.

 

[conceptmachine]

Haven't been banned YET... 

I've went over on a couple items in the past 

See the ban hammer coming.  Spent around 45k in 5 years thru online alone.  Won't bother me...give me more reason to stop hoarding.  I'm not a reseller...just a lunatic collector/builder.  Started out just wanting to build a train around some buildings then turned into a crazy mess.  I'll keep buying the ones I REALLY want.  GODSPEED!!!

[Gonkalin]

Got banned today. Placed a big order online on the 12th. $1800 worth. I did try to place the orders in $100 increments as to benefit from the free train promo. Next morning there were 16 orders totaling over $2600 (I only placed 10 orders). Very odd as many of the orders were exact duplicates. I didn't order any duplicates. One of them was duplicated 4 times. Some of them had a time stamp less than a minute apart. I couldn't place orders less than a minute apart if I tried and a Lego employee even told me that. Anyway, I've been banned. The Lego employee tried to push the order through.  The account kept saying it was deleted due to a bad billing address. The employee finally told me today (after 3calls to TLG) that I was flagged for reseller suspicion and I could send a email to plead my case. Anyone ever plead their case and get reinstated?

[redcell]

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.

I haven't gotten that email, but it's pretty clear that you've been banned.

[Gonkalin]

Jyst an FYI. I was just banned. I asked the phone guy if this ban also applies also to Lego store purchases and he said no. Although I have not tried this. Now the question is do you try to use your vip points in store which I would assume could red flag your account. Or skip that part.

[conceptmachine]

I was going to mention...i have a large amount of VIP points.  Should I cash them in now...or just kinda wait it out and see what happens?  Do they take all those VIP rewards with them?  Lol.  The main reason for big spending was because of the X2 points.

[newbie77]

Jyst an FYI. I was just banned. I asked the phone guy if this ban also applies also to Lego store purchases and he said no. Although I have not tried this. Now the question is do you try to use your vip points in store which I would assume could red flag your account. Or skip that part.

you can redeem the vip point in the store. you can buy @ store up to the enforced limit. yes the store employee will know that you are a reseller and have been banned from making online order.

best option is move on.

there is no point in email/pleading the case simply because you won't be able to

1. prove that you are not a re-seller.

they do a pretty detail research on you before taking that step and notifying you

[conceptmachine]

What do they do, IP search? How do they know that your a seller? 

Edited October 20, 2015 by conceptmachine

[Gonkalin]

you can redeem the vip point in the store. you can buy @ store up to the enforced limit. yes the store employee will know that you are a reseller and have been banned from making online order.

best option is move on.

there is no point in email/pleading the case simply because you won't be able to

1. prove that you are not a re-seller.

they do a pretty detail research on you before taking that step and notifying you

Ironically. I'm shipping out 3 sets via eBay as we speak. Guess I deserve it. Lots of other places to buy probably with better discounts anyway.

[lodibricks]

Got banned today. Placed a big order online on the 12th. $1800 worth. I did try to place the orders in $100 increments as to benefit from the free train promo. Next morning there were 16 orders totaling over $2600 (I only placed 10 orders). Very odd as many of the orders were exact duplicates. I didn't order any duplicates. One of them was duplicated 4 times. Some of them had a time stamp less than a minute apart. I couldn't place orders less than a minute apart if I tried and a Lego employee even told me that. Anyway, I've been banned. The Lego employee tried to push the order through.  The account kept saying it was deleted due to a bad billing address. The employee finally told me today (after 3calls to TLG) that I was flagged for reseller suspicion and I could send a email to plead my case. Anyone ever plead their case and get reinstated?

If you had duplicate orders made that you didn't intend to, I would think it's at least worth fighting if the ban was due to a processing glitch. If dupe orders aside they still feel it's ban-worthy, then that might be another story.

[newbie77]

Ironically. I'm shipping out 3 sets via eBay as we speak. Guess I deserve it. Lots of other places to buy probably with better discounts anyway.

exactly the point. sooner you realize that better your business be. you would be missing just the few promotional stuffs but obviously can buy them off ebay/amazon if needed in quantity without worrying about being banned

What do they do, IP search? How do they know that your a seller? 

they have a whole lot of data about you from your buying account. in addition to that lego does a huge market research. they know buying pattern. trust me they are not as incompetent as presented.

my personal opinion is that, they don't go after each and every re-seller. what causes them to ban "specific ones" are something i don't know. but for most part they know who are genuine customer vs re-sellers.

[newbie77]

If you had duplicate orders made that you didn't intend to, I would think it's at least worth fighting if the ban was due to a processing glitch. If dupe orders aside they still feel it's ban-worthy, then that might be another story.

email listed above is not generic OUT OF STOCK email or  generic one that is sent out when orders are cancelled "automatically" for whatever reason.

this email although it seems GENERIC, its account specific and its sent out for those account that has been marked/flagged as "re-seller" account. how they categorize or flag those account is something i don't know.

 

[Bold-Arrow]

my personal opinion is that, they don't go after each and every re-seller. what causes them to ban "specific ones" are something i don't know. but for most part they know who are genuine customer vs re-sellers.exactly the point. sooner you realize that better your business be. you would be missing just the few promotional stuffs but obviously can buy them off ebay 

this. If you really think about it, aside from the free promos ( the Christmas ones being the best of the bunch in general) you are not missing out on much.

95% of the sets can be found cheaper at most retailers . 

I do get the sting of being banned though ( I am looking at you target ) 

[Ciglione]

They know... especially when you buy a couple of lonely mountains. Cause I've learned just now that only resellers buy this set. 

[lodibricks]

email listed above is not generic OUT OF STOCK email or  generic one that is sent out when orders are cancelled "automatically" for whatever reason.

this email although it seems GENERIC, its account specific and its sent out for those account that has been marked/flagged as "re-seller" account. how they categorize or flag those account is something i don't know.

 

I get the email is specific. I just read that he said he had the same duplicate order placed 4 times, a minute apart. If an error like that might've contributed to the ban being placed, I thought it'd be worth asking. However, the 10 legitimate orders placed might've been enough to warrant it, w/ or w/o the dupes.

[Gonkalin]

If you had duplicate orders made that you didn't intend to, I would think it's at least worth fighting if the ban was due to a processing glitch. If dupe orders aside they still feel it's ban-worthy, then that might be another story.

Reality is that I've bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of sets over the past 6 years so I think it would be hard to justify if they looked at my history via VIP points history. Pretty obvious what I'm doing here. For example, I have 20 fire brigades. Never bought more than 2 at a time from TLG but I have probably bought 10 of them in small increments from shop at home and brick and mortar Lego stores. Others I got from Amazon, target, etc. so those I bought from TLG are trackable through vip points history.

[conceptmachine]

They know... especially when you buy a couple of lonely mountains. Cause I've learned just now that only resellers buy this set. 

 

 

 

I've bought my share of Lonely Mountains.  Smaug will be good trade bait someday.

[cmartin33]

Is there anything to receiving that email 5 times though. I guess it means I was flagged 5 separate times to be banned? I guess it means don't buy 5 of every set you like.

[terrymc4677]

Below is a post I made from last October's double VIP event. I did an experiment and it was very successful in that I was able to attain many promos, a big chunk of VIP points, and multiples on exclusives all the while staying under the ban hammer radar. Anyone placing multiple orders totaling thousands of dollars within a day or two is just begging to be banned. I only have one account, linked to one credit card and one address. I have no brick & mortar lego store close by. All of my purchases are online.

I haven't been nearly as aggressive this October as I was last year, but only because the double VIP was originally only supposed to be half as long as last year, the train doesn't really stand out to me the way the elves' workshop from last year did, and I already have my target on several of the exclusives that are currently available. I did however place two separate identical orders for 1 sand crawler, 5 thanksgiving feasts, and 1 promo train. One was placed on the 13th, and the second on the 15th after the first order was processed. The crawlers are on back order, but the feasts and trains have already been received. 

Since last October I have been purchasing 1 slave I, 1 tumbler, and a few other odds and ends each month, with no issues. My point in bringing all of this up is that people need to exercise some caution with how they order if they don't want the ban hammer to fall. Reading about dozens of orders totaling thousands of dollars being placed in the same day, and then wondering if the letter they received was "a processing glitch" is laughable. Yes, you have been banned. It should not be a surprise. If lego ever pulled my order history I'm sure I would probably be banned as well, but I try not to give them a reason to pull it by keeping things low key. It is possible to accumulate points and promos. Just be smart about it.

 

 

Well, today is the last day of double VIP. Here is how I finished the month...

 

10/15 palace cinema

10/16 vw camper van

10/17 Mini Cooper

10/18 r2d2

10/19 santas workshop / ecto 1

10/20 pet shop

10/21 Parisian restaurant

10/22 arkham asylum

10/23 Mini Cooper

10/24 ewok village

10/25 maersk triple e

10/26 pet shop

10/27 vw camper van

10/28 maersk triple e

10/29 r2d2

10/30 vw camper van

10/31 ewok village

 

Total promos earned were 30 elves workshops (my last order on 10/31 didn't get one), 2 hot dog carts, 2 lotr posters, 1 creator thanksgiving turkey, and $415 in VIP points. I used the points on the two ewok villages to bring their cost down to just under $45 each.

 

Throughout the entire month not a single order was sent to customer service, and everything was shipped amazingly fast, with the exception of the pet shops which were back ordered at first but have all since been received. If anyone hasn't tried ths method, it may be the way to go in order to take full advantage of double points and promos while accumulating exclusives under the radar. Keep in mind that I don't have access to a brick and mortar lego store. The closest one near me is 90 miles away.

 

Edited October 20, 2015 by terrymc4677

[ravenb99]

 

 

 

you gave them the blueprint but yet some order 25 in one night....

 

 

[lodibricks]

 

 

 

I appreciate your input, but no one said the email was a processing glitch. I was referring to his order being placed 4 times when he only ordered once. That's a processing glitch.

[conceptmachine]

Lol... and I've been sending them back damaged sets left and right lately.  They will probably ban me just so they can save money on shipping. Lol!   The last run of crushed boxes I paid 1/2 shipping costs.  So maybe they'll just lay thr ban hammer down instead of throwing it. 

[terrymc4677]

you gave them the blueprint but yet some order 25 in one night....

 

 

yeah, I don't understand why people feel the need to order like that. It only raises suspicion and earns them a one way ticket to Banville. 

I should have quoted both of my original posts. To sum up the experiment for any newbies, I only placed one order per day. Only one set per order, or enough to get me just over the threshold to earn the promo. I never ordered the same set two days in a row. I always waited for my previous order to be "in warehouse" before I placed my next order. Everything went very smooth, and never was any order placed into "customer service" status or flagged for any reason. I have been buying on the same account/card since with no issues. If you don't have a physical lego store or two nearby then this is the way to go to accumulate points/promos without bringing attention to yourself.

[newbie77]

Lol... and I've been sending them back damaged sets left and right lately.  They will probably ban me just so they can save money on shipping. Lol!   The last run of crushed boxes I paid 1/2 shipping costs.  So maybe they'll just lay thr ban hammer down instead of throwing it. 

yup that does it. who cares about slightly crushed boxes you have be a re-seller