Popular Post TheBrickClique Posted December 6, 2021 Popular Post Posted December 6, 2021 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. 13 8 Quote
Val-E Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) Miami, remember to poke everyone as you leave! Edited October 23, 2015 by valenciaeric 1 Quote
Guest TabbyBoy Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I think the vast amount of points on your VIP account triggered the check and that one purchase of 99 FB was solely enough to send your account into Hammerland.What annoys me is why did it take them nearly 3yrs to notice my FBs? I nearly bought 99x HH soon after and thought about a loan for 99x SSD. I now wish I had done! I still think I'm small fry. I wonder where those massive job lots of hundred of sets come from? IMHO... £450 VIP isn't vast, £2000 maybe. I've been higher but, as people say, the rules have changed. Quote
Val-E Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 It would appear they only started the ban policy in Europe this summer - at least from accounts on this forum. Quote
Miami Bomb Squad Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I wonder where those massive job lots of hundred of sets come from?They don't buy them from Lego directly. Quote
Miami Bomb Squad Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Miami, remember to poke everyone as you leave!Solamente Las Bonitas! Quote
Val-E Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Most other shops treat you like royalty if you buy so much - Lego´s loss it is then. Quote
Achilles Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I don't mean this to be offensive to Tabby or anyone else, but any one of us who gets caught/banned or whatever, we really have no right to complain - or be shocked. We know the policies and risks, and we take chances playing with fire.Tabby, in particular - you bought 99 of one particular set. If you don't see that this is not something a normal consumer would do - :shrug: I just can't really believe you are shocked and outraged. yes, maybe it took a long time for them to notice - But it's like a lot of things in life. Employers, businesses, governments, journalists, spouses, let little things go (and stack up, but keep notes) and then when they need a reason to - bammo. They have the ammo. So who knows why they didn't ban you before. But their policy clearly states they don't want to sell to resellers. They have targeted you as a reseller, which regardless of proof, is accurate. It's weird to me that people expect LEGO, simply because they are a company, to be blind deaf and dump and put up with stuff we as individuals would not. Similarly, someone who buys 99x of a $150 set, I don't think that makes you a small fry. That's a $15,000 purchase. That's a new car. It's not Emazers numbers, but it's "more than a side hobby" numbers. I'd bet $15,000 in a year is more than 90% of the people on this site spend.And again, this all HELPS US (except those who get caught, and really even those people). The fact that LEGO cares at all helps keep demand high and prices high, and prevents REAL big time guys (like the overseas knock off creators) from doing the same sort of thing en-masse. LEGO cares about their brand name and image. They, even more than all of us, have a very strong interest in keeping their product exclusive, expensive, and in demand. And as Ed mentioned, especially in Europe where they have already announced there will be shortages this year, I expect a crackdown on suspect/actual resellers. 5 Quote
Guest TabbyBoy Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 @Achilles - No offence taken. I still don't understand why buying limits back then were 99 in the UK if resellers were such a problem. I'd be surprised if a lot more people didn't take advantage of the "FB opportunity" back then as I was new to the game and I still saw the potential in this set. You're quite right in saying that employers keep notes as I'm personally waiting for one more slip up from a certain person at work and they're history.I've made multi-thousand £ deals with other "investors" and I did have a glance at the huge lock-up of one person which I'm sure had well over 500x R2-D2 on 10+ pallets let alone the rows and rows of other sets stacked up including SSDs and all modulars. Emazers is probably small fry also compared to this guy. It won't surprise me if the really big players are not forum members and don't even sell on eBay. The question is, how can they possibly buy in such large quantities unless they or a family member run a toy shop? I asked the question but, "I'd seen too much already".At the end of the day, LEGO is still a sought after brand and I still have ways and means of getting what I want when the time comes. Quote
sharky1999 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) What annoys me is why did it take them nearly 3yrs to notice my FBs? I nearly bought 99x HH soon after and thought about a loan for 99x SSD. I now wish I had done! I still think I'm small fry. I wonder where those massive job lots of hundred of sets come from? IMHO... £450 VIP isn't vast, £2000 maybe. I've been higher but, as people say, the rules have changed.I'm sure they would have continued to not notice if you had not tried to use the VIP points and the store clerk didn't bother to look into it. It seems TLG does not spend the time/resources to actively search out resellers. But, they do when a persons recent activities trigger them to review. Edited October 23, 2015 by sharky1999 Quote
randrace Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 If I ever get banned, I will take it as a sign that I've reached a level of success to necessitate graduating from reseller to retailer. It would give me an excuse to put the he work into getting a business licence and start buying wholesale. If you get banned, it's time to go pro! 2 Quote
newbie77 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 If I ever get banned, I will take it as a sign that I've reached a level of success to necessitate graduating from reseller to retailer. It would give me an excuse to put the he work into getting a business licence and start buying wholesale. If you get banned, it's time to go pro! i wish it was that easy to get "wholesale" prices or buying.... Quote
Guest TabbyBoy Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 I had a voicemail on my home phone when I got home last night from CS asking me to call back but, this will have to be on Monday as I got the message too late. I'm hoping that it's good news otherwise, why would they call? If that's the case, I'm certainly on my 9th life. If my points are restored, I'll just spend them after 2xVIP and only a small amount at a time and never let them stack up again. I'm moving house next year (with room for a 40' shipping container) so I may even just lie low and start all over again anew. Quote
Guest TabbyBoy Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 i wish it was that easy to get "wholesale" prices or buying.... The only thing with wholesale is that I think you'd have to buy across the range including crap like Chima, Duplo, Friends, etc. Gone are the days when you can just buy 1,000 modulars and nothing else. Quote
DadsAFOL Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 The only thing with wholesale is that I think you'd have to buy across the range including crap like Chima, Duplo, Friends, etc. Gone are the days when you can just buy 1,000 modulars and nothing else.AND have a brick and mortar store for 2+ years AND less than 50% of your sales can be Lego AND be okay with waiting 3-6 months after release to get "new" sets (or have your orders cancelled because they decide they can't fill them). Quote
Val-E Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 i wish it was that easy to get "wholesale" prices or buying.... It varies country by country.US and UK seem to have stricter rules. Quote
boliramirez Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Got banned from LEGO Shop at Home..... oh Shoot... Will use my other address and other person VIP..... Quote
Alpinemaps Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 Got banned from LEGO Shop at Home..... oh Shoot... Will use my other address and other person VIP.....I'm actually a little surprised you did. Have you heard of anyone else from Mexico being banned?What was the final straw? 1 Quote
Val-E Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 Got banned from LEGO Shop at Home..... oh Shoot... Will use my other address and other person VIP.....You need to dig a tunnel under the shop, Chapo style. 1 Quote
Ryan Junior Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 I got notified to contact customer service on some items that were on back order - from my order history page. Is that part of process of being banned , if I ordered too many? Quote
boliramirez Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 I'm actually a little surprised you did. Have you heard of anyone else from Mexico being banned? What was the final straw? Not much, I placed three orders , and every thing went through, then I placed a fourth order, a Dimensions starter pack and that order got cancelled..... weird, but it had happened before.... all these were placed the first and second day of 2X VIP and train offer. Later I placed a additonal order a couple of days later and it went through. And last Thusday after all my orders were shipped I decided that I really wanted the dimensions starter pack and order it again and that is when I got the Ban email.... I bought quite a bit in the past two years, but I went over the limit only a couple of times and that was over a year ago..... Any how I been tempted to call them and tell them that I am from Mexico and that reselling is not somenthing that we mexicans do .... But to my knowledge no one has came back from Ban City....... so I have not called.... Quote
boliramirez Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 You need to dig a tunnel under the shop, Chapo style.You are kind of "obsessed" with Chapo my friend...... Quote
sharky1999 Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 I had a voicemail on my home phone when I got home last night from CS asking me to call back but, this will have to be on Monday as I got the message too late. I'm hoping that it's good news otherwise, why would they call? If that's the case, I'm certainly on my 9th life. If my points are restored, I'll just spend them after 2xVIP and only a small amount at a time and never let them stack up again. I'm moving house next year (with room for a 40' shipping container) so I may even just lie low and start all over again anew. Just a nickels worth of advice, try not to curse out the CS employee if at all possible. Quote
Jeff Mack Posted November 6, 2015 Posted November 6, 2015 Ed posted an editorial on the LEGO shortage and how it can be adding to bans in Europe now. Feel free to comment on the article there. Quote
Guest Brick_Head Posted November 27, 2015 Posted November 27, 2015 So I received the dreaded ban letter this morning. (I had placed 9 orders and 4 of them were canceled). (Originally I was told it was just fraud prevention.) I called to find out why and was told that I was banned as I was selling Lego products on my Ebay account. I assume they are talking about the 3 GH I got from the VIP event last Friday. As anyone else ever heard of this? Seems a bit overzealous on their part.... I am not a computer whiz but how can they be sure if it is my ebay account anyways? Are they tracking my IP? Quote
Crustybeaver Posted November 27, 2015 Posted November 27, 2015 Probably called your bluff. After all where else you going to sell all that Lego? Quote
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