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.

[Ciglione]

12 minutes ago, thecrapweasel said:

There's typically only a couple things that a company uses to ban someone.  One, and I think is the main thing, is your IP address used to place the order.  You can try to change your IP on your router or just use your phone (not on wireless) to place the order.  Second, they could ban your account.  Third, they could ban your credit card.  Fourth, they could ban your address.  It may be one or all of these things.  I was banned from sah.  I created a new vip account, I altered my shipping address so that its not flagged but fedex can easily figure it out, and I don't use the credit card that I used to use.  I've placed quite a few orders now and no problems.  Lego i'm fairly certain bans your IP and your VIP acct.  Not certain about address and CC.

That's why I always use a public payphone when I order. 

[dcdfan]

[thecrapweasel]

Spotting one of those in the US is like spotting an AT AT below retail

[Average Guy]

2 hours ago, thecrapweasel said:

There's typically only a couple things that a company uses to ban someone.  One, and I think is the main thing, is your IP address used to place the order.  You can try to change your IP on your router or just use your phone (not on wireless) to place the order.  Second, they could ban your account.  Third, they could ban your credit card.  Fourth, they could ban your address.  It may be one or all of these things.  I was banned from sah.  I created a new vip account, I altered my shipping address so that its not flagged but fedex can easily figure it out, and I don't use the credit card that I used to use.  I've placed quite a few orders now and no problems.  Lego i'm fairly certain bans your IP and your VIP acct.  Not certain about address and CC.

And when you created this new account, it too is now a new VIP account? For the record I am also banned from Lego Shop at Home. I went from a valued customer and having a  Lego Store Manager and 2 employees helping load my car with product to the most villainous scum on the earth. It's funny how things change lol

[Ciglione]

6 minutes ago, Average Guy said:

And when you created this new account, it too is now a new VIP account? For the record I am also banned from Lego Shop at Home. I went from a valued customer and having a  Lego Store Manager and 2 employees helping load my car with product to the most villainous scum on the earth. It's funny how things change lol

So you're not such an average guy after all.

[Average Guy]

6 minutes ago, Ciglione said:

So you're not such an average guy after all.

it's a sliding scale...

[thecrapweasel]

Lol, so the manager has crossed over to the dark side?  

Yes, its a new VIP account earning points

[Average Guy]

11 minutes ago, thecrapweasel said:

Lol, so the manager has crossed over to the dark side?  

Yes, its a new VIP account earning points

That manager is gone now and this was a couple of years before Lego's Reseller Witch-hunt. Before the witch hunt days, the sky was the limit. The employees would tell me what product was on sale or retiring and now some employees, not all, have turned into 'Lego Police'.  There is one Manager who is really tough on me and it is always a battle with him. It amuses me. I like to imagine he is a jerk in general and I am certain everyone is his life knows it.  lol

[TargetZero]

On 27/11/2015 at 2:46 PM, hannibal said:

All that is crazy!

I also think that they've called your bluff. Do you think lego will keep people on the payroll to surf the internet, make tons of lists who is a seller who isn't? Spending thousands of Euros to have the Lego police after you? Come on! Relax people!

Second and very important. As long as we're all within the limits, we have a good reason to object and report them to the trading authorities. And even more, sniffing around and tryign to cherry pick eBay accounts on the base of presumtion and so on can be considered as a serious harrassment and violation to the private space. If you have sets being sold to you, then its only your own business what to do with them and how you sell them!

It only takes one guy to be banned...but the wrong guy. One that has a friend or family member who is a lawyer and have plenty of time to spare. Take LEGO to court for that...and they'll drop the bans policy.

On the other hand side. It's all stupid. So if Lego wants to limit this, then make it all 2-5 sets maximum per houshold. Which is reasonable. Saying it allows you to buy 99 and then slap you with a ban is quite hypocritic to say the least!

I don't understand some of us here either. You want to sell dozens of sets privately as a full time business operation, but at the same time you don't have the courage to open a proper business with shop and so on. You can't have the cake and eat it!

yeah they would, it's a private compagny, making hundreds of millions in profits each years, who care about thousand of dollars, or even paying 10 full time people on this, lol,

 

[Ed Mack]

Lol, so the manager has crossed over to the dark side?  

Yes, its a new VIP account earning points

That manager is gone now and this was a couple of years before Lego's Reseller Witch-hunt. Before the witch hunt days, the sky was the limit. The employees would tell me what product was on sale or retiring and now some employees, not all, have turned into 'Lego Police'.  There is one Manager who is really tough on me and it is always a battle with him. It amuses me. I like to imagine he is a jerk in general and I am certain everyone is his life knows it.  lol

It could be the guy fears for his job or that he is indeed a tool and wants to impose his will on the vile resellers of the world. You find them in any profession.

[house72]

3 hours ago, Average Guy said:

That manager is gone now and this was a couple of years before Lego's Reseller Witch-hunt. Before the witch hunt days, the sky was the limit. The employees would tell me what product was on sale or retiring and now some employees, not all, have turned into 'Lego Police'.  There is one Manager who is really tough on me and it is always a battle with him. It amuses me. I like to imagine he is a jerk in general and I am certain everyone is his life knows it.  lol

Maybe he is a reseller him self and is trying to hold the competition at bay.. lol   Your on his turf.. The Jets and the Sharks..  

[redcell]

6 hours ago, cmartin33 said:

Well I just got off the phone from Target. The guy could only say that I violated their terms and conditions....whatever that means. I orginally thought it was something to do with limits per week but it's not, as my order of 3 Tumblers got cancelled and I haven't recently ordered Tumblers from them. The rep. did say I could still shop in store.

This sucks cause now I probably only have Walmart and Amazon (Toys r Us maybe though I'll probably get banned there too.) Maybe I'll just lease a warehouse somewhere where I can just move nextdoor when I get banned.

You should try setting up a new account under a different email address.  When I was banned back in May, I simply switched my purchases over to another account that I already had set up and haven't had any problems.

[justapilgrim]

Nice reads. We bring out the ban hammer on all home games.

I order from LEGO Shop at Home from my phone. It's in me wife's name. Different name here, LEGO Shop at Home and ebay/Amazon. Safe so far

[conceptmachine]

No ban for me yet.  I think a lot of it has to do with tracking IP,  email address and ebay account.    I have to credit Lego for actually hiring a couple fellas to go around and search out resellers.  They actually seem to care about their product in that regard.  Funny they wouldn't care if you hoard it, just that you don't resell

Edited December 16, 2015 by conceptmachine

[sflv]

As some of you know, Barnes and Noble will ban you from online purchasing if you use a suspect gift card purchase from a third party like Raise. I got banned from them, but not that big of a deal. Some people have talked of getting banned from Target online and I am wondering if any of this would be caused due to gift cards purchased the same way. Is Raise not worth the risk anymore or is this just a Barnes and Noble thing?

[Bold-Arrow]

5 minutes ago, sflv said:

As some of you know, Barnes and Noble will ban you from online purchasing if you use a suspect gift card purchase from a third party like Raise. I got banned from them, but not that big of a deal. Some people have talked of getting banned from Target online and I am wondering if any of this would be caused due to gift cards purchased the same way. Is Raise not worth the risk anymore or is this just a Barnes and Noble thing?

It is time to send BN Corp a dead horse's head

[Migration]

13 minutes ago, sflv said:

As some of you know, Barnes and Noble will ban you from online purchasing if you use a suspect gift card purchase from a third party like Raise. I got banned from them, but not that big of a deal. Some people have talked of getting banned from Target online and I am wondering if any of this would be caused due to gift cards purchased the same way. Is Raise not worth the risk anymore or is this just a Barnes and Noble thing?

It's not the third party like Raise so much as it's the GCs were purchased with stolen CCs then sold to Raise so your account gets a fraud alert on it.

[Brickbuilder.g]

Yes I think target will ban you for the same thing. Pretty sure that's what happened to me

[cmartin33]

On 12/16/2015 at 0:05 PM, Brickbuilder.g said:

Yes I think target will ban you for the same thing. Pretty sure that's what happened to me

Have you figured out a way around the Target ban? I tried using a different ip, credit card and guest checkout but no luck.

It might have been the raise credit cards which caused the ban.

[gmpirate]

Lego managers' bonuses are no longer based on sales, rather they are based on customer service. Hence you will notice many not being so agreeable to continued large purchases. Some will understand that increased sales still reflect well upon them, but some will just shut resellers down out of fear or just general dislike.

[Jackson]

On 12/14/2015 at 1:27 PM, redcell said:

Yes, it was...luckily, I deal with rude people all the time at work (and am one of those rude people from time to time) so I know how to handle them.

How do you handle them?

[fossilrock]

On 12/16/2015 at 10:26 PM, justapilgrim said:

Nice reads. We bring out the ban hammer on all home games.

I order from LEGO Shop at Home from my phone. It's in me wife's name. Different name here, LEGO Shop at Home and ebay/Amazon. Safe so far

Ohh gosh, not those hideous rodeo clowns from BSu...

[redcell]

Yes, it was...luckily, I deal with rude people all the time at work (and am one of those rude people from time to time) so I know how to handle them.

How do you handle them?

Depends on the situation. In this instance, the CSR was asking questions to try and elicit information that would allow her to cut the call short e.g., "have you called your credit card co?"). It was pretty obvious so I just kept giving her answers that wouldn't let her close it out. After a while, i knew she wouldn't be able to help me and that I would need to lay the groundwork for future calls in order to get to someone who could, so I just kept the conversation going until she reached the end of her decision tree and had to hand it off.

[Bold-Arrow]

So rumors have it that Tru.com is getting extra vigilant in banning resellers and referring them to the bulk department ( sounds familiar ) 

[Darth_Raichu]

10 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

So rumors have it that Tru.com is getting extra vigilant in banning resellers and referring them to the bulk department ( sounds familiar ) 

Unlike the other store, TRU is going to close its doors sooner if it continues repelling customers with money