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.

[BrickLegacy]

2 hours ago, terrymc4677 said:

Mods…the OP should be stickied. Good info in there to refer back to without having to search for it.
 

Done. Good suggestion! I was looking for a simple and easy way to make myself look useful around here  

[Bold-Arrow]

10 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

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.

BN will also ban you for using GC bought at third party sites such as Raise  if these GC were  purchased  with stolen CC 

[gmpirate]

3 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

BN will also ban you for using GC bought at third party sites such as Raise  if these GC were  purchased  with stolen CC 

Yep, I've been banned for years at B&N because of that.  Recently I created a new account with another new address, email & cc (diff billing address).  Haven't tried it out yet.

[yyyybird]

how about kohls?

[TheBrickClique]

6 minutes ago, yyyybird said:

how about kohls?

I think I’ve bought from kohl’s once. If folks have experience, I’ll put it in the post. 

[TheBrickClique]

17 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

Yep, I've been banned for years at B&N because of that.  Recently I created a new account with another new address, email & cc (diff billing address).  Haven't tried it out yet.

I’ll add this.  I used to do the raise/card pool game for years and only had a few mishaps that were easily fixed by raise/cp. I must have been lucky to never have had used fraudulently-bought cards — or at least ones that were reported and made it back to the stores.
I did have someone hack my target account once — all they need is access to your email — and used $300 in stored gift cards. Target acknowledged the purchases were fraudulent but still said i was Out of luck on the GC. Two lessons learned— Target makes it easy for devices to log into your acct (single point authorization) and never store gift cards on an account — use them asap. 

[Pseudoty]

17 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

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

This, I remember when Kylo Ren life size plastic dolls were ringing up $0.99 the lady was physically removing them from my cart. Back then security wore a blue uniform and the guy would follow me around the store making sure I was at limit 2 of any item. 
 

BN question: I am recently banned online for skirting product limits and/or using Raise GCs. I had to call in and speak with some mean lady about unlocking a partial order and after that I just use my F&F to place orders. If I go in store and try to use my BN membership that is linked to my online account will I have any issues?

I still miss TRU the manager at mine would just kindly ask me to leave 1 of everything on the shelf so if Timmy or Sally came in wanting something he would have one to sell. 

[Pebble&Park]

15 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

I think I’ve bought from kohl’s once. If folks have experience, I’ll put it in the post. 

I've bought a fair bit from Kohl's but tend to not push my luck as they have some of the very best online deals so I don't want to get banned. This season I did three orders for approx $1k of sets on different days, went through no problem. A couple years ago I pushed it with a couple of 3k orders and one was put on hold and eventually went through after I sweet talked CS, the other was just cancelled with no other repercussions. I try to limit my quantity on any one set in any one order to 20 or less even though you can technically add much more. 

[TheBrickClique]

15 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

I’ll add this.  I used to do the raise/card pool game for years and only had a few mishaps that were easily fixed by raise/cp. I must have been lucky to never have had used fraudulently-bought cards — or at least ones that were reported and made it back to the stores.
I did have someone hack my target account once — all they need is access to your email — and used $300 in stored gift cards. Target acknowledged the purchases were fraudulent but still said i was Out of luck on the GC. Two lessons learned— Target makes it easy for devices to log into your acct (single point authorization) and never store gift cards on an account — use them asap. 

I thought there was a way to edit a post.  But I'm not seeing this option.

EDIT: I guess it is time based -- I can edit this one, but not the one above.

Edited December 7, 2021 by TheBrickClique

[terrymc4677]

13 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

This, I remember when Kylo Ren life size plastic dolls were ringing up $0.99 the lady was physically removing them from my cart. Back then security wore a blue uniform and the guy would follow me around the store making sure I was at limit 2 of any item. 

It sounds like you didn't let them know about your Kylo Ren fetish? That would have probably made them leave you alone. I mean, why else would a grown man be buying multiple life-sized plastic Kylo Ren dolls, right? 

[Pseudoty]

23 minutes ago, terrymc4677 said:

Rey fetish?

FIFY

[redcell]

8 hours ago, Pebble&Park said:

I've bought a fair bit from Kohl's but tend to not push my luck as they have some of the very best online deals so I don't want to get banned. This season I did three orders for approx $1k of sets on different days, went through no problem. A couple years ago I pushed it with a couple of 3k orders and one was put on hold and eventually went through after I sweet talked CS, the other was just cancelled with no other repercussions. I try to limit my quantity on any one set in any one order to 20 or less even though you can technically add much more. 

You clearly have a type of restraint that I've never been burdened with.  Every year that I bought from Kohls, I ended up getting at least 3-4 accounts banned, but, when there was a good sale on, I would generally just keep placing orders until they banned me.  Kohls will definitely cancel orders if you push limits and will ban your account if you push things when they're doing a Kohls cash promo.  However, in my experience, Kohls doesn't do across the board bans like other stores where any new account that tries to use the same credit card or shipping address as a banned account gets automatically banned as well...so, if you get banned, just open a new account.  I haven't bought anything from Kohls this year so don't know if things have changed.   

[redcell]

If you want to add some of the more off-brand stores, here's my experience with a few of those:

 

Blain's Fleet and Farm (or Farm and Fleet or Farm Fleet or Fleet Farm) - I never had any trouble with this site.  They didn't always have great deals or tons of stock, but I never had any orders cancelled or accounts banned.

Mills Fleet and Farm (or Farm and Fleet or Farm Fleet or Fleet Farm) - I got banned by this store a few years ago.  They also have a different way of discouraging resellers...if you purchase a large quantity of LEGO, they tack on a gigantic freight shipping charge that kills the deal.  This was a great site 4-5 years ago, but I haven't bought anything from them in at least several years.

Theisens - I never had any trouble with this site either.  They started putting in some quantity limits a year or two ago, but they will ship everything you buy (at least in my experience).

Belks - I'm not sure if they had any deals this year, but I never had any trouble buying from them in the past.

 

[Pebble&Park]

You clearly have a type of restraint that I've never been burdened with.  Every year that I bought from Kohls, I ended up getting at least 3-4 accounts banned, but, when there was a good sale on, I would generally just keep placing orders until they banned me.  Kohls will definitely cancel orders if you push limits and will ban your account if you push things when they're doing a Kohls cash promo.  However, in my experience, Kohls doesn't do across the board bans like other stores where any new account that tries to use the same credit card or shipping address as a banned account gets automatically banned as well...so, if you get banned, just open a new account.  I haven't bought anything from Kohls this year so don't know if things have changed.   

Time to step up my game!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[landphieran]

Walmart has decided everything I order exceeds quantity limits even if I haven't purchased it before. Back when walmart was banning people i created extra accounts. Those are firing on all cylinders.

This year I've purchased quite a bit from kohls and they run "fraud detection" which is automated. But also have manual verification for approving/denying certain orders. If your account gets picked up by there automated fraud detection, they reset your password and cancel your orders. (I've reset my password 70 times). When kohls cash isn't active there "fraud detection" isn't activated or is very very loose in comparison (got every order through without a problem without earning KC).

[TheBrickClique]

Apparently, after more than a year of disciplinary actions, Target has decided to lift my ban.

When I was banned originally, I was receiving the auto-emails and cancelled orders.  Tried different things, but the only way I was able to get a second account working was to use a different email, different CC, and an incognito browser window.  Same name, same address, didn't seem to care.  Also, goes without saying, didn't link Target Circle account to the new account.

Since then, that account worked fine, and I've been staying below the radar on that one.  My wife also created an account for herself on her phone with the Target app, and has been placing all sorts of orders there -- different CC numbers for her -- without any problems.

So, last night I went to place a couple of small LEGO orders with the second account, except I placed them on the Target app by mistake (I would still use the app in-store on the banned account if needed for Target circle in-store discounts).  Instantly cancelled due to a "technical problem".  Got the usual email associated with banned accounts -- those emails come before the purchase confirmation email, they are so efficient these days.  I'm thinking I just messed up by tying the accounts together through the app.  So, I try the exact same orders using the incognito browser window and time-tested workaround.  They went through without being cancelled.

This morning, those orders are still in processing, but haven't been cancelled.  Now I'm thinking, "can I use the old account in a browser window instead of the app?".  Log into that account, verify it's the same account -- cancelled orders galore in my order history, check!  Place the same order as the non-banned account using my paypal account.  Bada-bing!  No cancellations.  However, this is on a PC and not my phone -- in the past, it didn't seem to matter which device (I could place the second account orders on a PC and they would still go through).

Figuring I've got nothing to lose, let's try it with the red card...  Also went through!  Again, same different PC, although this PC had been used to place orders on the banned account as well.

Now, my IP address has changed at home, but even an incognito window originates from the same IP address, so that shouldn't matter.  And the second account went from working fine, to ban orders, to working fine again.

The common elements here now just seems to be the Target app.  From what I can tell on Target's website, Target Circle is tied to the account.  So, it's not avoidable.  And that seems to be true even in a regular browser window.

So, is there something tied to the Target app itself?  I'm going to have to try some other combinations with non-incognito browsers on the same phone and maybe other devices.  Maybe also try deleting the app and reinstalling it and using the original account.  I could also try the original account on an ipad I have that I know I've never placed an order on.

Anyways, for those who have had your Target accounts hard banned in the past, there might be a glimmer of hope.  If you have a banned account you haven't used in a while, maybe give it a go and report back.

[Bold-Arrow]

^ most of the Target bans are for a defined period of time

[TheBrickClique]

More data on Target:

Tried using a regular browser window on my primary PC with the previously banned account and red card -- cancelled instantly.

Same PC, incognito window, banned account, red card -- went through fine.

Cleared all my target.com cookies, same PC and everything as before in a regular browser window -- went through fine as well.

 

So, they appear to be using cookies to enforce the bans -- at least long-term.

BTW, Elf Club House in stock at Target...

[cladner]

3 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

More data on Target:

Tried using a regular browser window on my primary PC with the previously banned account and red card -- cancelled instantly.

Same PC, incognito window, banned account, red card -- went through fine.

Cleared all my target.com cookies, same PC and everything as before in a regular browser window -- went through fine as well.

 

So, they appear to be using cookies to enforce the bans -- at least long-term.

BTW, Elf Club House in stock at Target...

this is how target bans have worked.  i'm still banned.  i would avoid using the app though - that seemed to aggravate the banning more rapidly.  i would stick with the incognito mode ordering. 

 i saw 14x elf clubs at the target i went to today.  just looking around they seem to be everywhere in my zone but maybe its just the plentitude zone.

[gmpirate]

3 hours ago, cladner said:

this is how target bans have worked.  i'm still banned.  i would avoid using the app though - that seemed to aggravate the banning more rapidly.  i would stick with the incognito mode ordering. 

 i saw 14x elf clubs at the target i went to today.  just looking around they seem to be everywhere in my zone but maybe its just the plentitude zone.

I've seen the same in my zone. Elf Clubs everywhere.  Lego Stores too.

[Pseudoty]

BN upping their game. This is my secondary account not associated with my BN membership with an adjusted address that they have shipped to multiple times before. Raise GCs were used. I will have to try in store but not sure if my membership card on primary account is flagged. 

[cladner]

22 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

BN upping their game. This is my secondary account not associated with my BN membership with an adjusted address that they have shipped to multiple times before. Raise GCs were used. I will have to try in store but not sure if my membership card on primary account is flagged. 

i've been banned at bn since the honey sale from a few years ago.  ANY order placed for LEGO is cancelled within a few hours.  even for 1 of a set i've never bought before.  no gift cards.

Edited December 16, 2021 by cladner

[Sozial]

47 minutes ago, cladner said:

i've been banned at bn since the honey sale from a few years ago.  ANY order placed for LEGO is cancelled within a few hours.  even for 1 of a set i've never bought before.  no gift cards.

For me here in Germany it helps to play around with changing the address slightly/using vpns and different kind of payments.

But I suppose you are a pro and if necessary/possible you have all those methods applied.

[cladner]

Just now, Sozial said:

For me here in Germany it helps to play around with changing the address slightly/using vpns and different kind of payments.

But I suppose you are a pro and if necessary/possible you have all those methods applied.

i ordered from work and still get banned.  its ok because bn rarely has a deal anymore and not a volume source.  luckily no one is banning me from buying solana the last year.

[Pseudoty]

Just now, cladner said:

i ordered from work and still get banned.  its ok because bn rarely has a deal anymore and not a volume source.  luckily no one is banning me from buying solana the last year.

Can you still purchase in store with your BN membership and get the 10% off Lego?