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.

[cladner]

1 minute ago, Pseudoty said:

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

last time i went to bn in early 2019, the 10% off lego was no more but maybe its back.  i let my membership lapse.

[Bold-Arrow]

4 minutes ago, Pseudoty said:

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

Yes , I just did that last week and I was one of the pioneers of raise related ban 

[Achilles]

10% Off Membership works on LEGO, it no longer works on CLEARANCE items, LEGO or otherwise. It still works on SALE items however. For.. Reasons.

4 minutes ago, cladner said:

last time i went to bn in early 2019, the 10% off lego was no more but maybe its back.  i let my membership lapse.

 

[cladner]

8 minutes ago, Achilles said:

10% Off Membership works on LEGO, it no longer works on CLEARANCE items, LEGO or otherwise. It still works on SALE items however. For.. Reasons.

 

ah ok - i was only buying clearance at bn so i thought it was all lego.

[Sozial]

1 hour ago, cladner said:

last time i went to bn in early 2019, the 10% off lego was no more but maybe its back.  i let my membership lapse.

lol I read 21019 and thought Eifel tower - my brain is truly legonised.

[TheBrickClique]

More progress today on removing ban history from Target. 
 

Deleted the Safari cookie data for target.com and was able to make a regular purchase without incognito mode.

Afterwards, tried the app again and instant cancellation. 

Did a full app delete with data, reinstalled, placed order, and it went through. So the app doesn’t use safari cookies but has its own tracking data. 
 

So, it appears that any ban I had us no longer tied to my account and any lingering tracking mechanisms that were trying to continue to enforce the ban have been purged from my devices. 

[Banjoman]

THANK YOU for sharing this!  I am also on the ban list

 

[MotorCityMuscle]

anyone have experience with the Walmart ban hammer? i received one for violating T&C's for returns. i was returning damaged sets in store and apparently when i returned the cooler that was intended for my dad for fathers day (went with one from costco instead) that's what spiked their algorithm.

although they are more than happy to let me continue shopping in-store. 

[Brystheguy]

18 minutes ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

anyone have experience with the Walmart ban hammer? i received one for violating T&C's for returns. i was returning damaged sets in store and apparently when i returned the cooler that was intended for my dad for fathers day (went with one from costco instead) that's what spiked their algorithm.

although they are more than happy to let me continue shopping in-store. 

I was banned for a while just for purchasing too many LEGO sets (no returns at all). They shut me down and I couldn't buy any more except for in-store. It got lifted when they went to the two-set limit per order. 

[TheBrickClique]

21 minutes ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

anyone have experience with the Walmart ban hammer? i received one for violating T&C's for returns. i was returning damaged sets in store and apparently when i returned the cooler that was intended for my dad for fathers day (went with one from costco instead) that's what spiked their algorithm.

although they are more than happy to let me continue shopping in-store. 

I'd be interested to learn more.  Googling the interwebs does seem to have plenty of stories of walmart banning for returns. 

Yet, I'm getting very frustrated with Walmart's LEGO shipping methods that I had started returning damaged sets on principle.  But now I need to rethink this if it's going to result in a ban. 

[MotorCityMuscle]

22 minutes ago, TheBrickClique said:

I'd be interested to learn more.  Googling the interwebs does seem to have plenty of stories of walmart banning for returns. 

Yet, I'm getting very frustrated with Walmart's LEGO shipping methods that I had started returning damaged sets on principle.  But now I need to rethink this if it's going to result in a ban. 

yeah, it was a total crapshoot on what i was getting. some would come in immaculate shape, perfectly sized box with air pillows. others would come in too small or too big a box, beat to ****. a few came the Amazon way of a sticker slapped on the Lego box. completely annihilated.

i must have reached whatever threshold they have in their algorithm. i literally received an email after making that return saying my account had been closed. Six months later i tried restarting with new credentials and was immediately closed down again. might be worth trying after the new year.

calls/emails to customer service went nowhere. either went unresponded to or a simple, scripted response that i had violated their T&C's.

[landphieran]

3 hours ago, TheBrickClique said:

More progress today on removing ban history from Target. 
 

Deleted the Safari cookie data for target.com and was able to make a regular purchase without incognito mode.

Afterwards, tried the app again and instant cancellation. 

Did a full app delete with data, reinstalled, placed order, and it went through. So the app doesn’t use safari cookies but has its own tracking data. 
 

So, it appears that any ban I had us no longer tied to my account and any lingering tracking mechanisms that were trying to continue to enforce the ban have been purged from my devices. 

Target is one of the hardest places to circumvent bans/restrictions. They ban based on address, payment mechanism, tracking cookies, ordering velocity, quantity and potentially IP.

I was able to place a few orders with a new account: Clean browser, clean name, clean CC, new address. During a holiday sale, I attempted to order 10 Lego sets total - 4 different sets. Orders from there on out have been cancelled unless its 1-2 in qty and days between purchases. In the current reselling climate i think its important to open as many sourcing doors as possible so I will continue to explore avenues of purchasing through them. 

Ultimately I will most likely seek out a wholesaling contract directly with Lego as it will save me a lot of time. It should be worth the upfront payment to not have to deal with all of the bans, time consuming process of breaking down shipments etc. Sales through most retailers aren't much more than 30% at best which from my understanding is close to what a wholesaling contract offers.

Edit: If you live in California you can request Target to delete all of your information, including payment and address related information. Be specific that you want your data deleted otherwise they will "close your account". If you wait a while you should be able to create an account under your name again and be able to purchase as normal (at least until you get caught again).

Edited December 16, 2021 by landphieran

[Bold-Arrow]

18 minutes ago, landphieran said:

Ultimately I will most likely seek out a wholesaling contract directly with Lego as it will save me a lot of time. It should be worth the upfront payment to not have to deal with all of the bans, time consuming process of breaking down shipments etc. Sales through most retailers aren't much more than 30% at best which from my understanding is close to what a wholesaling contract offers.
 

dont you need a B&M ? 

[exciter1]

35 minutes ago, Bold-Arrow said:

dont you need a B&M ? 

[gmpirate]

Has anyone got around B&N's ban?  I'm pretty sure mine was a GC issue from years ago.  I thought I read on here to create a new account with all new info -- which I did.

Opened a B&N credit card -- changed billing address to one of my businesses.

Opened a new account at B&N

Just opened a new membership in store.

The accounts have my business address, billing address is same business address, used new email, used new phone number.  Only my name is the same.  Used ExpressVPN to create my order even though I"m ordering from work, not home as before.

Just placed my first order online and I got the normal "did not pass our verification process".  Same message I was getting years ago.  😦

[Average Guy]

Instore facial recognition.  Try a disguise.

[thegraverobber]

Anyone with any experience with Bricks and Pieces bans? I have used the service, only for personal set usage, primarily for stickers that regularly come damaged. I got flagged on a recent single sticker order and banned from using Bricks and Pieces. Chatted with several people at LEGO and it seems this is irreversible. 

The frustrating part is that I can't even purchase replacements stickers. Every option to get replacement stickers talks about how they'll replace them no matter what, if they're getting old or you put them on incorrectly, etc.....but I can't use that service and now I can't buy them.

Is Bricklink my only option now? Super bummer. I'm very wary of buying any more large sets with chances there will be a sticker issue and then having to pay an additional Bricklink cost.

[Pseudoty]

2 hours ago, thegraverobber said:

Anyone with any experience with Bricks and Pieces bans? I have used the service, only for personal set usage, primarily for stickers that regularly come damaged. I got flagged on a recent single sticker order and banned from using Bricks and Pieces. Chatted with several people at LEGO and it seems this is irreversible. 

The frustrating part is that I can't even purchase replacements stickers. Every option to get replacement stickers talks about how they'll replace them no matter what, if they're getting old or you put them on incorrectly, etc.....but I can't use that service and now I can't buy them.

Is Bricklink my only option now? Super bummer. I'm very wary of buying any more large sets with chances there will be a sticker issue and then having to pay an additional Bricklink cost.

Sorry to hear this. Not sure if it has anything to do with Bricks and Pieces services merging with PAB. Are you using the free replacement service and free texting in the sticker sheet for a specific set? If so around how many orders did you do in 2021 and did you ever place an order for the same set twice?

[Alpinemaps]

Sorry to hear this. Not sure if it has anything to do with Bricks and Pieces services merging with PAB. Are you using the free replacement service and free texting in the sticker sheet for a specific set? If so around how many orders did you do in 2021 and did you ever place an order for the same set twice?

That was my first thought too. If you’re buying from B&P not a problem. But if you’re using the replacement service then they will flag you for abusing it pretty quickly.

[thegraverobber]

1 hour ago, Pseudoty said:

Sorry to hear this. Not sure if it has anything to do with Bricks and Pieces services merging with PAB. Are you using the free replacement service and free texting in the sticker sheet for a specific set? If so around how many orders did you do in 2021 and did you ever place an order for the same set twice?

I guess it could. I have typically just used the replacement stickers option (there's a widget for it on one of the pages), and used the free text field when needed. It looks like I requested 3 stickers in all of 2021. I'm not sure if that's a lot by their standards, but I can assure you it's certainly not a lot by my personal LEGO buying standards lol.

I have only requested used Bricks and Pieces to request 2 actual pieces over the past 10 years. One was a broken element, and the second was a misprint Beskar Mando helmet. This is a known issue with the printing on this helmet. I request a single replacement, which was actually a worse print, and then took the opportunity to e-mail LEGO photos of the helmets to make them aware of the printing issue. I ended up speaking with someone, who then sent me 4 helmets and said one of them should be fine. I was already wary of this, because I certainly don't want to abuse the system, and definitely didn't want to jeopardize my standing with BAP, but he assured me it would be fine. I think these helmets, which I did not formally request, were probably the reason for the ban once my account was reviewed. I wish I could send back these misprints instead.

This most recent sticker request was definitely what flagged me me, because it was the only time I have ever requested the same sticker twice. The replacement sticker that I got in (for 75318) had a really bad corner bend, and I requested another. I spoke to someone with support who assured me it was completely fine and she placed the order for a replacement sticker, which was then cancelled and I received the e-mail that I can not use Bricks and Pieces anymore. I spoke with support today and was informed I can not use BAP anymore, but can order pieces - but can't order stickers. Seems odd.

I have such bad luck with stickers. Just venting a bit - first negative LEGO experience I've had.

55 minutes ago, Alpinemaps said:

That was my first thought too. If you’re buying from B&P not a problem. But if you’re using the replacement service then they will flag you for abusing it pretty quickly.

Yeah, I've always been extra wary of using it unless absolutely necessary. Never for valuable parts or anything, except for the one misprint issue I detailed above. It's such a great service for stickers primarily - I definitely wouldn't have ever wanted to abuse it.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

3 hours ago, thegraverobber said:

I guess it could. I have typically just used the replacement stickers option (there's a widget for it on one of the pages), and used the free text field when needed. It looks like I requested 3 stickers in all of 2021. I'm not sure if that's a lot by their standards, but I can assure you it's certainly not a lot by my personal LEGO buying standards lol.

I have only requested used Bricks and Pieces to request 2 actual pieces over the past 10 years. One was a broken element, and the second was a misprint Beskar Mando helmet. This is a known issue with the printing on this helmet. I request a single replacement, which was actually a worse print, and then took the opportunity to e-mail LEGO photos of the helmets to make them aware of the printing issue. I ended up speaking with someone, who then sent me 4 helmets and said one of them should be fine. I was already wary of this, because I certainly don't want to abuse the system, and definitely didn't want to jeopardize my standing with BAP, but he assured me it would be fine. I think these helmets, which I did not formally request, were probably the reason for the ban once my account was reviewed. I wish I could send back these misprints instead.

This most recent sticker request was definitely what flagged me me, because it was the only time I have ever requested the same sticker twice. The replacement sticker that I got in (for 75318) had a really bad corner bend, and I requested another. I spoke to someone with support who assured me it was completely fine and she placed the order for a replacement sticker, which was then cancelled and I received the e-mail that I can not use Bricks and Pieces anymore. I spoke with support today and was informed I can not use BAP anymore, but can order pieces - but can't order stickers. Seems odd.

I have such bad luck with stickers. Just venting a bit - first negative LEGO experience I've had.

Yeah, I've always been extra wary of using it unless absolutely necessary. Never for valuable parts or anything, except for the one misprint issue I detailed above. It's such a great service for stickers primarily - I definitely wouldn't have ever wanted to abuse it.

seems to me that the bot that drops the ban hammer has no direct association with customer service

when its your time...its your time

Very arbitrary w/ no clear rhyme or reason...probably intentionally ambiguous.  Thanks for sharing.

[Pseudoty]

 

12 hours ago, thegraverobber said:

This most recent sticker request was definitely what flagged me me

The free text box which requires human intervention and placing duplicates are the biggest culprits. It is not the person on the phone or the one processing your free text order, they are more than glad to tell you everything is awesome.

Duplicates on a “UCS” sticker is the ultimate NO/NO regardless of what the nice lady told you. That sux that you got banned for what is a $0.50 BL item. This service is great but I try never to use it.  I try to go with spare parts first even if I have to substitute a color on a non-visible element, pull or swap an element with another built set, BL and finally B&P free tell us about an issue service. I have only ordered a regular set sticker sheet twice over the years and never a Minifigure. 
 

Historically, people on here have told tales of getting banned for ordering extra UCS stickers to sell. 

[thegraverobber]

2 hours ago, Pseudoty said:

 

The free text box which requires human intervention and placing duplicates are the biggest culprits. It is not the person on the phone or the one processing your free text order, they are more than glad to tell you everything is awesome.

Duplicates on a “UCS” sticker is the ultimate NO/NO regardless of what the nice lady told you. That sux that you got banned for what is a $0.50 BL item. This service is great but I try never to use it.  I try to go with spare parts first even if I have to substitute a color on a non-visible element, pull or swap an element with another built set, BL and finally B&P free tell us about an issue service. I have only ordered a regular set sticker sheet twice over the years and never a Minifigure. 
 

Historically, people on here have told tales of getting banned for ordering extra UCS stickers to sell. 

Yeah, that makes sense. I honestly wasn't thinking about it much in this case, mostly because I didn't think of that as a 'UCS' set, and because the reason for the request was completely legitimate (as all of my other requests have been).

Oh well. It's only the free service that I can't use, no issues anywhere else - so not a huge deal. I've just had bad luck with stickers; hopefully they will add them to the shop eventually. I guess I'll need to get used to Bricklink sticker purchases.

[coelian]

Does anyone know how buying limits work across countries if the limits are different? If the limit is 3 in country A and 5 in another B, can I buy 3 in A and 2 or 5 in B?

[gmpirate]

2 hours ago, coelian said:

Does anyone know how buying limits work across countries if the limits are different? If the limit is 3 in country A and 5 in another B, can I buy 3 in A and 2 or 5 in B?

Interesting question.   I would gather they are tracking by accounts, addresses, names, cc's and ip's regardless.  If that's all different, fire away.