I just received this warning email from Shop at Home.  I guess they don't like my business of 50x DC Funhouse and the like.  Should I be worried and/or change any buying habits/practices?  If banned does a new credit card do the trick?  How do they know that my kids don't have a ton of friends and the Funhouse is our go to standard birthday gift?  LOL

 

copy/paste from email below:

 

 

Hello,

 

In an  effort to reinforce existing LEGO policies, I am sending this message to you.

 

The LEGO Shop sells and ships products to end-user consumers only. You may not purchase LEGO products for resale via the shop.LEGO.com site or LEGO Brand Retail Stores.

We reserve the right to cancel or suspend your order for further investigation if we suspect it is being used for resale.

 

If you represent a retail business and are interested in purchasing LEGO products for resale, please contact our Independent Toy Dealers department to discuss our reseller requirements by calling 1-800-673-0360, or email [email protected].

 

It stinks not only from an investor point, but as a fan of the product as well. I took it very personal. It's a good thing I don't drink or today would have been one heck of a hangover!

Yes...That is the part that hurts.  I have stopped buying multiples from LEGO S@H for fear of getting banned.  

Sharing my story....

 

I received the infamous reseller e-mail on July 11th. I figured it was exactly what it said - a warning. I had not placed any further orders until July 31st when I tried to pick up a Crawler. For some reason, I kept getting a message that my credit card could not be authorized. I tried several times until the site eventually locked me out for 24 hours. I chalked it up to the site issues that everyone was talking about. Yesterday, I tried again and received the same message, so I called to try and place the order over the phone. After pulling up my account, customer service placed me on hold and came back to inform me that:

 

MY ACCOUNT HAD BEEN LOCKED!!

 

I played dumb and he said he was not in the correct department to provide much more information and would have someone call me today, which has not yet happened. I have made very few purchases from LEGO Shop at Home (less than 2K this year), but did buy more than 5 of the B-Wing on May 4th, so I think that is what triggered it. I have nobody to blame but myself, so no need to pile on. I will continue to purchase from LEGO Shop at Home via a different avenue, but will be much smarter about it and try to color within the lines.

 

I just wanted to share my story to try and save others from the same experience.

That is not fun when that happens. I had a similar experience with the customer service. I sometimes am missing pieces from sets that I buy to keep for myself so I use the customer service, find the pieces and they send them to me. No charge. The most recent time I was missing a piece, I found the piece, And went through the whole process, and then two days later I receive a e-mail saying that they cannot send me that piece because of some license agreement since the piece was from a Star Wars set, so they said, to get the piece I have to pay for the piece and $2.95 shipping. Three dollars to ship a small piece. That is ridiculous so I did no get the piece. Anyway, TLG is getting a lot stricter about everything. I am starting to think that they do not like the investors anymore.

It seems like we got 2 examples of who TLG is profiling.  Someone buying 50 copies of each set and someone who only buy mass quantity on highly flippable items. 

Are you referring to JustGod's B-Wing purchase?

Are you referring to JustGod's B-Wing purchase?

 

I was wondering that, too - Justgod, are you comfortable saying just how many of the B-Wings you did purchase from LEGO Shop at Home? (Like many, I'm trying to get a feel for "how much is too much".)

I was wondering that, too - Justgod, are you comfortable saying just how many of the B-Wings you did purchase from LEGO Shop at Home? (Like many, I'm trying to get a feel for "how much is too much".)

I bought 7 total, all on separate orders. I have bought multiples prior, but never exceeded the limits. By limits, I mean as a total for the year, not just in a single order or a single day.

I bought 7 total, all on separate orders. I have bought multiples prior, but never exceeded the limits. By limits, I mean as a total for the year, not just in a single order or a single day.

 

That is strange. They lock your account, but you did not exceed the limits.

I bought 7 total, all on separate orders. I have bought multiples prior, but never exceeded the limits. By limits, I mean as a total for the year, not just in a single order or a single day.

 

Wow, that's not very many at all.

 

Going to have to really contain myself with LEGO Shop at Home, I think.

That is strange. They lock your account, but you did not exceed the limits.

Keep in mind that the limit was 5 for the B-Wing. Also, they may not have appreciated that I bought them individually to get the promo items.

If I were TLG and I was watching for resellers, 7 B-Wings on one account would get my attention. Especially since the limit was 5. Buying with several orders would just make you more suspicious looking.

Still sucks, though. Meanwhile Lego is doing everything they can to increase interest in the secondary market, whether they intend to or not. <AHEM> SDCC minifigs.

The B-Wing discount was a way to flush out the resellers, but the deal was so good, many non resellers could have bought several for the parts alone.  

The B-Wing discount was a way to flush out the resellers, but the deal was so good, many non resellers could have bought several for the parts alone.  

I like that, flush out the resellers, lol. 

 

When buying online I forget, was the household limit 1 per or 5 per? 

I like that, flush out the resellers, lol. 

 

When buying online I forget, was the household limit 1 per or 5 per? 

It was 5 per.  

Are you referring to JustGod's B-Wing purchase?

Yes I am, considering how the account does not have much activities. Some of the compatriots on BP bought more than 5 Bwings on May the 4th but we don't hear from them being banned. We have another gentlemen here who said he spend 3k at the Lego store last month or the gentleman with 900 $ dollars in VIP credit. Why are they not going after them or they see Justgod as blatant?

Yes I am, considering how the account does not have much activities. Some of the compatriots on BP bought more than 5 Bwings on May the 4th but we don't hear from them being banned. We have another gentlemen here who said he spend 3k at the Lego store last month or the gentleman with 900 $ dollars in VIP credit. Why are they not going after them or they see Justgod as blatant?

 

The algorithm used to ban people probably took into consideration buying pattern over time.  So, someone who just opened their VIP account in April and bought 7 BWings on 5/4 may not be flagged even though they broke the limit.  However, someone who bought multiple sets over time might get flagged quicker due to their history.

 

Worst case scenario, the black list was compiled manually by their customer service crews.  Some suspected resellers might have dodged the bullet (this time?) due to human errors.

Yes I am, considering how the account does not have much activities. Some of the compatriots on BP bought more than 5 Bwings on May the 4th but we don't hear from them being banned. We have another gentlemen here who said he spend 3k at the Lego store last month or the gentleman with 900 $ dollars in VIP credit. Why are they not going after them or they see Justgod as blatant?

I think that there are searching for the more recognizable resellers first.

Yes I am, considering how the account does not have much activities. Some of the compatriots on BP bought more than 5 Bwings on May the 4th but we don't hear from them being banned. We have another gentlemen here who said he spend 3k at the Lego store last month or the gentleman with 900 $ dollars in VIP credit. Why are they not going after them or they see Justgod as blatant?

The only way to possibly get a true idea about what triggers a ban is to have people who were banned post their sales going back a year or more.

Anybody get order canceled / letter warning from this August 1st sales???....I got 5 order shipped and rest (3) in process....so far so good.

The only way to possibly get a true idea about what triggers a ban is to have people who were banned post their sales going back a year or more.

I am considering doing this. Not sure if I can drag and drop straight from Excel.

 

As a side note, I was looking at my spreadsheet and I did receive two sets that were illegally dropshipped by an ebay seller. I remember contacting LEGO at the time because I had read on the boards here that they may stop orders from being shipped to my address. I don't think this comes in to play, but figured it is part of full disclosure.

I am considering doing this. Not sure if I can drag and drop straight from Excel.

 

As a side note, I was looking at my spreadsheet and I did receive two sets that were illegally dropshipped by an ebay seller. I remember contacting LEGO at the time because I had read on the boards here that they may stop orders from being shipped to my address. I don't think this comes in to play, but figured it is part of full disclosure.

I wrote an article about it but the woman I talked to at lego when I had this happen stated that they were really looking into things like this. But u never know if they really know or not

Screwed.

 

 

Somebody gets it. lol

I am considering doing this. Not sure if I can drag and drop straight from Excel.

 

As a side note, I was looking at my spreadsheet and I did receive two sets that were illegally dropshipped by an ebay seller. I remember contacting LEGO at the time because I had read on the boards here that they may stop orders from being shipped to my address. I don't think this comes in to play, but figured it is part of full disclosure.

 

Yes, they usually will blacklist you when that happens.

Depends on what flavor of vegetarian you are. Some of y'all eat fish, some cheese and eggs, some just plants, some only plants that fall naturally off of trees...  I can't keep up, it's just like the differences in Christian denominations, or Lego investors. 

 

I am a member of PETA:  People that Eat Tasty Animals. 

I am considering doing this. Not sure if I can drag and drop straight from Excel.

 

As a side note, I was looking at my spreadsheet and I did receive two sets that were illegally dropshipped by an ebay seller. I remember contacting LEGO at the time because I had read on the boards here that they may stop orders from being shipped to my address. I don't think this comes in to play, but figured it is part of full disclosure.

I am considering doing this. Not sure if I can drag and drop straight from Excel.

 

As a side note, I was looking at my spreadsheet and I did receive two sets that were illegally dropshipped by an ebay seller. I remember contacting LEGO at the time because I had read on the boards here that they may stop orders from being shipped to my address. I don't think this comes in to play, but figured it is part of full disclosure.

They will lock your account for this. I bought a few sets last year that ended up being drop shipped. I called in when it happened and the person I spoke to said that nothing looked wrong. Fast forward 10 months or so and my account was frozen because of the drop shipped sets. I called in and explained what happened and the guy unlocked my account. Strange sequence of events, particularly because the seller of the drop shipped items mysteriously refunded my money a few days after I paid for the sets.

They will lock your account for this. I bought a few sets last year that ended up being drop shipped. I called in when it happened and the person I spoke to said that nothing looked wrong. Fast forward 10 months or so and my account was frozen because of the drop shipped sets. I called in and explained what happened and the guy unlocked my account. Strange sequence of events, particularly because the seller of the drop shipped items mysteriously refunded my money a few days after I paid for the sets.

Several years ago, this happened to me as well. Because of a drop shipper, my LEGO account was locked and I had to show LEGO customer service the eBay auction that I won the drop shipped set on.

What is 'drop ship'? Last time I heard that was when I'd play MechWarrior on the PC.