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Biggest Blow In Retail Arbitrage Banned At Target




Without dancing around the subject too much, I was banned from Target. They were my number one supplier. 

 

The History

In February I had just started and ordered 6 units and spent about $50 to test things out. The orange line is the units ordered and the bar is the $ ordered. In June, there was some things happened in my personal life that derailed me from ordering at Target. After that passed, I started to ramp up again and things were nice and smooth. 

How Did The Ban Happen?

Long story short, I was not taking the slow and steady approach. Each month I was increasing my orders and thought Target did not ban anyone. The only bans I knew were from abusing the redcard discount with buying gift cards with gift cards. I banged out orders every day, some times more than one order a day. The hammer fell in September. My belief is that Target updated the back end when they rolled out the new website and started to apply analytics.

 

Wrapping Up

It hurt my online arbitrage business when Target ultimately ended the relationship. At that point, I had ordered about $29,000 and received almost $1600 worth of gift cards back from their promos. I am still struggling without an easy way to order from Target. Best not to mess up your relationship with Target. 

 

 

51 comments… add one
  • Is it an email ban, address ban, ip ban? What have you tried to use to get around it? Did they kill your redcard?

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  • Sorry to hear. I still dont understand, if you owned a small biz and lets say ordered supplies for export why would you get banned? Was it because they saw all the GC getting mailed out?
    Thanks!

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    • Target is very anti-reseller, both in their stores and online. They simply don’t like selling to resellers for whatever reason. Stupid, I know, but they prioritize morals over profits I guess.

      Reply
      • There was a big flap at Target over resellers buying up exclusive products for resale at much higher prices. They got slammed by disappointed customers who were left to buy the products on Amazon or Ebay. PR is more important than pissing off a few resellers, so we have to tread carefully now. It was in all the FBA blogs when it happened. Prior to that fiasco, only some stores took issue with resellers.
        Sears is the only mainstream retailer I have found that is agnostic about resellers. They even offered me access to their bulk buying program and offered SYWR deals. Most retailers limit or exclude resellers from earning rewards.

        Reply
  • I hope you’ll find another spot.

    Cheers,

    PedroNY

    Reply
  • I was recently banned from Target.com. Wondering if you found a way around the ban. Trying to figure out how they are tracking me, by my address, name, etc.

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    • How did you get banned?

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      • Preordering too many Nintendo Switches. My online orders get cancelled within 1 minute of placing them.

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        • How many is too many? 5? 50? Did they ship them and then ban you or did they ban you after a certain number preordered?

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          • Around 20. Not sure when the ban happened as I didn’t place another online order until a few weeks after. Surprisingly, they didn’t cancel the orders and all of them shipped.

          • Wow, pretty surprised that they all shipped form a single account. What have you tried to get around the ban?

  • Finally figured out a way last night…but I haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact ways their tracking…i tried multiple accounts with different billing addresses and credit cards but still was getting cancelled. Finally used a VPN on a new account and a checked out with Paypal and the order stuck…I’ll probably play around a little more to see if it’s the VPN or Paypal that’s the trigger.

    Reply
    • Please keep us posted in case someone else gets banned.

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      • If you guys know like minded folks who MS and they want pure points play while you take the cash profit, you could link up with the folks to buy for you and have them ship the product to you. If you don’t want them to have your home address (if that’s where you work out of) you can rent a nearby storage unit and have all the packages go there

        Reply
    • I was banned too and cant figure out how they are tracking.. tried different ip address, gift cards, email addresses, computers, locations and still they cancel my orders. They must be tracking the gift cards, credit cards and everything else.

      Reply
    • I have been banned as well.
      What VPN did you try?
      I have been banned on 4 different target red cards, 5 different accounts and now some gift cards will not work. My VPN cyber ghost is not working.
      I have tested different Names, Address,
      The only thing i can think of which they would be able to track me would be IP address or spying on what other websites I have open. However, I can not confirm they are tracking IP yet.

      Any advice on a VPN that would work on their website would be helpful.

      Reply
  • I got banned too trued new credit card with new billing address and different computer with different IP address it worked once the second order got cancelled. Then tried a new cc new billing address and first order worked second didn’t. What are they tracking?? The cc numbers are different the billing addresses are different IP address is different. Any ideas??

    Reply
    • Name maybe? What were you ordering?

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      • cant be name because millions of people can have the same name. they cant block you for your name.

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        • Unless you have a very specific name and an overzealous Target worker notices you buying the same things. What are you ordering?

          I’ve had TRU workers cancel orders when using an address in a different state but the same name and GCs.

          Reply
          • Makes sense but there are so many people with the same name

          • That are ordering the same items as you from Target?

    • probably through cookies. Try on another computer and see if it lets you

      Reply
  • Did anyone find a solution? What’s the trick? VPN? MAC address ? Please help. Much appreciated!

    Reply
  • Did you guys ever get unbanned? Or figured a way around it?

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    • i got banned 2 weeks ago and i was just buying multiple items that had a limit of one but making several orders. did you get banned catherine?

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      • Yes, I got banned for the same reason. I was trying to see if you figured a way around it?

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        • Has anyone found a way around the Target ban? Or do you know how they track you?

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  • Has nobody figured this out yet?

    Reply
  • Banned here also, hope to find a solution. This really sucks, target doesn’t want our money?!

    Reply
  • i figured it out, they will ban your mac address and the card you used. if you try ordering over the phone with a different card and different name it will go through.

    Reply
    • If you order through the phone will you be able to return the item?

      Reply
  • Just happened to me as well, buying nintendo switches to resell. Purchased 20 in the span of a few weeks. 2nd account got banned as well so will have to make third account and use PayPal and GCs

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    • Well, stop buying switches to resell. Come on man, people with kids are bored too. To profit during a time like this is horrible. You should be ashamed of yourself. The local grocery store owner who jacked up the price of toilet paper who just arrested for that reason. Also, if I see anyone on Craigslist near me trying to sell toilet paper or Switches, I get them banned.

      Reply
      • How is it horrible? Basic supply and demand. You sell your car for above KBB pricing. That’s horrible too? A switch is not an essential good like toilet paper. I’m not trying reselling hand sanitizer or masks for 5x its original cost. I used my resources and time to purchase a product that’s difficult to acquire

        Reply
  • How is it horrible? Basic supply and demand. You sell your car for above KBB pricing. That’s horrible too? A switch is not an essential good like toilet paper. I’m not trying reselling hand sanitizer or masks for 5x its original cost. I used my resources and time to purchase a product that’s difficult to acquire

    Reply
  • It’s impossible for them to use MAC address because I’ve been placing orders since September using vpn and new address (apt numbers) new account new email address and new name.

    Reply
  • Once again NO website can ever track your MAC address. Only external IP address. That’s it! (https://www.quora.com/Do-the-websites-I-visit-see-my-MAC-address-is-it-possible-for-a-website-to-see-its-users-MAC-addresses)

    Reply
    • Hi, so were you able to get around the ban?

      Reply
  • I too was banned from Target, in the beginning of July. Pretty sure it was due to drop-shipping and me using my Target RedCard Debit to conduct these purchases… stupid I know. I did notice some random cancellations prior to the all out ban, so if you start to see that… evacuate! Stop purchasing for a while. Thankfully, I have a second address that’s in a different city so I simply set up an account with a new email, new name, the other address, and a Privacy Card (VCC). I was also able to create another account using a fake name to my same address, just adding an apartment number, and thus far I have ordered the same items I was ordering before my ban with 0 cancellations, and have been able to use the Drive Up service as well. I’ve avoided using Order Pickup because I vaguely remember them checking IDs but can’t be sure. My main question is – to anyone who has been banned before, with a ban that included their RedCard (Credit or Debit), were you ever able to make a new one? After moving maybe? No idea if they’d be tracking you through your SSN/Bank Information, so I’m curious to see if anyone was ever able to effectively become a normal Target shopper once again after moving.

    Reply
    • Question for you… I was banned on Target app for suspected drop-shipping. The reason is because I bought multiples of the same item and sometimes more than one of the item in the same day / week. I got away with it for a couple of months then that was that. I increased the orders and amount of the same item too quickly. I have read that they will lift the ban after a year but this could be false information posted online. Do you know if this is true? Customer service told me once you are banned there’s nothing you can do and that account cannot be un-banned. They told me to ship in store. I’m not just banned from buying multiples on Target app now, I’m banned from making a purchase at all. My Target cards have not been shit off. I was able to purchase 2 of the same item at order pick-up in store. I tried to set up a new account with a new email address as the representative actually suggested to me, and it did not work. I assume it’s because I used my same address and card. When you set up the new account and used a new name fir the new account, and you must have used a new credit card but that card must have your actual name on it, correct? I was wondering if I could cancel my redcard debit and get a new one using a different billing address and that might work. I know this was a lengthy post but I’m providing some answers for people that I was searching for myself at first. Thank you.

      Reply
      • *They told me to **shop** in store lol

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  • I myself got banned from ordering off target’s website and app last year. I was still allowed to make purchases for in-store pickup or for an item that was exclusive to red card holders. I attempted all the things I read online (VPN, Gift Cards, Different Address,…) and orders would still be canceled. So after the first of the year I attempted to place an order and it was successful and have been able to make purchases ever since.

    Reply
    • So you were automatically unbanned after how many months? Was it a full year? VPN, new email and new number is a start, but I need to try a different card with a different billing address for the app. Still not sure if that would work ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      Reply
  • I was banned for excessive ordering. I was stacking 8+ registry 15% off codes per order so while the other was only $1000 I was ordering $8000+ of stuff. When I called they told me it was because of excessive returns or returns without returning product. I had them price adjust 1 item on 1 order for about $40 and they applied the $40 adjustment between all 100 items on the order. So while I was credited $0.40 per item I assume they think I “partially returned” over 100 items which is probably what flagged it.

    Reply
  • Hey, I got banned also, how do you get a vcc, virtual Credit card? Maybe that might work.

    Reply
  • Following. I was banned from target.com and am wondering how to get unbanned. I tried new credit card with different billing address, different name/email, used my work computer instead, and still nothing. Anyone else get unbanned after a year?

    Reply

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