Why Boxed Gave Me & My Wife the Ban Hammer
Why Boxed Gave Me & My Wife the Ban HammerI got banned from Boxed.com back in August. I waited a while to write about it since I wanted to see if I was able to get back in. No go on that front. My wife also got the ban hammer because of me. I will go over the details of why I got banned so you don’t make the same mistake!
My Boxed Customer History
I had been a customer of Boxed for about a year. There were no issues with my account at any point up until that fateful day in August. Most of my orders revolved around Amex Offers. If there isn’t a discount code or Amex Offer then Boxed prices are more than you would get at the store for most products. Plus their shipping leaves something to be desired, they haven’t met a bag of chips they don’t like to crush!
I would say that 75% of my orders were gift cards for resale. The majority of those were P.F. Chang’s with some Smashburger mixed in, when P.F. Chang’s was sold out. They sell these gift cards in $100 increments for 20% off. The nice thing about their third party gift cards is discount codes stack which can lead to another 10% off or so. Then when you mix all of that together with an Amex Offer you have yourself a money maker folks!!
The Ban Hammer
I was humming along putting in multiple orders on my account and my wife’s account every time an Amex Offer came around. That probably happened 2-3 times before the incident that got my household banned.
I had ordered 3-4 rounds of gift cards with both accounts (spaced out by a day or two) and I had 1 card left in my name that I hadn’t used the Amex Offer for yet. I was unable to find a new discount code to stack with it that I hadn’t already used. But there was a code my wife’s account hadn’t used yet. So I decided to load my card onto her account and order it with my card and the discount code. Greed is NOT always good. The order went through fine but I got the cancelled order email an hour or so later.
I contacted customer support who responded fairly quickly, and always had in the past, and said I was suspended for fraudulent practices. He said I should email fraud@boxed.com which is a black hole. I emailed 3-4 times to get a definitive answer on what got me suspended but no response.
Every order I have tried since, from either account, has been cancelled within minutes. Who knows why the accounts even have the ability to order, poor IT department is my guess.
Lesson Learned
Greed got the best of me this time. If I had kept my cards to my account and hers to her account I would probably still be fine. I should have just done the order without the discount code! Live and learn and hopefully this helps someone out going forward. I have not tried to get back in via a new email etc. I may try that next time there is an Amex Offer.
Conclusion
Banning people is nothing new from Boxed.com but if you play it right you should be able to continue under the radar. Don’t get greedy like I did and you should be fine. It is a pretty decent source for gift card resellers after you stack all of the deals/discounts!
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[…] How I got Banned from Boxed.com […]
I haven’t been banned yet, but I presume it’s around the corner as they have killed my referral code. If I can’t stack coupons with the AmEx offers though, it’s simply not worth it to shop there at all. Their prices suck otherwise.
True – without discount codes or amex offers their site isn’t worth much.
[…] Boxed.com also sells gift cards. However you should probably tread carefully on the gift card front, since they do ban people. Read more on that here. […]
Never used them, and didn’t they them pop up on my AMEX. I’ll be honest – if it’s nothing that I can immediately recognize, I don’t add it (I know.. my mistake).
I’m looking for some MS spend opportunities but don’t see where the extra discounts come from? If you’re loading the offer onto the AMEX, where’s the extra codes popping up from? I’d imagine they are targeted to you/your wife since that’s what got you banned (perhaps?)? So I’d be leery about using other codes. Or do you mean cash back portals?
TIA!
Boxed just offers random codes for discounts. Like $10 off a $75 order etc. You can find them on coupon sites or they will email them to you from time to time etc. Also people in our Facebook Group regularly offer them up as they see them or if someone asks for them.
Marty – here is one that just came out
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/swagbucks-boxed-get-20-back-on-20-groceries-first-time-boxed-users/
Make sure you go through a portal too
I’m not sure you’re 100% banned, but they will stop selling you gift cards if they feel you’ve bought too many. It happened to me — and I was only buying them for personal use (under $500!). Not a huge deal, though, because I think their reliance on AMEX Offers is waning, and without that extra discount, I don’t see a lot of value in Boxed, for their limited gift card selection or anything else.
Interesting. I did try ordering regular stuff and it also was canceled. Still gotta try with a new email and see if they catch on with the address or not.
Good!!! You bloggers are scammers in disguise
Thanks for reading and supporting the blog!
Thanks for your write up. I briefly got banned from ordering from Boxed.com. I used 3 different accounts to put in orders to my household. One was my wife’s account and the other 2 were mine. I was unable to put in an order with any of the accounts. I contacted customer support and they removed one of the accounts and then the orders went through. Be sure that you don’t setup more than 2 accounts per address.
Interesting – thanks for the info Barry.
I waited until I received the first order before making the second. Second order cancelled. I stopped right there.
On your one account – or you had two going at one time?