i got temp banned for a pot leaf. filed an appeal and won, they put my model back up and said i won my appeal but i still cant redeem points for a month, hoping they are working on that now.
I was also banned today.
Worked hard the last couple weeks to produce high quality models, rendered product pictures and also always added a proof picture of the prints.
Had enough points to get a few coupons and in combination with the current promotion (running until 5th July) I would be able to finally afford a P1S. But now all of this work was for nothing in the end if my points are blocked until after the promotion ends. Nice one Bambu Labs.
Ok they were fast responding to my ticket.
But they said that they suspect fake downloads and are unwilling to unblock my profile. I wonder if my downloads are due to good models with free commercial licenses that the people like, with appealing product renders and a detailed product text… Naaah must be fake downloads… Sorry that I brought traffic to your platform. It won’t happen again…
It’s decently common with upcoming designers, especially as they make their splash on the scene, to have to go through these woes. There’s been enough people trying to scam the system, that Bambu can take an overly cautious approach at times, for better or worse.
My general advice, and the advice of others is, redeem gift cards when you’ve got the points. They will always take steps to verify, and no matter how popular you are, you’ll still get those system messages saying they need to verify your points. It sounds like you got it a little harsher than the standard 7 day review though.
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Yeah I get that they are carefully (especially regarding that their point program can be quite lucrative) and I wouldn’t mind if the bot detected me and a human would look at my profile and unbanned it. But this is unfortunately not what happened. Just saying “Nope we ban you for 4(!) months. You must have worked with others” (which is completely impossible to disprove) just feels like being ripped off. Especially because it f*cks with me being able to profit from multiple off my models being quite on top of the trending page and the resulting possibility of cross promoting new models through these.
If they want to ban people than ban the bots and not the creators that actually create traffic…
I know they won’t give any insight into how the bot determines fraudulent usage/downloads, but I “suspect” it is related to network meta-data. Additional users coming from the same IP would be flagged.
If they “look into” your situation and they see extra activity from new users with same IP/network meta-data it would be a red flag and they would assume you were attempting to nefariously get extra points.
They are not dumb, and I am sure they are quite suspicious of people trying to get their “money” for free products.
As a web dev myself I would never expect any platform to tell me in detail what their bot detection actually detected but I asked myself (and the support team) the following:
Why would I go through the trouble generating a few highly detailed models (which I have the original blend files for) instead of just a bunch of simple models?
Not only would the time/points ratio be way worse because it would take much more time actually creating the models, but it also would be the most inefficient way to exploit the point algorithm that rewards more points for many models with few downloads compared to few models with many downloads.
Also it wouldn’t put such a spotlight on my profile (as it obviously did) to spread the downloads over many models.
And last but not least: Why would I create a natural logarithmic growth curve that flattened over time (and lead me to deviate from my popular designs) instead of an exponential or at least linear growth curve?
I would be either the dumbest or smartest scammer on this whole platform. ^^
I get all of your points I really do (even if I am quite upset at the moment) but this just feels a bit scammy as a new designer because it has this taste of “We like that you generate good content and traffic for our site but we don’t like that you are ‘soo’ successful that you actually make money doing so”
(And maybe I hope that some dude working at Bambu Lab sees this and let’s me spend my money at their store :D)
I am not saying anything and don’t be mad, but i think the problem with your designs is that they are a lot like a few already established ones, specially those from HP Invent. The moment i saw one of your designs i thought it was the same i had already printed from the other creator. Maybe it’s that or maybe is what makerworld said, i don’t know. But lately there has been lots of “copied” models all around from “new” accounts.
Anyway, i like those designs 
Not mad at all that might actually be it! 
I was inspired by cloth vases I saw on etsy and created my designs based on that idea. I did not know of Hpinvent but I just checked his profile and I really see the similarity it might even be possible that I saw some of his designs on etsy. And he got quite some traffic on his models as well.
Thanks for pointing that out because this might be an actual reason
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Update:
I wrote the support team an in depth analysis (and possible explanation for my download count) and they actually unbanned me.
So a lot of headache but in the end the problem was resolved
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So they did tell explain why the models were banned and the points revoked. They were actually really helpful and I’m content with the outcome. They did not overturn the ban but the explained more specifically why. My assumption were correct. I was told I shouldn’t boost designers that boosted my models and the new account that had a blank profile was considered suspicious, so they revoked the points as well. But I’m with the ban, I clearly misunderstood the purpose of the boosts and this won’t be a problem in the future. I hope this helps anyone else that is unfamiliar with the rules of boosting.
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It sounds like there might be a misunderstanding. I’ve seen others mention similar issues with the “temporarily blocked” message. Definitely reach out to support for clarification. Hopefully, they’ll resolve it quickly for you.
yeah, im glad I took down my apocalypse turtle model it got a download in the first like 30 min of being published
I am banned a month. I too wrote an explanation. They refuse to budge. My son has his own account and same ip. I know many think RIGHT!
It’s not my second account. He downloaded a couple of my files one time. It was no points in makerworld for me. If it were mine wouldn’t I have used many times over months? This happened back in Feb he did this. One time download. I’ll wait. 7 days left. I hope they keep thier word.
Anyone in your household have thier own account? Because my son does. He downloaded some of my files. That got me banned one month. That month has passed and already got my free printer.
I do think MW needs to do a better job of identifying the differences between points theft and plain family and friends support… Family and friends are supposed to be able to support and boost your model without any repercussions
While your request seems reasonable on the surface, from an operational standpoint, it can be difficult to distinguish from fraudulent activity. I doubt people receive temporary bans simply because a friend triggered a couple of downloads over a reasonable timespan. Some of my friends have downloaded my models as well, since I created specific models for them. However, they didn’t download dozens of models in bulk, and we never engaged in trading boosts or similar activities. I suspect these so-called “family” downloads may not be as innocent as they appear.
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I would really like to see some clarification from @Makerworld here. A family member on the same network as me also prints with a Bambulab printer. So far he has not registered with Makerworld, per my request. I wouldn’t like to be banned just because this member downloads some of my designs.
Thanks for all of your inquiry. Regarding receiving Boosts from families and friends, we absolutely have nothing against it and welcome all our member’s family members and friends to join our community. With that said, we do encourage family members and friends to do more than simply boosting your model.
For instance, share your prints with pictures in the comments, this will eliminate their risks of being identified as potential scam accounts by our system. As long as accounts from the same IP address are boosting at a reasonable rate, and there are indications that these accounts do belong to actual users, its highly unlikely you will be banned.
Let us know if you have any other questions, thanks!
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“Highly unlikely”?
In summary: the risk of being blocked because of family members with a Makerworld account in the same network actually exists.
Not the clarification I expected…
Sorry but I won’t take the risk, so for now the rule here is: no one else in this network with Makerworld account.