I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but I keep running into an issue lately where I'm shopping on B&H's website and I will click on different listings for things to read about them or whatever, and after a few clicks, the site will basically kick me off, returning an error saying that I'm being rate limited. I can wait a few hours or until the next day and go back to the site and it lets me back in, but I'm trying to figure out why this keep happening and if it's happening to anyone else.
I'm assuming it's maybe that I'm 'moving quickly' around the site so it thinks I'm spam, but is there a way to prevent this from happening?
I do. Bought things from them many, many times. And it always saves my cart when I do get back on the site. I've reached out to them to figure out if it's something on my end or theirs. It's not a huge deal. Just more of an annoyance than anything, and I'd love to figure out what it is that's causing it.
That's weird. I often browse B&H, to check and compare specs and prices, and etc. I haven't spent much time there in the last couple of months, so maybe things have changed. It usually recognizes me as a user, but doesn't require a login until I try to access my lists, or similar.
Have you changed your browser recently? I've noticed that DuckDuckGo is throttled on eBay, where I use Firefox or Chrome. Maybe B&H is reacting to a browser setting, but it seems OK with DDG, which is more restrictive to sites than most browsers. If you haven't recently cleared your history of browsing data and cookies, that might be worth a try.
First, they have an it department.. worth a call. Second, their site is sensitive to VPN and type of VPN.. but why it would work, then stop.. not sure.
I have this problem too and I am getting blocked by the b&h website/cloudflare. No vpn, just safari on mac. Lots of sites are protected by cloudflare and B&H is the only one where this happens to me.
After my most recent purchase I submitted a feedback form (which I normally don't bother with) and the issue was acknowledged by someone in customer support. I suggest you do the same so they have a better idea of how broad the issue.
sbay wrote:
I have this problem too and I am getting blocked by the b&h website/cloudflare. No vpn, just safari on mac. Lots of sites are protected by cloudflare and B&H is the only one where this happens to me.
After my most recent purchase I submitted a feedback form (which I normally don't bother with) and the issue was acknowledged by someone in customer support. I suggest you do the same so they have a better idea of how broad the issue.
I'll do that. I just placed an order with them yesterday so if I get the option for a survey or feedback (I usually do), I'll let them know. I don't use a VPN either. I'm also on a Mac, but using Chrome (per work) so at least we know it's more than one browser. I'm guessing any sort of 'quick browsing' on their site is being flag as spam or cyberattack or something. I'm not smart enough to know what all that amounts to or even means, but I've been a little more intentional and slow with browsing B&H to try and prevent it from happening.
There's been a lot of error 429 this week. To confirm this is happening, in Chrome, right click anywhere on the page, select Inspect, click console, and see what the error is.
Let B&H know so their team can address it. It could be originating from one of their vendors like Cloudflare. I know for sure they use Cloudflare for their CDN.
Sites are aggressively fighting off AI scraping bots. On sites you trust and already buy from, just allowing cookies will usually satisfy their humanity tests. So you may need to disable any ad blocking extensions you're using so B&H can see who you are.
Recently adorama was making me play captcha games on every page click. Then it suddenly stopped so I guess I passed whatever their test was to prove I'm not a robot. Ha! I fooled them.
Lifeinpictures wrote:
Had problems with vpn on. Turned vpn off and it worked. Then switched vpn back on, no problems.
I think their it people are messing with settings.
yep, I've encountered the same. no issues with vpn off.
Vendors are responding to vandal attacks and content scraping activity with various levels of vigor, and it's a real-time battle. I run personal web site so understand the motivation. Unfortunately, legitimate customers are being penalized, and that is also bad for business. I was unable complete a purchase at Adorama, for example, and simply went elsewhere—a lost sale. Cloudflare has turned into the go-to provider of blocking services (including here at FM), and are often really intrusive and arbitrary.
EB-1 wrote:
But is it a problem after logging in? The BH should know who you are then.
EBH
Yep. Even after logging in, I still get blocked. I really do think it's that the site is flagging quick browsing as some sort of spam or bot or something.
