More than 50% of recalled toys are still on sale, and sellers on the UK site are at risk of being blocked!

Recently, a study by the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) showed that as of the end of September this year, more than 50% of toys that had been recalled were still on sale on Amazon, eBay and AliExpress. In addition, 48% of toys currently sold by third-party sellers in the UK market are unsafe and pose a "risk of death and serious injury" to children.

These include small parts and balls in toys for children under 3 years old, which can pose a choking hazard; easily removable button batteries, which can burn through the esophagus and cause death; and overly powerful magnets that can stick together a child's intestines and, if swallowed, can cause serious injury or death.

The association tested 200 toy samples, 100 of which were from Amazon, 50 from eBay and 50 from AliExpress.

The results showed that 45 of the samples were considered unsafe and 70 were classified as illegal, which means they did not meet the requirements of the Toy Safety Directive, that is, they lacked conformity certification (such as CE, UKCA) and the age limit warnings they displayed were inaccurate. 88% of the toys tested were listed as illegal for sale in the UK, and 69% of the recalled toys were still on the market.

Currently, online marketplaces that allow third parties to sell products through their platforms have limited visibility into the quality and safety of those products. Online marketplaces are not recognised as economic operators by UK regulators, and although the trading of products is done through the platforms, there is currently no clear legal requirement for online platforms to check the safety of products sold by sellers on their platforms.

In addition, on virtual platforms, it is difficult for online consumers to distinguish whether toys are safe, making it difficult to take legal action.

The British Toy Association is currently running a petition campaign to call for better regulation of online markets to prevent third-party sellers from continuing to sell unsafe products. It also stated: We believe that the law should be changed so that such products can only be classified as toys if they meet strict toy safety regulations.

At present, Amazon said that the relevant toys have been removed from the shelves and said: "We work closely with the relevant authorities and take any allegations that sales partners do not comply with our guidelines very seriously. Any seller who does not comply with our guidelines will be punished, including withholding payments and possible account cancellation."

We would like to remind all merchants who sell toys to always check their own stores to see if they are selling toys that do not comply with relevant regulations, so as to avoid unnecessary disputes and losses.

U.K.

Toy