British Toy and Hobby Association have discovered 11 well-known marketplaces including Amazon and Temu are selling toys deemed unsafe, meaning they pose a risk to the health and safety of children
An investigation has found that 85 per cent of toys purchased through major online marketplaces could be dangerous to children.
The latest findings by trade body the British Toy and Hobby Association is based on the independent testing of a randomly selected sample of toys bought from third-party sellers. These sellers operated on 11 well-known marketplaces including Amazon and Temu.
The latest results showed that 85 per cent of the toys purchased are unsafe, meaning that they pose a risk to the health and safety of kids, while a further eight per cent were illegal due to being dangerous. This figure has remained remarkably consistent over the last six years since the BTHA first began testing.
It said the sheer level of continued non-compliance is extremely concerning, as the test sample points to a much wider endemic of dangerous toys being sold through online marketplaces compared to other retail channels. Among the items found to be potentially dangerous were a ‘snail xylophone’ sold through a third-party Amazon seller, which posed a choking and strangulation risk and a ‘rabbit mobile phone car’ from Temu, which could risk hearing damage, as the acoustics exceeded the limit allowed for toys.
It also had small parts, that could be swallowed by young children – especially as the item was advertised for kids under three. The BTHA is calling on the government to take urgent and strong action to protect children from the sale of dangerous toys into the UK.
Kerri Atherton, head of public affairs at the BTHA, said: “Despite years of evidence and time for online marketplaces to make improvements, sadly our latest findings show that dangerous toys are still being sold in huge numbers through the channel of online marketplaces. Consumers rightly expect that toys made available through these well- known marketplaces are safe for their children to play with, yet we consistently find the majority of third-party seller toys pose a risk to children’s safety.”
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Unlike traditional retail models, online marketplaces are not legally responsible for the safety of products sold by their third-party sellers. The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill is currently going through Parliament, with regulating sales through online marketplaces part of this.
Kerri added: “While the government’s new Bill sets out good intentions to bring online marketplaces clearly into the legal framework, we need to see strong legal duties put on online marketplaces to give children maximum protection and ensure we can put a stop to these practices once and for all.” This is not an issue that only impacts toys.
There has been strong evidence of failures across a variety of online marketplaces and covering a wide range of consumer products discovered by organisations such as Which?, as well as the regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards. The BTHA said it had passed on the findings from its latest toy investigation to the Office for Product Safety and Standards who have let the platforms know of the toys it found.
A Temu spokesperson said: “Consumer safety is our top priority, and we have a rigorous process to prevent unsafe products. We are investigating this issue and will act swiftly to remove the product as a precaution.”
The Mirror has contacted the named marketplaces for comment.
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