The vast majority of a random selection of toys purchased from popular online marketplaces have failed safety tests.
CHOICE Director of Campaigns Rosie Thomas said 24 children’s toys were bought, with 17 failing to meet mandatory button battery safety standards, putting kids at risk of serious injury or death.
“Our testing found the toys purchased from Shein, AliExpress, eBay and Amazon had serious safety failures when tested against Australia’s mandatory button battery standards,” Ms Thomas said.
“Button batteries can cause catastrophic injuries within hours if swallowed, so it is highly concerning to see products like this continue to be sold.”
She said the safety failures across the 17 products included batteries that were able to be accessed without the use of a tool, absence of safety alerts or warning statements, and screws which did not remain with the battery compartment cover when the compartment was opened.
Ms Thomas said CHOICE also purchased two other toys from Amazon, and five products from Kogan, which passed safety testing.
She said testing results were reported to both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the online marketplaces.
“When we contacted the retailers, AliExpress rejected our findings as unsubstantiated, and Shein didn’t respond to our attempts at contact.
“While Amazon and eBay removed the dangerous items shortly after we alerted them, they never should have been allowed to be sold in the first place.
“If CHOICE hadn’t tested them, it’s likely they would still be available for purchase.”
The following products failed safety testing:
AliExpress
- Writing pad.
- Toy watch.
- Video game.
- Plastic piece.
Amazon
- Rubber bath toys.
- Plastic bendy tubes.
- Keychain
eBay
- Fidget spinner.
- Gloves.
- Toy torch.
- Mouthguard.
- Shoes
Shein
- Slatted glasses.
- Jelly rings with five designs.
- Satin scrunchie.
- Spin top with launcher.
- Keyboard button keychain.
