Consumer group CHOICE purchased 24 children's toys from popular online marketplaces and found 17 failed to meet mandatory button battery safety standards, putting kids at risk of serious injury or death.
"Our testing found 17 of 24 children's toys purchased from Shein, AliExpress, eBay and Amazon had serious safety failures when tested against Australia's mandatory button battery standards. Button batteries can cause catastrophic injuries within hours if swallowed, so it is highly concerning to see products like this continue to be sold," says CHOICE Director of Campaigns, Rosie Thomas.
"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," says Thomas.
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
CHOICE also purchased two other toys from Amazon, and five products from Kogan, which passed safety testing.
The 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," says Thomas.
"Time and time again we see online marketplaces failing to ensure the products they sell are safe and compliant with the relevant safety standards - this is simply not good enough. The marketplaces profit from selling products in Australia but face no clear legal obligation to ensure they are safe. We urgently need stronger product safety laws to make it illegal for all companies, including online marketplaces, to sell unsafe products," says Thomas.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
