Health and safety experts are warning parents and grandparents buying children’s toys from online marketplace Temu this Christmas to be careful after investigations found some items pose serious health risks.
They are also advised to carry out some key checks on toys bought online to make sure they are safe before giving them to children on Christmas Day.
A growing number of shoppers are turning to the Chinese retail giant this year for bargain prices on everything from children’s toys to clothing.
Although the online retailer only arrived in the UK in April last year, it has already amassed approximately 15 million users.
Temu stocks items from third-party sellers, primarily based in China, at extraordinarily cheap prices. While it is headquartered in Boston, US, it is owned by a Chinese e-commerce company, PDD Holdings.
But while holiday shoppers may be enticed by attractive deals, they could end up with choking hazards, choking hazards and toxic chemicals in children’s items.
Deals: An increasing number of shoppers are turning to Chinese retail giant Temu THIS Christmas for ultra-cheap deals on children’s toys.
The British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) purchased five Temu toys as part of an investigation in October. Of these, it found three were unsafe and one illegal.
A ‘phone simulation car’ sold on Temu’s website could cause hearing damage or suffocation, BTHA found, while a stuffed dinosaur had a potential choking risk.
A set of magnetic building blocks purchased on the website was not safe because it could cause suffocation.
One item, a caterpillar-shaped bath toy, was deemed illegal. An item is considered illegal if it is incorrectly labeled due to an additional but inappropriate warning or if it is missing traceability labels.
Only one of the toys, an electric fire truck with lights and music, met standards and was considered safe.
Temu was not the only online retailer that the BTHA said was selling items that pose a risk to children. Of the 75 toys it purchased from 11 different online marketplaces, it found that a whopping 85 percent were unsafe and therefore posed a health and safety risk.
The toys failed testing for compliance with safety standards or were missing safety warnings. Of the Temu products tested, 60 percent were found to be unsafe.
It’s obvious why the appeal of Temu in particular has been growing this year: some toys are available for less than £1 and others cost a fraction of the cost of similar toys at popular retailers.
A mini basketball shooting toy is available for £2.07, while a similar one on Amazon costs £14.99. A wooden tic-tac-toe game is available for 62p; There is a similar one on Amazon for £15.99.
A children’s smartwatch sells for just £11.90; one from Smyths Toys Superstores is £29.99. And it’s not just toys that are sold at attractive prices: a boys’ hoodie sells for £6.56, while a girls’ two-piece set sells for just £4.62.
In comparison, a Marks & Spencer children’s hoodie costs £14.
Consumer group investigations Which one? He has also found items he considers “dangerous” sold in Temu.
Last week it warned against buying toys from online marketplaces after discovering that products sold on websites could suffocate, cut or strangle a child.
Hazard: This dinosaur plush toy was found to pose a choking hazard. A Temu necklace, purchased for £2.17, was found to contain ten times the amount of lead allowed by UK regulations.
Temu was not the worst offender since neither of the two toys Which? purchased and then tested posed a serious security risk; However, the consumer website exposed one of their toys as illegal.
The electrical labeling of the unnamed product did not comply with regulations, so it cannot be legally sold in the UK.
The risk of giving gifts to Temu this Christmas goes beyond toys.
Some items sold through the market contained dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, Channel 4 Dispatches found.
One of the items tested was a children’s jacket, purchased for £11.09. It contained antimony, a silvery chemical element used to increase the hardness of alloys and brake parts.
But at high levels it can be harmful to the nervous system. One necklace, bought for just £2.17, was found to contain ten times the amount of lead allowed by UK regulations.
To ensure the safety of your loved ones when gifting toys purchased online, the BTHA recommends that you should not assume that safety checks have been performed when purchasing from third-party sellers through online marketplaces and that you research the company or brand before purchasing. a toy toy.
He also suggests that if you are purchasing a brand-name toy from an online marketplace, you should compare the images and description with the brand’s website; any discrepancy could suggest it is fake.
You should also check who the seller is. Do they have a clear return address and sales history for the type of item you want?
Unsafe: This cute toy car with telephone was considered dangerous for hearing. The toys found at Temu were a fraction of the cost of similar toys from popular retailers.
Adrian Simpson, head of policy at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and former trading standards officer, adds that there are two main labels you should look for when buying children’s toys: the CE label or the UKCA label.
“Toys can only be sold to the public if they have one of these brands, so look for one of them,” he says.
Companies can use both the UKCA and CE marks to sell products in Great Britain.
‘If a parent finds a toy without it, it’s a big red flag. Inform the retailer and trading standards,” says Mr Simpson.
‘But be careful, these brands can be counterfeited. Does the logo seem disproportionate or a little incorrect?
‘Some very popular children’s products are highly priced, so naturally everyone is looking to save money, but be careful if the product is too cheap. That could be a warning that it may be a fake.
Check for misspelled or no instructions, as this is another warning sign, Simpson adds.
Kerri Atherton, head of public affairs at BTHA, explains that there is a gap in the legislation that allows unsafe toys to appear on the market.
All toy manufacturers, importers and distributors, known as “economic operators”, must follow the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 to ensure that products on the market are safe.
But online marketplaces selling third-party products have been able to avoid complying with UK legislation.
They are not defined as economic operators, so they have no legal responsibility to check the safety of items sold on their platforms, says the BTHA. Additionally, third-party sellers are often based overseas, meaning they can escape the jurisdiction of UK authorities.
Ms Atherton says: “We want to close this loophole and level the playing field for all companies when it comes to putting toys on the market.” It’s really scary when you think about what happens to children’s toys.’
A Temu spokesperson says: ‘Like Amazon, AliExpress and eBay, Temu is a marketplace that allows third-party merchants to sell their products around the world.
‘We take the security of products sold by these third parties very seriously and have a comprehensive investigation, monitoring and compliance process to ensure that products comply with platform rules and regulatory requirements.
“If concerns arise, we immediately remove any product listing in question pending a thorough review.”
L.evans@dailymail.co.uk
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them, we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.