Several recalled toys still being sold online
Analysis: Listings can be found on third-party websites, including Facebook and eBay
More than two dozen toys have been recalled this year, the most since 2013, but as of early December, at least eight were still being offered by thirdparty sellers, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
As of Nov. 3, 27 toy recalls had been issued in the U.S. this year, representing more than 1.3 million items pulled off shelves because they posed a danger or risk of injury. Yet, as recently as Dec. 8, several of the toys were still being sold by a range of retailers, including Facebook Marketplace and eBay.
It is illegal to sell recalled products, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent government agency.
“Any banned or recalled product offered for sale represents a hazard for consumers, which we take very seriously,” Pamela Springs, spokesperson for the CPSC, said in an email. “While we can’t quantify the breadth of the problem, suffice it to say even one banned or recalled toy for sale is one too many.”
The recalled toys still listed on some retail sites include Epoch Everlasting Play’s My First Activity Desk, several date codes of a Blue’s Clues Foot to Floor Ride-on toy and Asweets’ Wonder & Wise Activity tables designed for standing babies and toddlers.
USA TODAY found six recalled toys being sold on Facebook Marketplace. In a letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in July, CPSC Chairman Alex Hoehn-Saric noted that roughly 75% of the agency’s requests this fiscal year for online sellers to remove banned or recalled products were made to Facebook Marketplace.
Though Hoehn-Saric added Facebook’s parent company, Meta, “worked well” with the agency to address those requests, his letter asked the company to provide more detail on how it deals with such listings.
Meta responded to Hoehn-Saric’s questions, but “unfortunately, we continue to see recalled and banned products being sold on Facebook Marketplace and other e-commerce platforms,” Springs said. “Large platforms have the resources to better protect the safety of their customers and stop the listing of violative products. They can and should do more.”
Meta says it is making an effort. “We are heavily invested in our approach to safety and have over 40,000 people across Meta working on safety and security, which includes teams proactively enforcing our commerce policies that prohibit the sale of recalled goods,” the company said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Like other platforms where people can buy and sell goods, there are instances of people knowingly or unknowingly selling recalled goods on Marketplace. We take this issue seriously and when we find listings that violate our rules, we remove them.”
Facebook Marketplace is not the only third-party website selling recalled toys weeks or months after they were found to be potentially dangerous.
On June 2, Communicorp recalled 600,000 units of Aflac 6-inch plush promotional ducks because of their risk of exposing users to phthalates – chemicals used to make plastics more durable – and lead, both of which are toxic if ingested by children and can cause health problems. At least four types of those recalled duck toys were being sold by users on eBay in early December, USA TODAY found.