Parents warned over cheap online toys risk after tests reveal safety failures

PARENTS have been warned about buying cheap, unbranded toys after an investigation found more than 40 per cent bought from online marketplaces failed safety tests.

Consumer group Which? tested 28 toys bought from Amazon Marketplace, Aliexpress, ebay and Wish, and found 12 posed a safety risk after failing one or more tests.

Investigators found a total of 50 safety failures across the 12 toys, with 10 toys presenting a choking risk and two posing a strangulation risk for children.

Which? also found two toys that had either magnets or batteries that could be easily accessed, which could cause serious injuries to children if swallowed.

All the toys were tested against British safety standards.

Five of the products that failed tests were sold on Wish, making it the worst offender, Which? said.

Three were sold on ebay and

Aliexpress respectively, and only one was available on Amazon Marketplace.

The most dangerous toy in the investigation was a 51-piece doctor’s playset – described as a toy for a baby or toddler – sold on Wish.

Which? described it as “filled with unsafe toys” with “at least 20 choking hazards” including toy plasters and pills, adding: “Most of the toys in the set broke into small and dangerous parts far too easily, including play scissors and a notepad which revealed sharp points.”

A similar doctor’s set sold on Aliexpress contained 10 potential choking hazards, while a long cord on the doctor’s coat could present a strangulation hazard, the watchdog said.

A set of magnetic building blocks sold on Amazon Marketplace and aimed at children aged three years old and above broke open to reveal tiny magnets that were almost four times as powerful as they were permitted to be under current standards, which could pose a choking risk.

Unlike UK retailers, online marketplaces have limited responsibility for ensuring the products sold on their platform meet legal safety requirements, repeatedly allowing unsafe toys and other products to make it onto their sites.