Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

January 31, 2009

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

By: Ina Steiner

Sat Jan 31 2009 11:51:46

Retailers and online sellers breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when the CPSC issued a press release granting a 1-year stay of testing and certification requirements for certain products. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requires every manufacturer (including an importer) or private labeler of a children's product (those intended for children twelve years of age or younger) to have their product tested for phthalate and lead by an accredited independent testing lab and certified. Book publishers and clothing manufacturers were among those concerned about the burden this placed on their business.

The new law affects handmade goods, and online marketplace Etsy had been warning for months that many of its artists and craftspeople members feared they would not be able stay in business "due to the burdensome cost of testing and certification pursuant to the proposed legislation" and had mobilized its users to get involved.

Earlier this month, the CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) had issued guidance to resellers of children's products. On Friday, the agency said that manufacturers and importers - large and small - of children's products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements. The full release is found on the CPSC.gov website.

Etsy reported the news on its blog on Friday, and ecommerce consultant Lisa Suttora of WhatDoISell.com analyzed what Friday's decision meant for online sellers and what they need to know going forward - it's not "back to business as usual," she warns.

Comments (9) | Permalink

Readers Comments

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: Ray

Sat Jan 31 23:01:05 2009

This gives time for the regulations to get clarified. The stay is such a relief!

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: eBay is scum

Sun Feb 1 06:26:20 2009

But eBay still may, as they always do, set their own anti-seller silly rules and regulations. Beware.

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: Donna

Sun Feb 1 11:57:11 2009

Please be sure to read the fine print. It has not stopped from the implementation. The law is still expected to be carried out. The STAY only stopped the "enforcement" (policing) by the CPSC department.
They have bought more time for them to sort things out while not having to enforce it. The STAY still says inventory is suppose to comply and that manufacturers, business owners, crafters and home businesses will have to determine if they will contine to sell current stock or stock after February 10th without having it tested. And, that if you do and are found to have sold something that can injure or pose injury the State Attorney General's office can enforce the law.

Be sure to read the fine print, the entre STAY including Acting Chairman Nancy Nord's statement & Commissioner Thomas Moore's statements. Their link to their statements are included in the Press Release sent out about the STAY, which can be found here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

Effo
rts should still be made to have it "amended".

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: kitty

Mon Feb 2 09:51:02 2009

To comply with these standards, even for next year, most of us home-based business people will be scurrying.
Why?
Possible unsafe products from China and India are still on the shelves of our suppliers.
Even the huge companies that have the power to test samples have discovered a high failure rate in notions such as buttons, zippers, and snaps (both plastic and metal).
I say everyone should petition their local government officials to start reopening factories here in America to create safe items here.
Jobs for America, safe products for America.
We should be using that bailout money to get us working again.

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: Ina

Mon Feb 2 10:04:04 2009

As articles about the peanut butter factory in Georgia remind us, we are not immune from unsafe practices.

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: Snarky

Mon Feb 2 13:33:44 2009

True, Ina. We are not immune. (No one is). We do, however, have better control of what happens to those companies that manufacture substandard products. Hard to enforce China's production pollicies.

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: ma

Mon Feb 2 15:15:11 2009

I guess it is always best to ask your supplier if the items you plan to buy contain lead or other hazardous and chemicals. It is up to each of us to police our own industry. In other words, If your supplier says ''OH no this doesnt have any bad chemicals'', ask them to put it in writing before you pay so you have the protection for your product.
Over the last years (since manufactering has moved offshore to avoid the laws of the USA), money seemed to rule over common sense and integrity. Never mind the moral mperative... if you can make a buck .. has been the way of things for a while. If you dont believe that look at our mortgage industry. Anyone with any experience in the business knew people couldnt afford to pay those interest rates, qualify for a house way out of their income bracket, even most buyers knew..but where convinced it would be alright because they could always sell if they couldnt pay the payments... yeah right... lol
As far as lead paint on toys, the shiny red, green, yellow, & blue seem to have been the culprits in most Ive seen. Thank goodness that Mattel and Fisher Price have taken the High road a long time ago, to test everything and police their own business and provide lists of recalls of their own products. My thanks go out to them. So when are the rest of the worlds manufacterers going to be ethical and make sure they arent poisoning a child or contaminating the earth.?? You know once it is gone we cant get it back.
I think the intent of the law was to make manufacturers accountable however the wording was very vague and didnt address a lot of issues, such as items made in the USA that may use a foreign product, such as wood toys with paint from another country. ma

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: ma

Mon Feb 2 15:22:04 2009

We do have control. If your supplier cant provide confirmation that the product is safe from contaminents, just dont buy it. If we all work together on this, eventually it will work back to the manufacturer. They wont manufacter much. they cant if no one buys it. So start asking when in the home store or other suppliers if the items you are buying are safe and lead or other chemical free. The message will be loud and clear if we are asking the questions loud and clear. It isnt any different than buying a computer from a manufacturer that makes a lousy product. They cant stay in business if they produce bad products. And others will see and correct their ways. ma

Sellers Get Break from CPSIA Testing of Kids Products

by: Schadenfreude

Tue Feb 3 05:39:42 2009

Celebrate all you want. What this is is knee-jerk health scares coming home to roost.

I'll wager each and every one of you has cried loudly that the government should "do something" about some bugaboo you heard on the news, without giving a crap how someone else's business was affected.

Maybe it was Alar, power lines, cell towers, breast implants, global warming, NutraSweet, sorbitol, or the smallest whiff of cigarette smoke, peanut butter in schools, and "fat taxes".

No one is asking why they're banning phtalates without a shred of evidence that they're dangerous. This entire situation was caused by activists and morons freaking out over a press release.

Now turn your idiotic eyes on everything you've demanded to protect *your* children or yourselves. It undoubtedly caused economic harm.

So, suck it up. You wanted "protecting," and now you've got it.

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