to think potentially dangerous childrens toys shouldn't be allowed on leading retailers site

[Shallowstreams]

I was browsing the site to buy some toys for my baby and put a number of toys in my basket which bore the brand names of leading children's toy makers like Baby Einstein and Bright Starts. However when I looked at the reviews a large amount of them were complaining (with pictures to verify) that these were fake products with exposed screws - obviously a huge choking hazard for a baby.

As you can't see where your product is coming from, it just states the brand name, it's very hard to be sure whether products are real or not and I just don't understand how this is legal!?? Or why there's not a bigger fuss about it ?

Anyone else agree?

Is this amazon? People buy from Amazon because it's cheaper - there is a reason why it's cheaper!
Buy from toys r us or John Lewis and you know what you are getting.

It's not legal. For reasons of safety but also of intellectual copyright. I hope that the people posting the bad reviews have also contacted Trading Standards because they're the people with the powers to do something about it.

I just don't understand how this is legal!?? Or why there's not a bigger fuss about it ?

It's not illegal it's just very hard to control. There's a lack of fuss as people either understand that what their buying isn't authentic or they realise there's little that can be done.

Surly exposed screws are sharp but not a choking hazard.

It's not legal. However amazing don't hold all the products they sell so can't check them. The person selling them may have all the paper work but selling knock offs.

You can tell where they are coming from as it will say...stocked by Amazon, if it's in their warehouse. If the delivery date is more than 5 days it's usually coming from outside the uk.

nancy75 that's silly, you would expect the reason it's cheaper is that it is from a larger retailer without shop costs not because it's a dangerous copy. No-one expects that

funniestwins They are a choking hazard as screws can come loose and fall out - especially with a baby chowing down on it!

I guess I'm just shocked that they wouldn't try and clamp down on it on the site - as I said this looks real in picture (probably is real in picture) and as you can't see where it's being sent from it's hard to tell.

curren this one does say dispatched by Amazon though which is confusing

I think (although I could be wrong) that it's more of an issue if you buy through Amazon marketplace (I.e. The bit where it says 'more buying choices'), which means that tou're not buying direct from Amazon itself.

They do try to clamp down on the site. DH spends a lot of time dealing with this stuff, but it takes time to find the listings (they can be almost impossible to spot across hundreds of sites and thousands of product lines unless specifically brought to their attention), confirm if they are/aren't genuine and get the listings taken down. Sometimes even genuine retailers are taken in by what are, on the face of it, very convincing products, but fakes.

Major toy retailers take thus very seriously indeed.

Good to hear slowslapdash .

Could your husband suggest a consumer reporting route!!

Fulfilled by Amazon is no guarantee of quality. It just means the seller has sent them stock to store in the Amazon warehouses. Because they have a policy of pooling their stock, what you receive might come from what that seller sent in, or might come from an entirely different seller, or might indeed be Amazon's own stock. It's pot luck.

Ironically, this also applies to products Amazon sell themselves if marketplace sellers also fulfil by Amazon.

It's called stickerless commingled inventory apparently. Not everyone who uses FBA does this, but here's a blog aimed at sellers that discusses it: www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/2014/05/commingling-amazon-fba/

Thanks slightly so this means fake products can co-mingle with real ones and no one will ever know

And also explains why the majority of reviews are positive but a significant minority were saying the products were fake

I've had fake clothing from Amazon, sold directly by Amazon. They refunded me ok but there I heard no followup on the fakery, I expect there was a dishonest middleman somewhere in the supply chain.

Those mentioning JL as being safe, I just had a delivery mix-up involving JL where the clothing item (jeans) I ordered arrived with the correct tags but attached to completely the wrong garment, so wrong size, style, fabric, finish. Inside under the clothing label the jeans I received were marked as seconds, but I paid full non-sale price. I'm still awaiting a refund there and it's been a while. Again the differences were so vast I couldn't help think perhaps a supplier had been dishonest.