What to Know
With costs feeling so high in the United States right now, it makes sense that parents are looking for ways to save money. Buying baby items secondhand can feel like an obvious money-saving strategy, especially since these items tend to be used for a short time. Besides, who doesn’t love a good deal?
Shopping secondhand has many advantages, but a new report from News4JAX also highlighted a major concern: baby gear listed on resale platforms isn’t necessarily safe. In fact, it’s possible that some of the items listed for sale have already been recalled or banned, which is pretty scary to think about.
Consumer Reports found that some previously recalled or banned baby products are being listed for sale online.
The report looked at baby items listed on several different platforms: Craigslist, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Mercari. While using these platforms to shop, you might come across baby gear that is already known to be unsafe.
Who is to blame for this, exactly? It’s possible that the people who list these items aren’t actually aware that they’re dangerous. And Oriene Shin, safety advocacy manager with Consumer Reports, told News4JAX that parents shouldn’t have to keep up with every single recall or warning while shopping online, either. Instead, Oriene argued, this is largely a problem with the resale platforms. She believes the platforms could be doing more to prevent dangerous baby gear from being listed in the first place.
“Consumers shouldn’t have to be expected to be product safety experts or know what is safe and what is not, or what the updated rules and regulations are,” she said. “And so really, the platforms failed at preventing a lot of these things from happening.”
The report noted that eBay is currently doing a better job of protecting families than the other platforms are.
In-bed sleepers and drop-side cribs were among the products listed on the platforms.
Which is pretty concerning, given that parents might not realize how dangerous these products are. Of course, online shopping can often require a bit of research and diligence. Still, you would like to think that products being sold on these platforms were not things that had already been banned years ago.
Per the report, drop-side cribs have been banned for years already because of the risks associated with them, and yet, you can still purchase them on these platforms. Similarly, in-bed sleepers are apparently available on all of the platforms as well.
Shin noted that “we strongly discourage parents from using them” due to safety concerns. It was not just a handful of in-bed sleepers that slipped through the cracks, either. The report noted that they actually stopped counting the number listed on these platforms after a while because there were so many. Apparently, the number found on Facebook Marketplace was particularly concerning.
“We found them on every single platform and on Facebook Marketplace, we stopped counting after finding 50 of them,” she said. “So we still keep finding them, and it’s a serious issue.”
So, where does this leave parents who are hoping to save a bit of money?
Shin doesn’t think it’s necessary to buy everything new. A bit of research can go a long way. She noted that even sellers with “good intentions” might list unsafe products sometimes.
So, she offered some advice to parents who are hoping to continue buying things secondhand. “if you’re unsure, ask questions about it: When was this made? When did you buy it? Do you have all the different pieces to put the product together?” she advised. “And then do your research: Has this been recalled? Have there been any warnings about this product category?”
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