Seller beware.....
 

Seller, beware: Feds cracking down on secondhand sales of some products
By JAMES ROSEN
McClatchy Newspapers

If you're planning a garage sale or organizing a church bazaar, you'd best beware: You could be breaking a new federal law. As part of a campaign called Resale Roundup, the federal government is cracking down on the secondhand sales of dangerous and defective products.

The initiative, which targets toys and other products for children, enforces a new provision that makes it a crime to resell anything that's been recalled by its manufacturer.

"Those who resell recalled children's products are not only breaking the law, they are putting children's lives at risk," said Inez Tenenbaum, the recently confirmed chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The crackdown affects sellers ranging from major thrift-store operators such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army to everyday Americans cleaning out their attics for yard sales, church bazaars or - increasingly - digital hawking on eBay, Craigslist and other Web sites.

Secondhand sellers now must keep abreast of recalls for thousands of products, some of them stretching back more than a decade, to stay within the bounds of the law.

Staffers for the federal agency are fanning out across the country to conduct training seminars on the regulations at dozens of thrift shops.

(So I guess my Lawn Darts are out....)

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And who is going to be appointed Czar of this post? We have so many yard and garden sales around here that it would take 15 people going all day just to check what is being sold.

Your lawn darts are ok if they are made of soft rubber and won't fly more than 10'.

Ron

Tough issue.

I am trying to envision the prisons burgeoning with new female inmates... moms, grandmas, etc. "How long you in for?" "5 years" "what did you do?" "sold a fisher price toy made in China... seems it was recalled for lead paint... had no idea!"

So, really, its the manufacturers that created the problem, but mom & pop sellers all across the country will be going to prison.

Obviously civil and adminstrative enforcement/penalties well before something would lead to criminal sanctions.

Might be more difficult to donate to Goodwill or Salvation Army without proof that the old child seat was never recalled.

Fines and more fines.....into the coffers of government ......for the children.....

What about collectors of old toys, etc.?????

Roscoe

Interesting legal issue, it's got some merit.

Agreed Roscoe...real pros and cons on this one.

I always had thought the workers at goodwill and salvation army had ulterior motives

Could it be the guvment sees some way to collect taxes??? Hmmmmm

Ono's way of creating more jobs. Can you say garage sale police.

Interesting. I wonder how ebay is going to respond.

:D

Tru,

I am not sure but I think E-Bay has a buyer beware type set up and they aren't responsible for anything listed. I may be completely wrong on this and it is going to be hard to find out if some of the older stuff, especially collector type toys were ever recalled. I see what they are trying to do, but it is going to be really hard to enforce with all of the private yard and garage sales. I could see them being able to monitor the big flea markets such as the one in Anderson where they have 60 to 100 booths set up during the sales season.

Ron

Sometimes awareness without enforcement is all that's needed to do the trick.

Anything that could prevent kids from dying seems like a good idea to me.

Politicizing the concept seems a little ethically weird to me.

I'll watch this thread; if anyone sees a news blurb about a granny doing 5 to 10 on Jolly Jumper rap, let us know. :cool:

I have a Supersoaker that will shoot a pint of water in a second, and it can hit about 100 feet away. It could probably put out an eye from about 5-10 feet away. They don't make 'em like that anymore...

I also have one of those torchierre halogen lamps in my spray paint area. It was a $20 floor lamp that I bought 20 years or so ago. It gives off great natural light that is perfect for painting. Well, I recently broke the base/post connection and went to go buy another one. Nobody sells them anymore. Turns out that jackasses were burning their houses down with themselves inside by putting curtains, drapes, and maybe even gasoline on the hot elements of their lamps.:rolleyes:

Neither one of these are available anymore. Personally, I would rather that people be responsible for figuring out for themselves what is dangerous and what is not. It might make us smarter as a society, and perhaps kill off the dumber ones.

But I do think that there is a difference between those types of products and products manufactured with design/manufacturing flaws. Companies should be responsible for the design of their product, not the use of their product.

But I don't think we should go after people on the secondary market unless there are indications that they are knowingly selling those items.

Something else you can get into massive and expensive levels of trouble with: if you ship paint, fingernail polish, or other substances like that and forget to put a label or write 'ORM-D' you can be fined up to $10k. Even a single spray can or bottle of nail polish can make you eligible for this.

Steve

This is going to be difficult to really make work. Many of the dangerous items were sold years ago and never had any recalls. All of the toys that I had as a kid have been banned for many years. And I just came home from the post office and saw 4 new garage sale signs tacked to the power poles.

On the other hand, I could use another garage if it isn't to old.

Ron :p

Wait, are you saying I can't mail/ship some paint I want to get to the mainland? Like a quart of touch up paint for my Cobra. I better research this, I have no clue what ORM-D is about...

:LOL:

Ernie,

Only if it is water soluble and washes off easily with just plain water. And you want to move to Oregon, the land of rain. You should have some interesting paint patterns on your Cobra after the first rain or so.

Ron :LOL: