Fake cigarettes and toys that are ‘essentially weapons’: Choice refers online retailers to regulator over unsafe products

Choice bought items including prop cigarettes and lighters shaped like children's toys from online marketplaces including eBay, Amazon and AliExpress. Photograph: supplied View image in fullscreen Choice bought items including prop cigarettes and lighters shaped like children's toys from online marketplaces including eBay, Amazon and AliExpress. Photograph: supplied Fake cigarettes and toys that are ‘essentially weapons’: Choice refers online retailers to regulator over unsafe products Consumer group makes ‘super’ complaint to ACCC after investigation found dangerous items on platforms such as eBay, Amazon and AliExpress Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Cigarette lighters that look like toys, gel blasters, flick knives and fake tongue studs are among the “frightening” number of unsafe and potentially banned products being sold to Australians on online marketplaces, a Choice investigation has found. After identifying the products, Choice on Wednesday formally asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to take action against the retailers and begin a review of the country’s product safety laws more generally. The consumer advocacy group considered the matter serious enough to warrant a designated or “super” complaint to the ACCC, which it can only do once a year and compels the regulator to respond within 90 days. Choice is calling for the law to be tightened to stop unsafe products being sold in the “grey area” of online marketplaces. Product safety was already in the spotlight, after the ACCC launched its first federal court action against an online marketplace – alleging Amazon failed to comply with mandatory button battery warning requirements on children’s backpacks. The ACCC on Tuesday announced it had asked several online marketplaces to take down “banned and potentially deadly” toys and games as part of its own investigation into small high-powered magnets, which are banned in Australia. Choice said it bought and received a range of toy-like novelty lighters and cigarettes from eBay, AliExpress and Amazon , as well as sky lanterns from Shein. All of these products are permanently banned in Australia because of the risk to children or general fire risk. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Choice said it also found fake tongue piercings, which could pose a choking hazard if swallowed, from AliExpress and eBay . The products had been removed from the sites by Tuesday. Choice’s campaigns director, Andy Thomas, said they also found a flick knife, a butterfly knife and a gel blaster – “essentially weapons” – for sale on some of the online marketplaces, which they didn’t order to avoid potential legal consequences. Thomas said a nationally representative survey by Choice had found 6% of Australians who bought products online in the past two years had suffered an injury, property damage or both. Multiple children’s toys failed Choice’s button battery safety tests – so how can you make sure