Electrical Safety First (ESF) has published an investigation finding more than 50 unsafe listings of electrical goods across Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, AliExpress and Wish.com. The charity said the products covered uses from the driveway to the kitchen, and that a further 58 products investigated in January 2023 across the same five marketplaces were all deemed unsuitable for sale to the public1.
The findings include three electric vehicle charging cables identified in late 2021, two from Amazon Marketplace and one from eBay, which were put through testing at a specialist independent laboratory in 2022. All three failed, with one eBay cable presenting a risk of electric shock and overheating1. ESF said the findings were escalated to the Office for Product Safety and Standards, where the charging cables were formally recalled1.
Other products listed in ESF's Top 10 Most Dangerous Products include a portable heater sold via eBay, described as having live parts accessible through an insecure cover with 240 volts running through the heating element; a "water-proof" extension lead with no water-proof capabilities, already recalled by the Office for Product Safety and Standards; a 5-in-1 hair styler and a plug-in light, both with plugs lacking a fuse; and a 3200W food blender that produced smoke from the motor when switched on for the first time1. ESF also reported that hair dryers and straighteners fitted with illegal mains plugs lacking a fuse were found for under £30, and that unsafe e-bike chargers were available on Amazon Marketplace despite a previous investigation highlighting their fire risk1.
Lesley Rudd, Chief Executive of Electrical Safety First, said:
"Third-party sellers are well aware of consumers' desire to save money right now, so they are flooding the UK with cheap, poor-quality electricals through online marketplaces. We're even seeing them invest in advertising to drive sales, despite their products putting consumers at serious risk."
ESF said Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Wish.com and AliExpress all confirmed to the charity that they had removed listings highlighted to them. Amazon said it had removed the products while it investigates; Wish said all listings highlighted in the report had been removed from its UK platform, along with identical and similar listings, and that impacted customers had been informed; eBay said it had removed the flagged items and alerted buyers who purchased one within the last 90 days, and that its block filter algorithms blocked 4.8 million listings in 2022; AliExpress said the items identified had been removed; and Meta said it works closely with external partners and responds to valid legal requests, including from the Office for Product Safety and Standards1. ESF noted that on this occasion neither law enforcement nor the Office for Product Safety and Standards had requested that these listings be removed in line with UK laws1.
The charity also cited an Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults aged 18 and over, carried out online between 15 and 18 November 2022, in which 37 per cent agreed they were already buying more from online marketplaces because it is easier to find price comparisons1.
Why it matters for households
Unsafe electricals bought online reach homes through ordinary purchases: heating, hair care, phone charging, e-bike charging and electric vehicle charging. The hazards ESF describes are the ones that bear directly on a household's safety and on the reliability of the equipment it depends on: shock risk from accessible live parts, fire risk from plugs without fuses and from motors that overheat, and cables that fail under test1. For a home relying on an EV charger, an e-bike charger or a portable heater, a non-compliant product is a point of failure in equipment that is used daily and often left running unattended.
The listings sit within the wider framework of electrical safety regulation covering UK homes, and within the regulation and policy area more broadly. ESF has called on the Government to introduce legislation forcing online marketplaces to take reasonable steps to ensure the products they sell on their platforms are safe1. Whether such legislation will be brought forward has not been reported.
What happens next
ESF said the charging cable findings were escalated to the Office for Product Safety and Standards, where the cables were formally recalled1. The charity said it had escalated the findings and listings to the same body1. No further dated steps have been reported.
Sources1 cited
- Unsafe Household Goods Sold via Online Marketplaces Present Dangerous Risks to Consumers Looking to Save Money, electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk