Highline Gardens

Seller, Beware: the New Yard-Sale Rules

Jul 13, 2009

* JULY 8, 2009

Seller, Beware: the New Yard-Sale Rules

Reprinted with permission of The Wall Street Journal.

A question for anyone who?’s planning a yard sale this summer: Are you having a safe sale?

A consumer-product safety law signed last year makes it illegal to sell recalled products?—and that applies to goods sold at yard sales, as well as flea markets and Internet sites like Craigslist. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with enforcing the law, is urging consumers who buy and sell products at garage sales to research the goods and make sure they?’re are safe.

The product-safety agency acknowledges that it doesn?’t have the resources to actually police yard sales, stoop sales and the like; its focus is on making sure that larger retailers and manufacturers comply with the new rules. ?“We?’re an agency that has a certain number of employees,?” says spokesman Scott Wolfson. Still, the agency, which just issued a handbook clarifying the rules for resellers, aims to set a standard that will be incorporated into communities of buyers and sellers?—perhaps forcing noncompliant sellers to lose credibility.

?“Why pass [questionable goods] on to another family that could be harmed? It doesn?’t take much work to know that a product was recalled,?” says Mr. Wolfson.

Amid the recession, more sellers are trying to wring some cash out of their old possessions. Listings on Craigslist for garage sales have increased 60% in the past year, and another resale site, Tagsellit.com, has seen a rising trend, with 3,000 listings for tag sales in the month of June. Large-scale yard sales have actually declined as fewer people have moved in the weak housing market. But those who monitor the resale industry say that more sellers are trying to get cash for smaller-ticket items.

?“People are trying to generate income in any way that they can,?” says Helaine Fendelman, former president of the Appraisers Association of America and a fine art and antiques appraiser. ?“If they can make some money by selling their unwanted treasures, they are doing that.?”

The sheer variety of products being recalled in a given year can make it hard to guess what products might be unsafe. The ten biggest recalls of 2008 included toys, cribs, electric blowers, cosmetic accessory bags and window blinds. But buyers and sellers who want to check for recalls can search on cpsc.gov, which offers searches by product type, company name, or hazard, among other categories, or on recalls.gov, a site that lists recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and five other federal agencies. They can also sign up with the safety commission to receive recall alerts by email.

In 2008, 563 product recalls were issued, up from 472 the year before and 402 in 2005. The increase was driven by a handful of newly recognized hazards, such as products with high lead levels and toys containing magnets that can be accidentally swallowed and attach to each other in the intestine, CPSC?’s Mr. Wolfson says. He also attributes the rise in recalls to more reporting by retailers, importers and manufacturers.

Awareness of product recalls has risen. Some consumers say they are increasingly scrutinizing used children?’s products. Dave Gary, who goes to yard sales a few times a month, has become more selective in choosing used toys for his two children. Mr. Gary, of Santa Rosa, Calif., always reads the back of the product before making a purchase. After Mattel Inc. recalled millions of Chinese-made toys in 2007 because of concerns that their lead paint didn?’t meet U.S. standards, he started checking recalls.gov weekly for updates on toys that may be unsafe. ?“If it says ?‘made in China,?’ a red flag goes off in my head,?” he says.

The choices he finds acceptable for his kids are becoming more limited. ?“Pretty soon, it?’s going to come down to just wooden blocks,?” says the 39-year-old operations manager.

But the product-safety commission may have trouble getting people to reflexively check for recalls. Jolene Bennett, of Slatington, Penn., used to check government sites after the 2007 recalls of toys made in China. ?“There were so many at that time that I wanted to make sure that what I had was safe,?” says the 35-year-old dietician.

Yet these days, she relies on hearing about recalls through the news media and word of mouth. Her family hosted a yard sale two weekends ago, and, like many people hosting yard sales, she didn?’t check the government site, though she says she wouldn?’t put out anything that she knew had been recalled.

For those planning a yard sale, there are safety concerns for used products ranging from play yards to bean-bag chairs, according to the consumer-product agency?’s handbook for resellers. In children?’s clothing, lead can be present in zippers, snaps and other metal or plastic.

Another category people may want to look out for this year is cribs, as concerns mount over the safety of drop-side models, which allow parents to lower one side of the crib to pick up their babies. Cribs from brand names ranging from LaJobi to Delta have been recalled in the last couple of years as a result of child injuries and deaths.
Areas of Concern

Also of concern are toys and clothing that pose choking hazards. For instance, in April, Lakeshore Learning Materials recalled its children?’s toy boxes out of concern that kids could choke on the head of the stuffed butterfly, which can detach from the body. Many hooded sweatshirts for children have been recalled this year because their drawstrings pose a risk of strangulation.

In addition to addressing recalled products, last year?’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act also set stricter standards for lead in children?’s products and permanently banned three types of plastic-softening chemicals called phthalates. Under the law, resellers also can?’t sell items that exceed new limits for lead or contain banned or prohibited phthalates, Mr. Wolfson says.

This, however, is impossible for the average person to know when selling a product at a yard sale. The agency simply advises resellers in its handbook that ?“your safest course is not to sell or accept certain products?”; some types are listed on its site.
Home Lead-Test Kits

Some consumers are going beyond checking for product recalls and are purchasing their own lead-testing kits to test used products. One manufacturer, Ontario-based Abotex Enterprises Ltd., says sales of its $12.99 kit, which allows people to test for lead content by swabbing the product, have increased twentyfold in the past two years. The company attributes the rise to more public awareness of lead in toys.

It isn?’t clear how effective such kits are. CPSC tested commonly available kits on a variety of products in 2007 and found that they resulted in false positives and negatives. But Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, says that lead-testing kits can be a useful tool for testing the surface of a toy.
A Feeling of Relief

Gaye Murray, of Markham, Ontario, says using the kit brings a feeling of relief. She bought the Abotex kit two months ago, after ordering a set of painted alphabet blocks off eBay for her two-year-old grandson.

Although the blocks were in mint condition, she was concerned because she didn?’t know their origin or history. ?“You just start to be concerned about safety more than we were when our children were young,?” says Ms. Murray, who is 66.

The lead test on the blocks turned out to be negative. Ms. Murray has passed the kit to her daughter to use at yard sales this summer.