No worries Frugal Friends!

[herwitsend]

Here is the official clarification of the CPSC law that is going into effect regarding children's merchandise. You can find this on the OUAC website.

http://www.ouac.com/users/once_upon_...2001-09-09.pdf

[Mama~Love]

“The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content… Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties.”

This is the part that needs to be changed. They are not required to test the products, but they can face criminal & civil penalties for selling something that does exceed the limits. Their hands are still tied no matter what.

I don't see how this has changed at all.

[herwitsend]

“recalled children’s products, children’s products that will contain lead such as children’s jewelry, painted wooden or metal toys, flimsily made toys that are easily breakable into small parts and dolls and stuffed toys that have buttons, eyes, noses or other small parts that are not securely fastened and could present a choking hazard for young children. “

They just have to stay away from stuff most of us wouldn't buy (especially used) anyway!

[mamayarn]

Hrumph. They've put a band-aid on this portion, but they still need to work on exempting materials which cannot contain lead or phthalates by their nature. That's the part of the law that will cripple small businesses. Some exemptions are in the works but won't apply when the testing requirements start and are still very limiting.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by mama~to~my~bunch

This is the part that needs to be changed. They are not required to test the products, but they can face criminal & civil penalties for selling something that does exceed the limits. Their hands are still tied no matter what.

I don't see how this has changed at all.

: This is old news. They have not changed anything about penalizing resell shops for accidentally selling something with lead or pthalates in it. And lead could potentially be in ANYTHING, not just toys or books. Lead could be in your kids clothing, in the screen print, the buttons, the zippers, etc.

[laohaire]

It just means resellers take a gamble on it. Probably they will be fine. But if they pass along anything notoriously lead-filled, they could be screwed.

Better than nothing, I say. But the whole thing just skeeves me off.

[herwitsend]

I guess my point is... I have been hearing all sorts of sensationalist garbage for months about how we would never be able to buy used clothes for our kids again, ouac and stores like them would be forced to shut down, no donations to the Goodwill from mamas trying to get a tax write off, no buying from the garage sales, no selling in garage sales. We were all going to have to purchase everything for our kids at retail prices (which were going to go WAY up because of all the additional testing) and if we got caught passing something on for a profit, the gestapo would knock down our door and drag us away into the night.

Bottom line, I can still clothe my family without breaking the bank. Yay!

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by herwitsend

I guess my point is... I have been hearing all sorts of sensationalist garbage for months about how we would never be able to buy used clothes for our kids again, ouac and stores like them would be forced to shut down, no donations to the Goodwill from mamas trying to get a tax write off, no buying from the garage sales, no selling in garage sales. We were all going to have to purchase everything for our kids at retail prices (which were going to go WAY up because of all the additional testing) and if we got caught passing something on for a profit, the gestapo would knock down our door and drag us away into the night.

Bottom line, I can still clothe my family without breaking the bank. Yay!

I think you are warping what the news reports have been. There was speculation that the law applied to garage sales, but that is pretty much unenforceable.

And the bigger concern is the problem with hand crafts.

[laohaire]

Well, I've heard the same stuff as the OP. From what I understood, it was not clear how the used market would be affected by it. Sensationalist or not, it's been a major question for a lot of people; folks talking about huge impacts to Goodwill et al.

[llamalluv]

Originally Posted by laohaire

Well, I've heard the same stuff as the OP. From what I understood, it was not clear how the used market would be affected by it. Sensationalist or not, it's been a major question for a lot of people; folks talking about huge impacts to Goodwill et al.

I'm not as concerned about Goodwill as I am about the smaller shops. The little independently owned shops WILL NOT be able to absorb the cost of even a single infraction. And those are the kinds of shops that I tend to utilize.

[annethcz]

The law still keeps the burden on the reseller. So who knows if Goodwill or other resale shops will want to take the risk of possibly selling something with lead and getting caught. It might just be easier for them to get out of the children's market altogether.