Regulators struggle to control trending gadgets sold by China to US
Regulators of traditional intermediaries such as toy stores are struggling to deal with trending gadgets such as fidget spinners and hoverboards, which are being sold directly from Chinese manufacturers to US consumers, resulting in products reaching millions of people before anyone knows anything about them, particularly regarding their safety standards. Chinese distributors are flooding the market as soon as a trend emerges – and before big businesses can corner the market – via firms like Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook and Google, sidestepping a system that traditionally ensured products sold in the US are safe and that their producers could be held accountable.
Somehow, the Great Fidget Spinner Frenzy of 2017 managed to burn its way across the country without a major retailer, TV advertisement or brand getting involved. It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last. And here's the looming problem, for everyone from toy stores to government regulators: products can now reach millions of people before anyone really knows anything about them.

Consider the hoverboard. The hit viral gadget of 2015 rose to international prominence — and fell into relative obscurity — before big toy brands or retailers could stamp their names on it. Or look at vaping, which has become a national pastime without a major brand or retailer getting a piece of it.

In each case, the Chinese supply chain spun into gear and flooded the market with product as soon as the trend emerged — and before big business could corner the market. Thanks to companies like Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook and Google, Chinese manufacturers can now reach American consumers without the traditional middlemen, and without the need for expensive advertising campaigns.

But they can also sidestep the decades-old systems built to ensure products sold on US store shelves are safe, and which hold their producers accountable for their shortcomings. Safety regulators now often find out about problems with trendy new products at the same time that consumers do — and struggle to know who is even selling them in the first place.

"We’ve seen an increase in direct-to-consumer sales from foreign manufacturers because it’s so easy to buy products online today," Patty Davis, a spokesperson for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, told BuzzFeed News. "Consumers are moving sales online at a rapid place."

All products sold in the US must comply with product safety standards including small parts warnings — vital for toys like fidget spinners, which will reach young children — bans on hazardous materials, and specifications for how products like baby strollers or cribs must be made.

But "small sellers can present challenges to making a recall effective," said Davis. "New and novel products often don't have safety standards developed and manufacturers are not all familiar with product safety standards."

The results can be ugly. Consider the defective e-cigarettes that began exploding in people's faces after small suppliers shipped them to the US in huge numbers. "Batteries are exploding due to an unclean manufacturing process at dirty, unsanitary facilities in China,” a California lawyer representing dozens of injured users told BuzzFeed News in 2016. “That’s as a result of people trying to rush these products to the marketplace.”

Or consider the hoverboard. When they hit the market in early 2015, the Consumer Product Safety Commission had no rules in place to evaluate them. Then reports of the self-balancing scooters catching fire began making headlines as the holiday season hit. The commission saw an increase in incident reports with the boards, while Amazon and some retailers started scaling back their hoverboard selections. They were soon banned from planes and some public spaces.