Will Buying Used Clothes and Toys or Reselling Them Soon Be Illegal?by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 08 Jan 2009 07:08 AM
Everyone from hard core frugal moms who have adopted frugality from the beginning to new to the craft frugalistas who are responding to trends that make frugal cool, to people who suddenly find the necessity of a frugal lifestyle with the failing economy, people are panicking. As someone who relies on used clothing for about 90 percent of the time, this law could have me in a panic as well. So could this really happen? It may already have. Then again, there may be hope. No, I don't want to confuse you or be vague, so let me share the details. It has been a bit hush hush up until now, but the U.S. Consumer Protection & Safety Commission has responded to angry parents who want dangerous lead kept away from our children. As a result, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act has been passed into law. This would require that all toys and children's clothing be evaluated by a third party for lead before they are sold. The implication to the resale industry and ordinary folks like ourselves is that there is no provision that excludes already existing toys and clothing from the law. Thrift stores and homeowners who want to resell their goods will probably not be hiring a third party to inspect their stuff. But don't panic yet. The fact that the U.S. Consumer Protection Agency has not clarified this means that they probably didn't consider resale implications in the original law and are now trying to figure out where they stand. And for all of the panicked critics of the agency, have a little understanding that original purpose of the law was probably to protect children, not stimulate the economy by eliminating used goods. Check back here at the Frugal Living Blog for updates as they become available. The effective date for the law is February 10, 2009. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right. Favorite Deal Websites: Related Articles: Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Samual (11722) 08 Jan 2009 10:15 AMI think its stupid, unless it is homemade then the toy or garment has already passed American safety regulations, a toy doesn't suddenly become a lethal weapon because it is not in its box anymore. Tashi (1013) 08 Jan 2009 11:40 AMI still can't believe it. How in the world would they enforce it? I also heavily shop Goodwill and one favorite consignment store. Plus, an occasional garage sale (they're huge in MN every Spring-Summer-Fall). I know that there needs to be laws and protections in place, for good reason. But this one just doesn't make much sense to me. I look forward to updates! Thanks, Mary Ann!  Mary Ann Romans (26791) 08 Jan 2009 11:45 AMSamual, will toys are not supposed to have lead in them, unfortunately sometimes they do. The law is meant to ensure that lead is not present by having an extra third-party check. drpr (20) 08 Jan 2009 01:08 PMI don't understand how your headline and photo caption relate to the story. The story purports to be about the government making it illegal to sell used items, but that isn't true at all. The government is concerned about used items that have lead in them. Never was there a suggestion to simply make used items illegal to sell. The headline and caption are irresponsibly worded. Why hype a situation unnecessarily? The truth is interesting enough. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 08 Jan 2009 01:32 PMActually, the headline is there to imply that there is hype. Many people who are panicked and concerned about this issue. It could have implications for people who are trying to save money (frugal living). If all used clothing must go through a third party check, then it would be illegal to resell it without that check. I agree with you that we shouldn't hype the situation--please see the end of the article where I state this myself. Thanks for the comment. Toys4Life (5) 08 Jan 2009 02:27 PMI just got news about this law today and I'm freaking out about it. I have a ebay store on the side that I sell action figures and my buyer base ranges from collectors to parents that buy for there kids. I sell worldeide as well. Most of everything I sell I buy from ebay from other collectors and pull for my own collection and re-sell back on-line. Will I be required to have the items sent off to test wheather it's a newer toy to a vintage toy? I contacted ebay today and they have never heard of this law being pass. How can't they know about such law when it's been commented all over there message boards. Anyone who can contact on some news about this would be great. I would like to know if I need to sell off my whole inventory before the date or to wait on seeing if the law changes. Thanks jap631 (39) 09 Jan 2009 07:33 AMResellers have officially been exempted. See here: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html Community Tags childrens clothing, Consumer Protection Agency, frugal living, used clothing illegal, used toys illegal Discuss this article
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