The consumer agency said that Amazon should pull unsafe products from independent sellers
Amazon Expends an “Unfair” Decision to Discard the Responsibility for Returning or Destruction of Dangerous Products as Certified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission
But in its decision, the CPSC criticized Amazon’s response. It said that the company’s messages to buyers lacked critical information and that they did not sufficiently incentivize consumers to return or destroy dangerous products.
The children will continue to wear the sleepwear that can ignite and cause injury or death if the product remains in their possession; the consumer will not know the presence of deadly carbon monoxide in their homes if they use the faulty detectors; and the product will remain in their possession.
Typically, a distributor would be required to specifically use the word “recall” in the subject line of these kinds of messages, but Amazon dodged using that language entirely. Instead, Amazon opted to use much less alarming subject lines that said, “Attention: Important safety notice about your past Amazon order” or “Important safety notice about your past Amazon order.”
The story was initially published on Ars NHTSA, a source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED’s parent company, Condé Nast.
Amazon then left it up to customers to destroy products and explicitly discouraged them from making returns. The e-commerce giant gave every affected customer a gift card without required proof of destruction or notifying customers of actual danger, which is required by law.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a decision on Tuesday that the retail giant qualifies as a “distributor” and therefore bears a legal responsibility for recalling dangerous products.
A spokesperson for Amazon, where independent sellers account for more than 60% of the platform’s sales, said the company plans to appeal. “We are disappointed by the CPSC’s decision,” the spokesperson said.
The Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program, also called Fulfillment by Amazon, allows third-party retailers to list products for sale on amazon.com and store them at Amazon fulfillment centers. Amazon is the point of contact for customer service issues once an order is placed, as they process customer payments, ships orders, and serve as the point of contact for customer service issues.
US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has said that Amazon is a ‘distributor’ under the federal product safety legislation and therefore bears a legal responsibility for recalling dangerous products. It further said that Amazon failed to adequately incentivise consumers to return or destroy dangerous products. Amazon said it is “disappointed” by the decision and plans to appeal.