If you're tempted to buy kids' toys at rock-bottom prices online this holiday season, consumer advocates want you to think twice — and maybe three times. That $8 gift might not meet U.S. safety standards that are meant to protect kids.
"A lot of folks think that just because something is for sale, it must be safe," Teresa Murray of the Public Interest Research Group consumer watchdog tells NPR. "And that is incredibly wrong."
As a spokesperson from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission puts it, "If the price seems too good to be true, this can be a sign that the product is not authentic and may be unsafe."
Potential risks from kids' items range from lead and phthalate exposures to choking hazards from small parts or button-sized batteries. Flammability is also a concern.
How are these cut-rate items reaching U.S. homes?
"When you buy a toy or any other product online and it's shipped directly to you from another country, it generally doesn't get inspected before it gets to your mailbox," Murray writes in PIRG's Trouble in Toyland report for 2024.
Items are more likely to avoid scrutiny, Murray says, if they're sent under what critics say is a loophole in U.S. law. It's the same one that online retailers have used to send cheap clothes to the U.S. — and that smugglers use to ship fentanyl and counterfeit drugs to the U.S. For toy sellers, the strategy helps foreign businesses undercut U.S. retailers and dodge safety requirements.
The law is called de minimis. While that name implies something small, it's a big deal. Since 2014, the number of shipments entering the United States under the de minimis exemption each year rose from 140 million to 1 billion in 2023, according to the White House. They now account for most of the cargo entering the U.S., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the flood is only increasing. The agency is processing some 4 million de minimis shipments every day.
Many of the shipments come from China — and Murray emphasizes that many Chinese imports, including toys, don't pose a problem.
"Only a small percentage were deemed unsafe, and those are usually sold direct to consumer or they enter the country through de minimis shipments," she writes in her report.
What is de minimis?
The de minimis exception started as a way to let travelers and businesses avoid tax and import duty requirements when shipping items of little value.
About 100 countries have de minimis thresholds; the amounts differ around the world. In the European Union, shipments worth less than 150 euros (about $160) can qualify. The U.S. level used to be $200, but in 2016 it rose to $800 — among the highest in the world — when then-President Barack Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act.
Companies that focus on the de minimis exclusion use it as a duty-free pipeline to the U.S. — and they can pay less taxes than an American company selling a similar product.
The rule is part of the success of retailers like China's Temu, which bases its business model on streamlining the connection between manufacturers and consumers.
Use — and abuse — of de minimis is growing
Unscrupulous exporters aggressively exploit de minimis. They wildly undervalue items, for instance, or list many items as a single shipment worth less than $800.
In one egregious case from last year, a disassembled helicopter was shipped from Venezuela to the seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., under de minimis rules, described as "personal effects," according to a recent Customs and Border Protection report.
Faced with screening a torrent of incoming packages and cargo labeled as de minimis, the CPSC says it works with the CBP to assess shipments' potential risks, flagging those most likely not to meet U.S. requirements.
"All children's products and toys are required to have certificates of compliance, which affirm that these products meet our standards," the CPSC spokesperson told NPR via email. Products shipped under the de minimis exemption are still subject to inspection and enforcement, they added.
Still, the agency urges consumers to be wary of potential hazards to children when they buy items online, especially if the price is shockingly low.
What can consumers do?
First, the experts say, don't stray from companies you know and trust, even if an ad for toys promises a more enticing price.
"We rarely come out and say, 'You should not do this.' But this is one of the exceptions," Murray says, warning against the lure of rock-bottom prices from unfamiliar foreign retailers who advertise heavily on social media and in search results.
"We very strongly feel that people who are shopping online need to be a lot more careful about where they're actually buying from," she adds. "They're not working with a U.S. retailer or distributor. And you just don't have that middleman to look after your interests. So we urge people, just don't shop through ads that you see on social media."
The CPSC agrees that consumers need to be aware of whom they're buying from.
"Even if they are browsing a well-known online site, look for 'sold by' information," the CPSC spokesperson says. "If you don't recognize the seller — you may want to do more research or select another product. "
Consumers can also check to see if the toy is covered by a CPSC recall and check reviews on the SaferProducts.gov site. And be sure to closely study all the images of toys, including their label and packaging, to help you avoid unsafe or counterfeit products.
"It's just a mess," Murray says. "I mean, there can't be anything more important than our children."
Bipartisan efforts push for change
Backers of de minimis say it keeps trade moving fluidly, at low costs to businesses and consumers. That includes John Pickel, senior director for international supply chain policy at the National Foreign Trade Council, who notes that de minimis shipments are subject to the same federal screening and enforcement requirements as higher-value shipments.
Pickel warns that putting new limits on de minimis would bring billions of dollars in harm, citing a recent working paper by researchers at Yale and UCLA that predicted doing away with de minimis would hurt low-income communities. But critics of de minimis say it harms those same communities by making it easier for unreliable and potentially dangerous products to reach them.
"De minimis is a loophole for cheap — and sometimes dangerous — Chinese goods," says Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., in a statement to NPR. "Congress needs to protect U.S. consumers from harmful Chinese trade practices, for which de minimis is the most egregious of them all, and level the playing field for small businesses."
Cassidy has introduced bills to alter de minimis rules, including one co-sponsored by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. Both senators plan to try again in the next Congress.
The White House recently laid out new rules aiming to tamp down on the firehose of de minimis imports, citing "China-founded e-commerce platforms." And in its annual report to Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission called for ending permanent normal trade relations with China — a status reserved for U.S. allies.
The panel said Congress should eliminate the de minimis exemption for imported items bought online. It also urged lawmakers to increase resources at CBP to help it enforce the rules.