Which standard applies to you
EN71 for the European Union and the UK, CPSIA and ASTM F963 for the United States, and different requirements again elsewhere. Which one applies depends on your market, not on what the seller happens to have.
What we can help you buy on 1688
Toys and hobbies
Toys are the most heavily regulated category on this site, and the regulation is not optional or negotiable at the border.
The work is mostly documentary: establishing which tests your market requires, and whether what the seller holds covers the item you are actually buying.
Request a quote for toys and hobbies
What we check before you pay
Does the report cover this item
A test report for a similar product from the same factory is common and is not the same thing. We check that the report names the item, the material and the date, and tell you when it does not.
Age grading and small parts
Age grading is a safety statement, not marketing. Items intended for under-threes face small-parts requirements that change the design, and a toy sold as suitable for them without testing is a recall waiting to happen.
Materials: phthalates, coatings and stuffing
Soft plastics, painted surfaces and plush filling are the usual sources of a failed test. These are the materials we ask about first.
Batteries in toys
Battery-operated toys inherit the shipping restrictions of the battery, and button cells carry their own requirements for secured compartments. Both are settled before freight is quoted.
Licensed characters are refused
Unlicensed copies of cartoon and game characters are everywhere in this category and we will not buy them. It is not a grey area at customs.
How an order runs
- Send the reference and your market A link or photo, the age group you intend it for, and where you are selling. The market determines everything that follows.
- IP and licensing check We check for licensed or copied characters before pricing anything, and stop there if we find one.
- Test documentation reviewed We ask for the report, check it names this item and this material, and tell you plainly whether it covers what you are buying or not.
- Specification and packing agreed Materials, age labelling, packaging and any warnings your market requires, written into the order.
- Quote and approval Itemised, on a route that will accept any batteries involved.
- Inspection and shipping Sampled units checked against the specification and photographed, then consolidated and shipped.