NZME fined $87,750 for selling banned magnetic toys through Grab One

NZME Advisory has been fined $87,750 for supplying unsafe magnetic puzzle toys, commonly known arsenic buckyballs, via the GrabOne website.

NZME has since sold the site.

The toys are made up of small, high-powered magnetic balls. They were sold betwixt October 2020 and September 2021 successful breach of an unsafe goods announcement which bans the proviso of immoderate magnets, sold successful sets of 2 oregon more, that are a peculiar size and strength.

It sold 213 of the magnetic toys. But aft being contacted by the Commerce Commission, NZME recalled the sets and contacted customers to notify them of the recall.

The Commerce Commission took the institution to the Auckland District Court wherever it pled guilty.

Commission wide manager of just trading Kirsten Mannix said the magnets were banned due to the fact that if they were swallowed they could pull each different wrong the body.

“Tragically, we are alert of 1 lawsuit successful New Zealand wherever a kid did swallow 2 of the magnets from 1 of the magnetic toys supplied by NZME and important country was required to region them,” she said.

Mannix said merchandise information was a precedence country for the commission, and it was committed to ensuring that businesses complied their merchandise information obligations.

“Every twelvemonth we transportation retired unannounced visits to retailers engaging with them astir the merchandise information laws successful spot and checking that the toys connected the shelves are compliant. Since 2017 we person prosecuted 30 businesses and issued ceremonial warnings to different 32 businesses, relating to the proviso of non-compliant products.”

Mannix said that portion the work to proviso harmless toys sat with businesses, this lawsuit besides provided an accidental to rise consciousness among consumers astir the risks of tiny high-powered magnets oregon different unsafe products.

“If you are acrophobic that a merchandise is unsafe oregon doesn’t comply with merchandise information laws, we promote you to region it from the household, instrumentality to the seller and pass the Commerce Commission.”

In 2014 Grab One was fined $40,000 aft it failed to halt selling a bubble instrumentality that gave a pistillate an electrical daze and threw her crossed a room.