Car boot sales

Toys

Toys are often sold at car boot sales. Some are secondhand and some appear new.

There are three main problems with buying toys at car boot sales.

1. The toys may not be safe. Always check that they are marked with the CE Mark - This means they have passed stringent safety tests.
2. Broken toys can be very dangerous - Never buy them.
3. Instructions on their use and the age the child should be to play with them are essential to their safe use. Do not buy toys which do not have instructions with them.

Counterfeit goods

Counterfeit goods cover a wide range of items from designer clothing to computer games and perfume. They are often found in markets but also at car boot sales.

There are three reasons why we advise you not to buy counterfeit goods as they:

• may be unsafe because they have not been made to the correct safety standards
• may be of poor quality having been made from shoddy materials
• are often made in third world countries where the workers are not paid fairly for the work they do

The workers in the factories making the real goods could lose their jobs because people are buying the counterfeit goods and not the real ones.

You will have seen how difficult it can be to tell if goods are counterfeit or the real thing. Often the only way you will know is when you wash your new designer label sweatshirt and the colours run.

It can be very difficult to find the person who sold it to you and get your money back.

The best advice that we can give is that you buy in local high street shops where you can be reasonably sure that the goods are the real thing and you can get them exchanged if they are not of satisfactory quality.

Electrical goods

Any secondhand electrical goods are potentially dangerous. You might not be able to see the dangers of a secondhand microwave oven which due to wear is leaking dangerous microwaves. You may find that wires are worn and sometimes the earth wire, which is vital to the safety of the item, can be missing.

The Office of Fair Trading advises to not buy secondhand electrical equipment at all.