EU 2-pin Plug items sold by Amazon
I am wondering if I am just unlucky, or if a major issue.
I wondered if a competitor, even though they show a UK address were sending EU items that had EU 2-pin plugs. Items with 2-pin plugs are cheaper from the maker, than the UK version. This Co is also really based in mainland Europe, just have an address in UK.
I ordered 3 different items, 1 had a 2-pin EU plug (totally illegal of course and can be dangerous), 1 had a proper UK plug, and another had a dangerous UK plug (the 2-pin had been removed and a new lead included, but a dangerous one and without the on/off switch that is on the original).
Amazon themselves were also selling 1 of those items, and I also purchased a number of other items from Amazon themselves.
The 1 item as the competitor was also with the dangerous UK plug.
The other items I bought though I was surprised that Amazon sold with 2-pin EU plugs on 5 of the items bought this week. Another item had a travel adapter with it (not fitted as required by law)
There were a few other Sellers, but Amazon themselves would shut us down if we did this
Other people finding Amazon selling Grey imports and not even selling with a UK plug fitted?
I’d report them, but could be issues after as I’m a Seller
I have informed Amazon themselves and they eventually took notice on the dangerous UK plug model and no longer online for sale. It took many emails and calls including photos. The other items though are still for sale by Amazon!
Comments welcome…
13 replies
Seller_DJCaLsroslyPV
I presume you mean the ‘Earth’ because if either of the other two had been removed then obviously the item in question would fail to operate? Which then brings up the question, was the electrical item Class I or Class II ?
Seller_72Sy9T6sEfmjl
Report to your local trading standards in your council. No reason for them to pass on your details to Amazon.
Amazon, Ebay and Fruggul have just been hit with investigations for selling dangerous electrical equipment and even electrical equipment that have been recalled by manufacturers for being dangerous and yesterday it made headlines.
Amazon and Ebay both claim to have removed the dangerous items but they tend to pop up again within a few hours.
I’m sure the trading standards have a common lead on this problem and will demand Amazon remove the products.
Seller_lBVct58q3uKGC
I’m not sure about Amazon themselves selling EU plugs - never seen or heard of it myself and don’t believe for a moment they’d do it intentionally.
In our early days on Amazon we sold several electronic units in to Germany with UK plugs, unintentionally, whilst trying to expand listings in to the rest of EU. These items were packed and dispatched by Amazon under FBA, but we as the seller were responsible for the mistake. We understandably had several unhappy customers and several returns and very quickly resolved.
Seller_0pkMTMROIPEmY
You can report them directly to Seller Performance Policy Team - seller-performance-policy@amazon.co.uk under the heading Policy Violation "“Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994” - Amazon will suspend the account if they are shipping products with 2 Pin plugs or any form of non compliant UK 3 Pin moulded plug, just bear in mind they take a while to respond
We had a temporary suspension back in 2015 due to this issue, one batch of monitors had EU plugs we had to recall all of the product lines to indentify the batch supplied with EU plugs, put in a plan of action, fortunately this was a one off and a genuine mistake by the manufacturer Dell which was resolved quickly
Amazon however view this very seriously and will not reinstate an account if they are knowingly breaching this policy, Amazon list as
“Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994”
Seller_l78koE9kGCu59
A couple of years ago I bought a Brother QL700 Thermal Label printer and found it to have an EU plug. Amazon c/s told me to find an Amazon listing with the product I needed and they credited my account with the same amount to allow me to order that.
So it was sorted… UNTIL I tried to use the Brother cash back code / voucher. This was the reason I had purchased this item and from Amazon as I was due to get £50 or £70 back. It turned out that the item was a German model being sold in the UK by Amazon UK and delivered as a UK product.
Brother refused to help as they confirmed I shouldn’t have been able to buy it. In the end Amazon gave me another credit as I was not happy to say the least. They did sort it to “make me whole” so to speak but I do feel they were fully aware that they were all German units.
