Unsafe toys reaching kids' hands through online giants

Products banned as dangerous for children may still be listed by online sellers, Choice warns. (AAP: Supplied)

Products banned as dangerous for children may still be listed by retail giants including Amazon, Temu, AliExpress and eBay.

A consumer group has warned due to the legal loopholes regarding online sales, nothing generally gets done about the breaches until someone is hurt.

CHOICE has issued a complaint to the consumer watchdog and is urging the Australian government to take action against retailers who continue to sell dangerous products.

Potentially dangerous toys and other products are finding their way into Australians homes due to legal loopholes that mean online retail giants may take no responsibility for the items they stock.

Products that may already be banned in Australia are being sold by retail giants including Amazon, Temu, AliExpress and Ebay, consumer group CHOICE has warned.

These include fake novelty cigarettes that create a puff of smoke, cigarette lighters that look like toys and removable tongue studs that can easily come loose and become choking hazard.

Also of serious concern are flammable garments and products containing small choking hazards and potentially deadly button batteries, which may be in breach of safety standards.

Due to the legal loopholes regarding online sales, nothing generally gets done about the breaches until someone is hurt, CHOICE director of campaigns Andy Kelly said.

The backpack being sold by Amazon in Australia, which the ACCC says does not have the proper safety warnings. (Supplied)

Mr Kelly described the scale of unsafe products for sale as frightening; particularly those designed for infants and children.

The consumer watchdog is suing Amazon alleging it sold children's unicorn backpacks on its online marketplace that failed to comply with mandatory button battery safety warnings.

However, Mr Kelly said online retailers may claim only to act as an intermediary, shifting blame onto third-party suppliers that could exist anywhere in the world.

"That gap in the law really allows online marketplaces to continue to get away with selling these unsafe products with little consequence," he told AAP.

CHOICE is calling on the Commonwealth government to introduce a general safety provision that would place obligations on all businesses to ensure the products they sell are safe.

Similar provisions already exist in the European Union, offering an existing framework to work from.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently took legal action against Amazon for allegedly stocking u