CPSIA for online sellers: Children's Product Certificates, tracking labels and testing

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) requires a children's product sold in the US, meaning a product designed or intended primarily for children 12 or younger, to meet federal lead limits and the safety rules for its type, to pass third-party testing at a laboratory accepted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), to have a Children's Product Certificate, and to carry permanent tracking labels. How a listing presents a product is one of the factors in deciding whether it is a children's product, so a child in the listing images or "for kids" in the title can bring a water bottle or night light under CPSIA. Walmart unpublishes a children's product when it asks for the certificate and test report and the seller cannot provide them.

What is a children's product under CPSIA?

US law defines a children's product as one designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. Deciding whether a product meets that test weighs several factors, and one of them is how the product is presented: its packaging, its labelling and its advertising.

How a listing presents a product can therefore change the product's CPSIA status:

• A plain stainless steel water bottle shown on a hiking trail with adults is a general-use product.
• The same water bottle shown in a child's school bag, with cartoon images and "perfect for kids" in the title, is presented as a children's product.

The same reasoning applies to toys for the youngest children. When deciding whether a toy is intended for children under 3, where small parts are banned, the authorities consider how the toy is advertised, images included. A toddler shown with a toy marked 3+ is a problem, which the toy rules cover.

The first CPSIA decision is a listing decision: present the product for the people it is really for. A product for children needs its testing and documents in place before the listing goes live. A product that is not for children should keep children out of its images, its title and its category.

Which everyday products are often shown with children by accident?

Some everyday products are easy to present as children's products by accident. None of these is a children's product by default, and each can become one in a listing through a child in the main image, "for kids" in the title, cartoon packaging or a children's category:

• water bottles, lunch boxes and backpacks
• night lights, lamps and torches
• bedding, cushions and blankets
• stationery, art supplies and craft kits
• hats, gloves and umbrellas
• phone and tablet cases
• room decor such as wall stickers and growth charts

Decide which audience the product is for before making the listing images.

What does CPSIA require for a children's product?

A product that counts as a children's product under US law needs five things.

What are the CPSIA lead limits?

The CPSC limits total lead content in children's products to 100 parts per million in accessible parts, and lead in paint and similar surface coatings to 90 parts per million. A CPSC-accepted laboratory tests both, and both appear in the Children's Product Certificate when they apply.

Colours and finishes matter for lead: a red coating can test differently from a blue one. A lead test report for one colour does not cover another colour unless the laboratory tested it.

Who does CPSIA third-party testing?

A children's product must be tested by a third-party laboratory accepted by the CPSC for each rule that applies to it. The manufacturer or importer usually arranges the testing. A seller who buys finished children's products should ask the supplier for the test reports and check four things:

• The laboratory is accepted by the CPSC for the tests listed.
• The product named in the report is the product being sold, with the same materials and colours.
• The tests cover every rule that applies, not only lead.
• The date is recent enough to cover the batch, and the batch numbers match where the report names them.

What is a Children's Product Certificate?

A Children's Product Certificate (CPC) is a short document in which the manufacturer or importer certifies, based on third-party testing, that a children's product meets the applicable rules. A Children's Product Certificate names the product, the rules, the laboratory, the dates and the people responsible.

A seller should keep a copy of the Children's Product Certificate for every children's product listed, ready to send when a marketplace asks. A seller who imports a children's product issues the certificate, which makes the testing behind it the seller's responsibility too.

What is the difference between a CPC and a General Certificate of Conformity?

A Children's Product Certificate covers a children's product and rests on third-party testing by a CPSC-accepted laboratory. A General Certificate of Conformity (GCC) covers a general-use product that is subject to a CPSC rule, and rests on a test of each product or a reasonable testing programme. A product presented for children needs the Children's Product Certificate, not a General Certificate of Conformity.

What are CPSIA tracking labels?

CPSIA tracking labels are permanent marks on a children's product and its packaging that identify the manufacturer, the place and date of production, and batch information, so the product can be traced if there is a problem. The children's clothing rules cover how Walmart applies tracking labels to clothing.

A photo of the tracking label in a listing is not required, but the photo helps a marketplace reviewer and a careful buyer, and it takes seconds while photographing the product.

What do Walmart, Amazon and Etsy ask for children's products?

Walmart, Amazon and Etsy each apply CPSIA, and each adds rules in its policies.

For toys that need a choking warning on the package, US law asks for the same warning on the internet listing. The toy rules cover Amazon's cautionary statement field. On Etsy, being handmade does not by itself take a product outside these rules.

What should a seller do when a supplier has no CPSIA documents?

A seller whose supplier cannot produce test reports from a CPSC-accepted laboratory and a Children's Product Certificate has three options:

1. Wait until the supplier can, and do not list the product as a children's product without the documents.
2. Arrange testing with a CPSC-accepted laboratory as the importer, and issue the certificate on that basis.
3. Choose a different product or supplier.

Listing a children's product with the documents missing is not an option. Walmart, for one, unpublishes children's products without them when it asks.

How can one product be listed two ways under CPSIA?

A made-up example shows how the listing decides. A seller lists a small clip-on reading light, designed for anyone.

• Listing one: an adult reading in bed, titled "clip-on book light for reading in bed", in a general category. The reading light is a general-use product.
• Listing two: a child reading under a duvet, cartoon colours, "perfect night light for kids" in the title, in a children's category. The same reading light is now presented primarily for children.

Listing two needs lead testing, the applicable rules for children's products, a Children's Product Certificate and tracking labels. A seller without them should publish listing one, with the reading light in a general category.

What should a children's product file hold?

One file for each children's product keeps the answers in one place when a marketplace or a buyer asks:

• the test reports, with the laboratory's name and CPSC acceptance
• the Children's Product Certificate
• photos of the tracking labels on the product and the packaging
• the package's warnings and age grade, exactly as printed
• the supplier's contact and the batch numbers received
• the date everything was last checked

A CPSIA checklist for online sellers

1. Decide who the product is for, and present it that way in images, words and category.
2. For a children's product, get the test reports from a CPSC-accepted laboratory.
3. Get the Children's Product Certificate.
4. Check the tracking labels on the product and packaging.
5. Add any warnings the package carries to the listing.
6. Keep every document on file, ready for when a marketplace asks.
7. Check again when the product, the supplier or the materials change.

How Commicorn helps

• A short note when it matters. When your product is a toy or a baby product, a one-line pop-up at the top of the listing steps links to its rules with Read more.
• Your labels, as printed. On the Untouched product route the pixels of your photo are never redrawn, so the warning panel and tracking label stay exactly as printed.
• You choose the people. Check every scene with a child against the age on your package before you export.

Commicorn helps you show children's products the way the rules expect. Start free.

Questions sellers ask

Does CPSIA apply to a product for ages 13 and up?

No, as long as the product is not presented for younger children. The CPSIA children's product definition covers products designed or intended primarily for children 12 or younger.

Does a photo of a child alone make a product a children's product?

A child in the listing is one factor, not the only one. Packaging, labelling, advertising and where the product is sold are weighed together.

Does CPSIA apply to handmade items sold on Etsy?

CPSIA applies to children's products sold in the US, and Etsy's Seller Handbook says being handmade does not by itself take a product outside its children's product rules.

Do I need a separate CPSIA test for each colour?

Yes, when the colours use different materials, paints or coatings. Lead limits apply to paint and surface coatings at 90 parts per million, and a lead test report for one colour does not cover another colour unless the laboratory tested it.

What is the CPSIA lead limit for children's products?

The CPSC limits total lead content in accessible parts of children's products to 100 parts per million, and lead in paint and surface coatings to 90 parts per million.