Why Third-Party Sellers Online Can Make Shopping for Baby Gear So Confusing—and Potentially Risky
CR analyzed Amazon, Target, Temu, and Walmart shopping pages for safety and found significant differences
When Christina Mott, a mom of three, logged on to a major retail website to buy one of the world’s most popular baby products—a Sophie la Girafe teether—she assumed she was getting the real thing. “I didn’t give it a second thought,” she says. Only later, after comparing her baby’s version with a friend’s, did she notice something was off. “The color of the rubber wasn’t the same. Ours had more of a yellow tint, while hers was more beige.”
When she looked more closely at the product listing online, she discovered that it had been sold by a third‑party seller. Online retailers such as Amazon, Target, Temu, and Walmart are hosting more and more third-party sellers on their platforms, and these independent sellers are becoming hard to avoid when shopping online. It’s estimated that by 2027, third-party sellers will make up 59 percent of all global e-commerce sales.
When Mott compared her Sophie side-by-side with the images on the brand’s official website, the differences became even more apparent. “That was really upsetting,” she says. “This is something my baby had been chewing on for months. I started to wonder what it was made of and what my baby may have been exposed to.”
Mott assumed that buying through a major online retailer meant that the product was legit and that the platform would be responsible for its safety. She’s not alone. In a nationally representative Consumer Reports survey (PDF) from October 2025, 84 percent of the respondents said that online retailers should be responsible for the safety of products sold by third-party sellers, just as walk-in stores are responsible for the safety of all products they sell.
Mott’s experience points to a growing problem for parents. Shopping online for baby products has become confusing and, in some cases, potentially unsafe. As e-commerce platforms expand and rely more heavily on third-party sellers, it’s harder for parents to know who’s actually selling a product, whether it meets safety standards, and where to find the critical safety information they need before clicking “buy.”
Current laws and regulations haven’t kept pace with this new marketplace reality, leaving consumers vulnerable when shopping online. Right now in the U.S., it’s unclear whether online retail platforms are legally responsible for the products sold on their marketplaces, especially those offered by third-party sellers. This lack of clarity creates a risk for consumers.
To better understand what parents are up against, Consumer Reports did a comprehensive review of how major online marketplaces present information. The goal was to assess whether parents could easily identify potentially unsafe products, find out who is selling them, and access safety and recall information when needed.
- How Consumer Reports Evaluated Online Baby Product Safety—and What We Found
- Banned and Restricted Products Are Still for Sale Online
- Critical Safety Information Is Sometimes Missing or Inconsistent
- It’s Often Unclear Who Is Really Selling These Products
- Recall Information Is Hard to Come By
- How Platforms Are Responding to the Consumer Reports Evaluation
- What Parents Need to Know to Shop Safely Online
How Consumer Reports Evaluated Online Baby Product Safety—and What We Found
Consumer Reports focused on three categories of baby products: cribs, pacifiers, and pajamas. These products are subject to specific federal standards that address safety hazards that can result in serious injury or death, including suffocation, strangulation, choking, and burns.
Researchers spent hundreds of hours evaluating product listings on four major shopping platforms: Amazon, Target, Temu, and Walmart. They looked at how product and safety information was displayed, whether banned or restricted products were still available for sale, how clearly third‑party sellers were identified, and how easily shoppers could find information about recalls.
What Consumer Reports found raises serious concerns for parents shopping online. But the good news is that some of the platforms are already committed to making improvements based on our findings. It’s worth noting, too, that our research uncovered significant differences across the criteria we evaluated. Amazon and Target scored higher than Walmart and Temu in our detailed evaluations of each platform.
We shared our findings with the companies, and Amazon and Temu took specific actions in response. (More on each company’s response is below.)
“This evaluation showed that running a digital marketplace with high-quality safety information for consumers is possible, and should become standard for the industry,” says Oriene Shin, manager of safety advocacy for Consumer Reports. “Each platform met or exceeded our expectations in different aspects of our evaluation. Amazon and Temu also showed how a platform can quickly implement many of CR’s recommendations outlined in our Marketplace Safety By Design Playbook, and give consumers the information they need to make safe and informed decisions.”
Below are some of the most significant findings from CR’s evaluation of over 100 baby product listings on four major online retail platforms—and what this means for parents.
Banned and Restricted Products Are Still for Sale Online
One of the most troubling findings was that products restricted or banned under U.S. law, regulation, or corporate policy were still available for sale on three of the four platforms reviewed. Target was the only marketplace where Consumer Reports didn’t find banned or restricted children’s products.
Products that were prohibited by law or corporate policy were found on Amazon, Temu, and Walmart. In some cases, listings appeared to violate existing laws and regulations meant to protect infants and young children, including sleep-related products and other items that should no longer be on the market but were still easy to purchase with just a few clicks.
On Amazon and Temu, Consumer Reports found padded crib bumpers—federally banned in 2022—still for sale. Temu said that after reviewing the bumper pad listing, it initiated an internal investigation and confirmed that the product had already been delisted before it was flagged. The company also said it had taken additional steps to prevent the item from being relisted and would continue strengthening monitoring to prevent similar items from appearing on the platform. On Amazon and Walmart’s apps, Consumer Reports found water beads marketed for children despite new regulations passed just last year (which go into effect March 2026) and public commitments to CR to stop selling them. After we brought these pages to their attention, most were removed.
Critical Safety Information Is Sometimes Missing or Inconsistent
Just as concerning, critical safety information for baby products was sometimes missing or inconsistent on product pages online. This is at odds with consumer expectations, as 2 out of 3 shoppers (66 percent) in the same recent Consumer Reports survey said this kind of information was very important to display on the product page. While Amazon scored top marks in this area, with Target a close second, across all four platforms, Consumer Reports found listings that failed to clearly state age recommendations or left out key details parents need to assess risk and make smart, safe shopping decisions.
On Target, for example, only one of the pacifier listings our researchers evaluated included critical safety information, such as strangulation hazards, and some crib listings lacked safe sleep guidance. Amazon’s pacifier listings initially lacked important safety warnings about the risk of strangulation. On Temu, several pajamas listed for sale lacked brand names, which could confuse parents later if a similar product were recalled. Six cribs also failed to list a weight limit, a real safety concern if a baby outgrows the crib.
When we brought these issues to Temu’s attention, the company introduced additional requirements in December 2025. All crib listings are now required to display weight capacity information, and pacifier listings must include clear age-range details, a BPA-free declaration, and explicit strangulation warnings. The company said it has also strengthened monitoring to identify and address incomplete or potentially unsafe information on product pages, including images that may suggest unsafe practices.
Other platforms made changes to a number of the product listings, which CR was able to verify, but some updates hadn’t been completed and verified at the time of publication.
Critical gaps in safety information about potential hazards were especially apparent on product listing pages for cribs, pacifiers, and baby pajamas. Crib product pages routinely lacked written safe sleep guidance across all four platforms evaluated by CR’s researchers. Pajama listings often failed to include essential flammability information. And some crib and pacifier pages featured images showing unsafe sleep environments, such as pillows, blankets, and other soft items placed in cribs—visuals that directly contradict established safety recommendations. Unsafe sleep images are especially problematic in marketing imagery because they tacitly communicate “norms” that parents may think are safe to practice at home, a widespread—and dangerous—problem online.
Many product listings also lacked evidence of a Children’s Product Certificate (CPC). This certifies that the product complies with safety rules enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). A CPC is legally required for every product designed or intended for children 12 years old or younger, such as toys, clothing, or furniture sold in the U.S. Many product pages also lacked declarations that the product met or exceeded safety standards set by the CPSC or the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). A Walmart crib listing claimed certification under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) and ASTM, and two pacifier listings on the Target site included a statement of CPSIA certification, which isn’t possible (it’s a law, not a certifying body). This reflects the lack of proper controls to verify standards and certification claims on product listings.
A Target spokesperson said the company was taking steps to refine certification fields, add additional safety information where appropriate, and enhance its image moderation and brand guidelines. Amazon said it requires all products offered in its store to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and company policies. An Amazon spokesperson said the company employs a comprehensive set of controls to maintain a safe and compliant store, including robust seller verification processes, required third-party lab testing for certain products before listing, and automated technology that continuously scans products, using machine learning and human investigators to identify potential risks.
“We also provide tools for customers, regulators, and other trusted parties to report potential issues,” the spokesperson said. “We investigate these and take the appropriate actions, including removing products, enforcing selling accounts, and working with law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable.”
Temu said it was continuously strengthening its compliance processes to ensure the safety of its marketplace and didn’t allow third-party sellers to list products that failed to meet applicable regulations. A spokesperson said the company operates a “multilayered compliance and quality-control system” that includes seller screening, ongoing monitoring of listings, physical inspections and testing, and the removal of noncompliant products. Temu also said it collaborates with independent testing organizations to ensure product safety.
In a statement, Walmart said: “The safety of our customers is very important to us. We ask our third-party sellers to include helpful product information and require the inclusion of important safety disclosures and warnings for certain products. Our trust and safety team works to support safety, reliability, and compliance with our standards and policies, while continuously enhancing and improving our monitoring and control measures.”
It’s Often Unclear Who Is Really Selling These Products
Another major issue our researchers found was the lack of transparency about third‑party sellers. Information about who was actually selling a product was often buried, unclear, or inconsistently presented.
While all four platforms maintained seller pages, Consumer Reports found that the information available about third-party sellers on these pages was often limited or unreliable. For example, Amazon, Walmart, and Target generally provided a way to contact sellers through their mobile apps, but Temu’s seller pages didn’t consistently provide contact information. In Consumer Reports’ review, almost a third of Temu sellers offered no contact information at all, whether via email, a messaging function, or some other way for parents to ask basic safety questions before buying.
When we contacted Temu, a spokesperson said it complied with applicable legal requirements related to seller contact disclosure, adding that certain high-volume third-party sellers were required to use Temu’s in-platform chat function as a contact channel, and that consumers could reach these sellers through the seller information page, product page, or their purchase history page. Temu said sellers are expected to respond to inquiries in a timely manner and that the platform “may take action in cases of delayed or non-response.”
When Consumer Reports researchers contacted sellers directly with safety-related questions, the responses raised additional concerns. Some Temu sellers didn’t respond to our messages, and others gave one-word replies that didn’t answer our questions. Amazon sellers were overall more responsive, but not all provided complete responses. Several Amazon sellers declined to share a CPC, while others offered vague assurances instead. One seller required proof of purchase before providing safety documentation, an unreasonable hurdle for parents simply trying to assess risk. Sellers on Walmart and Target responded more often than Temu’s sellers did, but still frequently provided incomplete or delayed information.
Perhaps most striking, Consumer Reports found that none of the platforms offered a clear, consumer-facing explanation of how third-party sellers are vetted in the first place. Our October 2025 survey found that most respondents (86 percent) thought online platforms should thoroughly vet third-party sellers before allowing them to sell on their sites, for example, by verifying their identity, history, or compliance with safety rules. Without that transparency, parents are left guessing about whether sellers have been screened for safety, compliance, or reliability. This uncertainty can have serious consequences when products are designed for infants and young children.
Target noted that its Target Plus marketplace, Target.com, and the Target app are invite-only marketplaces, indicating that a screening process is in place. A company spokesperson added that the company requires vendors to comply with applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
Recall Information Is Hard to Come By
Consumer Reports also found that product recall information was often difficult for parents to find while shopping online. At the time of the evaluation, Walmart, Target, and Amazon each maintained recall pages on both their mobile apps and desktop sites, but the user experience varied widely, making it easy for shoppers to miss critical safety alerts. As a result, even when products are recalled, there’s not always a consistent or prominent way for parents to see that information while browsing or purchasing.
This gap runs counter to consumer expectations. In Consumer Reports’ recent survey, 86 percent of participants said online platforms should, at a minimum, notify shoppers when a product they sell has been found to be unsafe. Amazon has maintained a personalized recalls section on its app to notify parents whether a product they’ve purchased has been recalled for safety reasons, and Temu added one after we contacted the company. Target said guests can access recall information through in-store Help Centers, in-store iPads, and the Recalls section on Target.com.
A Temu spokesperson said it has provided a personalized recall page on its website since 2023 that lists recall information based on a user’s purchase history. Following suggestions from Consumer Reports, the company said it made the feature available in its app in December 2025. Temu also said it introduced a general recall information page in December 2025, accessible on both its website and app, allowing consumers to view recent recall information without logging in.
Even with these tools in place, federal regulators say the responsibility to prevent recalled products from circulating online ultimately rests with sellers and the platforms that host them. The CPSC, which oversees product recalls, couldn’t agree more. “Reselling recalled baby products, or any recalled product, is illegal, whether in stores or online,” says Peter A. Feldman, the acting chair of the CPSC. “Removing dangerous products from online marketplaces is a top enforcement priority.” The CPSC “will not hesitate to use all of our enforcement tools to stop sellers who put children at risk.” In 2025 alone, the CPSC issued more than 88,250 takedown notices for recalled and violative products.
How Platforms Are Responding to the Consumer Reports Evaluation
We gave all the platforms opportunities to make on-the-record comments. In addition, our safety experts contacted all the platforms to see what changes they would be willing to make in response to our findings. Amazon, Target, and Temu provided responses outlining steps they are taking to improve safety and transparency on their platforms. Amazon and Temu engaged most directly with Consumer Reports and committed to several concrete changes.
Amazon updated its standards for pacifier listings to require strangulation warnings that already appear on product packaging, and said it would make information about prohibited products and seller vetting more accessible to consumers. It also removed several unsafe listings identified by Consumer Reports, including dangerous water beads and crib bumpers. When CR verified the changes, we found a different crib bumper listing being marketed as a “foam strip crib bumper,” which has now been removed. The company also committed to improving guidance on children’s pajamas, clarifying age-grading and sizing information, and sending safe sleep information to customers via email after they purchase products like cribs and bassinets.
Temu says it’s committed to strengthening its safety requirements for children’s products. It removed several unsafe listings identified by Consumer Reports, including dangerous crib bumpers sold as bumper tapes, The company said it would require merchants selling pacifiers to include a declaration that the products are free of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical that’s banned from many other children’s products, submit documentation for review, and clearly label when pacifiers are BPA-free. Temu removed all pacifiers pending testing and has added one pacifier listing where the seller completed BPA testing, and CR verified the updated safety information. Temu is also committed to improving safety information on product pages by requiring weight and maximum weight limits on all crib listings, age ranges, and strangulation warnings on pacifier pages, and clearer explanations of children’s products overall. In addition, the company launched a more accessible "Safety Alerts and Recalls Center," added personalized recall notices based on purchase history, and said it would make its prohibited products list publicly available to consumers.
Target responded to the findings by saying that it was committed to providing guests safe, high-quality products and that vendors must comply with applicable requirements, but didn’t outline specific, verifiable platform-wide changes in response to CR’s evaluation.
Walmart declined to engage with Consumer Reports about the evaluation or its recommendations when findings were disclosed.
As the market for third-party sellers continues to grow, Consumer Reports will continue to monitor whether these commitments result in meaningful, lasting improvements for consumers and whether promised changes are implemented consistently across these and other platforms.
“Digital platforms must do more to protect families when they shop online,” Shin says. “Safety should be fully integrated into the marketplace by verifying safety claims, providing transparent information about sellers, and proactively preventing the sale of banned products. Parents and caregivers shouldn’t have to trade safety for convenience, especially when buying essentials for their babies.”
What Parents Need to Know to Shop Safely Online
The takeaway is clear: While online shopping offers convenience, it remains a buyer‑beware environment, especially when it comes to baby products. Consumer Reports recommends several steps parents can take to protect their families:
Understand who you’re buying from. It’s not always easy to tell who is selling a given product—and that’s part of the broader problem CR is trying to address. But a little digging can often shed some light. You can identify the seller on Amazon product pages by looking directly below the “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons, where it lists the shipper (“Ships from”) and the seller (“Sold by”). And you’ll find that info a little farther down on the right-hand side of Walmart.com product pages, below the shipping options.
Buy from reputable sellers. Consider buying products only where the marketplace itself (such as Amazon or Walmart) is listed as the seller, because the platforms are unambiguously responsible for those products under current laws. If you’re interested in a product listed by a third party, stick with well-known and reputable brands. If you haven’t heard of one, do a Google search. One good sign is if you can find the exact same product on other major retail sites. Being unable to find a company website is a bad sign.
Check the reviews, but be skeptical. Negative customer reviews should put you on guard, especially if they include specific real-life details and/or multiple reviews identify similar problems. But keep in mind that fake and paid-for reviews, though illegal, are widespread. And know that designations like “Amazon’s Choice,” “Top Seller,” “Highly Rated,” “Sponsored,” or “Pro Seller” don’t guarantee a product’s safety.
Report suspicious products. If you see something that seems suspicious, or you spot a recalled, illegal, or hazardous product, alert the website and consider reporting it to the CPSC at saferproducts.gov.
Look for safety information, including age recommendations and required warnings, and make sure the information provided answers all your questions.
Search independently for recalls and safety warnings before purchasing essential baby gear, whether on the CPSC website directly, on CR.org, or on reputable sites that track baby product recall news, such as Babylist. You can also sign up to receive recall alerts at recalls.gov.
Be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. Shopping online for essentials and baby gear is a part of every parent’s day-to-day tasks, and online shopping safety may seem like just one more thing to worry about. But with these common-sense best practices for shopping online, you can protect yourself, your baby, and your wallet.
“Shopping for a baby can be stressful enough, and parents and caregivers shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of identifying unsafe products on their own,” Shin says. “Digital marketplaces should step up and ensure that every product listing provides parents the clear, accurate, and complete information they need to make informed and safe purchasing decisions.”
