“Serious concerns” reported about enforcement of a ban on sale of e-bike chargers and conversion kits by one of the largest online sellers
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
Bike Europe has reported that “serious concerns” remain about the enforcement of a ban on the sale of e-bike chargers and conversion kits by one of the largest online sellers, Wish.com, who took the decision citing safety risks.
It reported that, in numerous investigations, UK consumer safety charity, Electrical Safety First had revealed that dangerous e-bike chargers were being offered for sale on Wish.com, Amazon and eBay. Subsequently one of the world’s largest online marketplaces, Wish.com, banned e-bike and e-scooter chargers as well as conversion kits in May 2023 citing safety risks. “Given the safety risks surrounding e-bike chargers, we took the decision to block the sale of e-bike chargers on our UK platform,” Wish.com said in BBC’s consumer flagship show, Rip Off Britain. It is unclear why they continued to sell these products in other countries in view of the safety risks of these products.
The ACT, together with the Bicycle Association, recently issued joint guidance in response to the legislation proposed by Electrical Safety First (ESF) on e-bike fire safety.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST GUIDANCE
Electrical Safety First has now raised serious concerns about the enforcement of the sales ban by Wish.com after finding listings for products on their site again. In response Wish said these examples “appear to have circumvented our filters due to incorrect tagging from our merchants.” The shift in policy comes after an investigation by Electrical Safety First in September 2022 that identified nearly 60 listings of potentially dangerous and substandard e-bike and e-scooter chargers across Wish.com, Amazon Marketplace, eBay and AliExpress.
A further joint investigation in May 2023 by Electrical Safety First and The Guardian revealed the continued sale of dangerous e-bike chargers. They revealed 15 such chargers across Amazon, eBay and Wish.com in a snapshot investigation. As a result of both previous investigations, all marketplaces removed the dangerous listings.
Lesley Rudd, chief executive of Electrical Safety First said: “Whilst we commend Wish.com for being the first online marketplace to step forward to take proactive measures in an attempt to stop dangerous chargers entering people’s homes, unless enforced this will fail to protect shoppers.”
In June this year the charity published its extensive report into fires linked to e-bike and e-scooter batteries, entitled, Battery Breakdown.
“The fact that chargers were still for sale reinforces the need for urgent changes to the law, strict enforcement and penalties. Voluntary action, whilst welcome, will not eliminate the need for legal change that must be introduced by Government,” Lesley Rudd adds.
For the moment, Bike Europe says, it is unclear whether any legal action has been taken to ban unsafe e-bike battery chargers and conversion kits on other markets.