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Comment by petepete | Hacker News Reader

While this move is clearly sensible the number of people importing absolute junk from Temu/AliExpress/Shein means millions of homes will be exploitable regardless.

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> Most smart devices are manufactured outside the UK, but the PSTI act also applies to all organisations importing or retailing products for the UK market. Failure to comply with the act is a criminal offence, with fines up to £10 million or 4% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is higher).

-- https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/smart-devices-law

Will the government actually go after AliExpress/Shein/Temu? Dunno, but they have the option.

I'm not sure how it works elsewhere, including the UK, but I believe here in the Netherlands, ordering from Aliexpress counts as importing, i.e. if you were to sell that on to others (like a drop-shipper), you're the retailer, but if you just keep it for personal use, then that's at your own risk.

Edit: tried to find a source again, [1] is the closest I could find and at least is reliable (but in Dutch).

[1] https://www.consumentenbond.nl/online-kopen/bestellen-bij-bu...

I checked and I think you're correct.

Temu's T&Cs for the UK specifically say that

> You agree that, where applicable, you will act as the importer of the products purchased

-- https://www.temu.com/uk/terms-of-use.html

So yep, on the face of it, this does look like a pretty big loophole.

Much of the time the Aliexpress products provide the same functionality for far less than Western brands. Sometimes even a bit more functionality. But I'm still a bit wary of mains-connected ones.

At least here we have government agency that mandates recalls on the shoddy stuff bought from local stores. So getting money back is simpler. Even if the quality by amount of recalls is probably not that far...

Likewise. Connecting to the mains is my main red-line on what I've prepared to buy from unknown brands with names that were pulled from a scabble bag.

I'd add lithium batteries to the list. There's no way short of a teardown you can verify what battery vendor, which quality grade and especially which kind of protection circuitry was used - and even if there's analysis videos from youtubers available, there is no guarantee that the manufacturers haven't swapped stuff around during production runs to account for price and availability changes, or that the manufacturer doesn't suffer from supply chain issues.

Granted, established brands can be similarly impacted, but unlike some alphabet-soup dropshipper from Amazon, brands like Anker, Samsung, Apple or the likes have an actual reputation to lose so their incentive to keep safety in mind is way higher (and yes, even they can fail, both Samsung and Apple had their bad battery issues in the past).

> But I'm still a bit wary of mains-connected ones.

That is wise. YouTubers like BigClive regularly tear down Chinese products and you can bet on things like unconnected earth wires and poor separation between high/low voltage parts. Anything that plugs into mains should come from a known manufacturer and a reputable dealer (not Amazon, AliExpress etc.)

I regularly see the same product on AliExpress and in cheap EU shops. Most Ali things have a CE mark.

Most of my electronics has an FCC mark, even if it means nothing here. (I presume USA inhabitants see CE marks?) Globalization means it's cheaper to make 1 product, compliant with US and EU, then sell it from AliExpress too. This is exactly what the EU is counting on.

As far as Suspicious Chinese(tm) goods are concerned, I always just assume any claimed certifications are fake with no citable basis.

Chinese manufacturers claim that marking means "Chinese Export". They have some ridiculous story about how the curvature of the "C" is different when it means "Council of Europe".

I know, it's bogus, but this is their explanation.

China Export is a nasty one indeed. I recognize them by looking at the line between the 2 ends of the C : If the middle left of the E falls on the same line, it's a fake.

There isn't "millions of people" doing that. Geeks do that. The rest buy locally.

Companies like wish.com and amazon.co.uk advertise in mainstream media, and are widely used for buying low-quality goods from China.

Darwin at work?

I was typing on my phone, the word 'explosive' was accidental but definitely fits in with the theme of crappy electronics!

I edited the original post.

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