DOES ANYONE ON HERE MAKE AND SELL THERE OWN TOYS ?? HELP !!

[mac1012]

Hi i just wondered if anyone made and sold there own toys ? i have sterted making rocking horses and couple people interested and i wondered what you did about safety standards and how the law stood on homemade spare time toys/

My horses a very safer and well built , there must be somebody on here who makes and sells toys ??

if so any advice would be great if not first hand any info you have cxome acroos would be great thanks mark

 

[Mike.C]

Hi Mac welcome to the forum. As you are making rocking horses this is likely not want you want, but Jensmith makes Dolls houses and furniture to match.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Lord Kitchener]

If you type "toy safety regulations" into Google you will get all the information you need. When you've read them you can decide if they apply to your own situation or not. If you are planning to sell the toys for profit you would be well advised to purchase product liability insurance. If you choose not to, and some kid falls off a rocking horse you made, then you could lose your house. Pretty unlikely but it's always good to be aware of the risks.

 

[mac1012]

yeah i see where you coming from i live in coincil accomodation so they would have a job going for that!!

so is that the same liability if a kid falls of a bike ? the only way they could sue if it was deemed my workmanship or product defect.

 

[mac1012]

i am happy to get mine tested and pay but sorting out how to go about it is confusing i see there is companys on internet who do it i going to ring them tomorrow along with trading standards i was kind of hoping someone on here would be able to point me in right direction

 

[gardenshed]

Remember to register with the tax office before you start as registering later will invoke an auto penalty.
Blame Gordon B from the prev goverment for that one.

Fwiw also make sure any finish applied to any toy is child safe.

Google is your friend.........

 

[9fingers]

The problem with safety is that there is not a standard list of hoops to jump through after which you are indemnified of any responsibility.

All you can do is take as many precautions as you can think of, document everything you have done and make sure each one you make complies and then either hope that there is not a problem or try and get insurance against action that a customer might take against you. This is essentially what CE qualification entails. It is a self certification process.

When I was working in middle management, I was responsible for having a safe working environment for my staff. After much probing I found that all I could do was to keep trying to identify potential hazards and remove/reduce them but at the end of the day the buck stopped with me - even if I was not there!

If you are confident that your product is essentially safe then go ahead and sell them otherwise give up.
Depressing, but that is where we are with both HSAW and Product Liability in this country now.

Bob

 

[clk230]

check your council rent agreement to see wether your allowed to operate a business from home.

 

[wills-mill]

I heard about the British Toymakers Guild through the fantastic Mr Robert Race, who led an automata and mechanical toy making course at West Dean College that I went on a few years back.... They are a great little group and well worth supporting.

Their publication on compliance is very helpful and down to earth- your responsibilities on certification and testing are far simpler than those required by the major manufacturers and retailers. They also publish a book on rocking horses.....

http://www.toymakersguild.co.uk/index.html
http://www.robertrace.co.uk/

 

[mac1012]

thanks for the advice guys , yes i am very confident they are safe after my own rigourous testing , the construction is screwed and glued, i sat on it this morning and with my whole body weight i tried to tip it forward and over and back and over and it wasnt even close to doing it. the varnish i going to use is rustins which is en71 complient, and it low solvent quick drying like ronseal , i checking with them tomorrow.

thanks for advice about book thats great i will order it and thanks for encouragement.

i knew someone was going to say that about council property , just knew it ! yes i checked thank you.

i only make in spare time i have a day job stuffs mainly family friends and work colleagues but thank for advice about paying my taxes.

 

[clk230]

would you rather i had not mentioned it , then you get evicted !

only trying to help

 

[mac1012]

yeah you probably right people owe 100000s in rent dont get evicted but they would chuck me on street followed by my hegner machine ! yeah know you meant well i was just laughing to myself because i knew someone would mention it well spotted.

so far on this post i have lost my house and got evicted not bad for a woodworking forum !! lol

 

[mac1012]

thanks will- mill i have just ordered the booklet looks very interesting

 

[mac1012]

i also have a very tight knit maine that i fit and i use uhu solvent free glue for it which is non flammable i held a flame to the maine with a naked flame for 30 second and it didnt ignite and you would have to chisel it to get it off the wood. the only weak spot i can see is the eyes which are large wooden buttons but again you would have to chisel it or knock them with a hammer to get of and as over three years old product think i should be ok,