sellling wooden toys

[Woodengifts]

Hello

was wondering if someone could give me some advice i have been making some wooden toys things like puzzles cars etc for my boys and friends say i should sell them.
If i where to sell them would the products need to have any testing as such ?

If you could let me know that would be great Thank you

 

[marcros]

Welcome to the forum. I see that this is an early post.

Please don't think of this as dismissive, but do have a look at the search facility- there have been some lengthy and good threads on toys, finishes and ce marking. You are unlikely to get all of that info repeated so well worth spending an hour looking.

 

[graduate_owner]

I'll second that - there are a number of issues with selling toys. Do the searching and I think you'll be surprised (and rather disillusioned with the idea, unfortunately).

K

 

[beech1948]

Try this link first. selling-wooden-toys-t68298.html?hilit=selling%20toys

regards
Al

 

[Lee J]

I started selling toys at craft fairs, nothing too complicated, things like these...

but after 1 craft fair I got disheartened as people started asking if I'd got them CE marked etc etc I look into it and it really wasn't worth pursuing so I changed direction and now make small furniture, clocks and trinkets/boxes

I remember I needed to make a file on each item so an item like this one...

...needed a file building that stated things like this...
Body : the wood type, origin and where I bought it.
Body : the type of paint used, where I bought it
The wheels : material, origins, where I bought them
Any glue used : type, contents, where I bought it

then I needed to send this file away with an example of the product so someone could test it to the extreme. Then I was allowed to sell them for £4 each.

not really worth the hassle.

 

[RogerP]

I have not researched the subject but a glance at Google search results seem to indicate that one can "self certify toys"

It may be worth going into.

http://oddsandsoxlets.co.uk/handmade-toys-ce-marking/

 

[marcros]

selling-wooden-toys-t68298.html?hilit=ce%20marking%20toys

 

[beech1948]

Lee J,

A couple of comments on your message.

1) You can self certify and put a CE mark on your toys.
2) You need to keep records but not as onerous as you have assumed. The records you keep are about the source of your materials but just once per source eg a paint source with copy invoice, paint spec sheet from supplier would suffice per batch run and then you only need reference the actual record per batch/run of products. So maybe 3 sheets per 50 items or more.
3) Testing carried out by "manufacturers" is much less than you think. Basic common sense applies....do the wheels stay on when dropped from 1.5m, do wheels come off when thrown against a wall, can child swallow wheels IF they come off etc etc...all able to be done by you. Certainly less scientific than a big manufacturer but enough.
4) Biggest issue may be to find a way to get supplier to document the wood supplied as 100%, unadulterated, suitable for use with children......99.9% will not but you could rely on a purchase spec which requires the wood to be virgin, not treated with chemicals, have an FCE trace, etc etc. All of which would take you about 30 minutes to put together, use the spec when buying, attach to purchase order, be slightly more formal about it but not over the top. Remember to cut off any wood which is painted (eg Ends) and just document it as a proces step.

It all sounds a lot but 98% of the time only needs to be done once and in a short amount of time and reused many times.

Al

Alan

 

[tsg]

Hi, I agree with looking at the thread suggested above. It describes my route to CE marking by self certification. There is a lot of reading to be done but it is all available on line. Speak to your local Trading Standards, they were very helpful to me. Use all child friendly products, keep receipts and get the data sheets showing chemical composition etc. Some of these are on line or if not I have found that the suppliers are quite helpful. Think of absolutely everything that can go wrong and show what you have done to prevent it happening.

If you (or anyone else on here) have a web site advertising your toys let me know and hopefully I can put a link on my site in exchange for a link to mine on yours.

Paul

 

[lukeuk]

How about http://www.etsy.com? I'm not an expert in woodworking but Etsy is one of the biggest online markets for hand made items.