Product safety notices are up 27% on a year ago. A quarter name Amazon as the marketplace

What we counted

OPSS is the national product safety regulator. It publishes three kinds of notice on GOV.UK: product recalls, product safety reports and product safety alerts. Most product safety reports record goods rejected at the border or listings taken down by an online marketplace. A product rejected at the border was stopped before sale; it is not a recall and never reached a shop.

We counted every notice by its alert date, comparing the 90 days from 25 July to 22 October 2026 with the same 90 days of 2025. The counts are notices, not products or units: one notice can cover many items, and one notice can carry several categories and several measures.

226 notices, against 178 a year ago

There were 226 notices in the latest 90 days, up 27% on 178. Over 12 months to 22 October there were 872, up 22% on 712 in the 12 months before.

The rise is uneven. Toys went from 25 notices to 58, hobby and sports equipment from 18 to 32, and lighting products from 4 to 14. Notices whose titles mention toys, plush, dolls or squishes went from 14 to 36. Titles mentioning e-bikes, e-scooters, chargers or lithium batteries went from 16 to 23, and titles mentioning heaters, hairdryers, kettles, fans, lamps or lights from 11 to 24.

Other categories did not rise. Electrical appliances and equipment were 40 against 42, machinery 22 against 26, cosmetics 9 against 12 and childcare articles 9 against 11. There were no jewellery or motor vehicle notices in the latest 90 days, against 6 and 4 a year earlier.

Most notices were goods stopped at the border

128 of the 226 notices were imports rejected at the border, up from 108. These goods never went on sale. Recalls from end users, where people who bought something are asked to stop using it, rose from 41 to 66. Removals of online marketplace listings rose from 25 to 47.

OPSS's own risk ratings moved in both directions. Notices rated serious fell from 112 to 95, while those rated high rose from 40 to 74; together, 169 against 152. Notices with no risk level given rose from 16 to 46, which says nothing about whether products are more or less dangerous; the notices simply give no rating. Five notices were flagged as counterfeit, against three.

More notices can mean more goods being checked as well as more unsafe goods arriving. The figures cannot separate the two.

Why a quarter name Amazon

58 of the 226 notices name Amazon in their title, usually as "sold via Amazon", against 21 in the same days of 2025. That is 26%. No other seller or marketplace appears in more than two.

A notice naming Amazon usually concerns a third-party seller's listing, not a product Amazon made. Of the 58, 46 record an import rejected at the border and 31 record the listing being removed by the marketplace; six are recalls from end users. Listing removals are the system working as designed, as well as a reminder to check who you are actually buying from.

Twelve months, and the monthly shape

Over 12 months, recalls from end users rose 47%, from 213 to 313, and marketplace listing removals rose from 138 to 203. Border rejections rose from 341 to 387 but fell as a share of all notices, from 48% to 44%. Notices rated serious or high rose from 566 to 626. Counterfeit flags went from 7 to 13.

December 2025 had the most notices of any month in the list, 114. August 2026 was second, with 102, of which 68 were border rejections. September 2026 had 57, and October had 52 by the 22nd.

Recalled in the last 14 days

Seven products were recalled from end users between 9 and 22 October. If you have one, stop using it and follow the notice, which says who to contact; for most that is the seller or brand, for a refund, repair or replacement.

21 October: Horace Vetiver Primavera beard oil, sold via Amazon. OPSS says the fragrance concentration exceeds safety limits for leave-on facial products and could cause skin irritation or allergic reactions. Notice 2609-0073.

16 October, high risk: Ambiano ionic hairdryers sold by Aldi. The power cord may become damaged over time, with a risk of electric shock or fire. Notice 2610-0111; our Aldi hairdryer story explains how to check yours.

13 October: Mint Velvet Raya espadrille wedge sandals sold by Next, where the footbed can come away from the wedge heel and cause a fall (notice 2610-0072). Mattressman Comforcel Elite and Supreme mattresses, rated low risk, where the anti-slip underside failed flammability testing (notice 2609-0226). Two network cables that testing found did not meet their declared fire performance: Oren Kablo CAT7 ethernet cable (2510-0089) and Aginode LANmark-OF fibre cable (2507-0172).

9 October: pimple-popping squish toys sold via AliExpress with a needle or syringe that could puncture the skin. The listings were removed and the toys recalled (notice 2610-0049).

Just outside the fortnight, on 6 October, there was a serious-risk recall of Eskuta SX-250 e-bikes modified by BR Ebikes Limited so riders can bypass the legal 15.5mph limit. Only bikes BR Ebikes modified are affected; if yours is one, stop using it and contact BR Ebikes for a refund or replacement (notice 2609-0094).

Before the Christmas shopping

None of this is a reason to stop buying online. It is a reason to check. Buy toys that carry a UKCA or CE mark from a seller you can contact (a mark alone is not a guarantee, since it can be faked), and look at who the seller is, not just the marketplace. Check e-bike batteries and chargers against the OPSS notices before buying second-hand. Register new appliances with the manufacturer so you hear about a recall directly.

The full list of notices is searchable on GOV.UK by product, brand or barcode. Our emergency kit list covers what to keep at home for when the power goes.