Six months after designating Amazon as a distributor and liable for recalls of hazardous products sold through the platform, the U.S. government issued a final order outlining remediation plans for Amazon to follow.

On Jan. 17, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) unanimously issued a Decision and Order that concludes its litigation with Amazon and outlines steps the eCommerce and technology company must take to notify purchases and the public about hazardous products.

Take MDM’s 2025 Trends Survey: Help shape our editorial content and be entered to win a $100 gift card 

Effective Jan. 26, the order requires Amazon to:

• Notify the public of any CPSC published recall release by posting those releases to Amazon.com; notify original purchases directly via email and provide information regarding recalls on each purchaser’s “Your Orders” page
• Provide one round of notice of the recalls to Fulfilled by Amazon participants who sold the subject products
• Issue a full refund in the amount of the purchase price to any consumer who submits proof of destruction or disposal of a subject product
• Maintain the recall releases on its “Recalls and Product Safety Alerts” webpage for at least five years
• Submit monthly progress reports for five years and records of its actions to comply with the order

In the Store: MDM’s U.S. MRO Market Trends Report 

Background

This past July, the CPSC determined in a unanimous vote that Amazon was a distributor of certain products that are defective or fail to meet federal consumer product safety standards and therefore has legal responsibility for their recall. More than 400,000 products are subject to this order, specifically faulty carbon monoxide detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protection and children’s sleepwear that violated federal flammability standards.

The commission originally filed an administrative complaint against Amazon on the matter in July 2021.

Amazon has long fought the distributor classification, citing its unique business model for online sales. While some of the goods Amazon sells come from its own inventory, like brick-and-mortar retailers do, nearly two-thirds of sales on Amazon.com are made by third-party sellers.

On the safety front, Amazon’s key argument was that for third-party sales, the company is merely the platform those sellers and buyers use and therefore Amazon isn’t responsible for upholding the quality and safety of products sold by outside vendors on its website.

In the Store: MDM’s 2024 Annual Economic Outlook Report (free for Premium) 

Why this Matters

While the scope of products that the order covers doesn’t overlap with B2B supplies that industrial distributors carry, the order signals that the commission is paying close attention to recalls surrounding hazardous materials and which selling entity is responsible for what.

This could have further-reaching impacts throughout the eMarketplace industry regarding whether the host platform is likewise responsible for altering the public about hazardous product recalls and proactively encouraging their return or destruction. 

The commission’s ruling and order could eventually task fellow eMarketplace platforms with the same safety responsibilities as traditional manufacturers and retailers and expose the seller to lawsuits and extensive recalls over items sold through its eCommerce platforms.