CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS AND GARAGE SALES

New laws could threaten hefty fines for anyone running garage sales or church rummage sales if they're caught selling merchandise (mostly children's merchandise) that has been recalled because of safety concerns. You may need the 24-page "Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers" available from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. While the standards set in 2008 were originally meant for new products with problems like too much lead content, the CPSC has claimed the standards also cover used items. So its new restrictions include hundreds of items recalled in the past that most sellers today know nothing about. We wonder if antique show promoters must now worry about early 1900s teddy bears with shoe-button eyes or old handmade cribs with bars too far apart or tiny 19th-century children's tea sets that could be swallowed.