A consumer safety investigation found counterfeit phone chargers listed for sale on Amazon Haul, eBay, and B&Q — products that failed basic electrical safety standards badly enough to electrocute users or catch fire.
The report, from UK consumer watchdog Which?, identified knock-off chargers passing as legitimate products across all three platforms. The findings span both pure marketplaces and a physical retailer: B&Q is a bricks-and-mortar home improvement chain, not just an online storefront where third-party sellers are notoriously hard to police. The chargers were flagged as "potentially lethal," a designation tied to documented failure modes, not a hedged legal disclaimer.
The timing is inconvenient for Amazon in particular. Haul launched as the company's answer to Temu and Shein — a cut-price storefront built on cheap supply chains and low-end consumer goods. Counterfeit electrical products are among the highest-risk categories when safety vetting slips, and UK fire services have linked non-compliant chargers to house fires for years. The hazard is not obscure.
This failure keeps recurring precisely because platforms profit from volume before they're held accountable for what's in it. The report gives Amazon, eBay, and B&Q fresh cause to act — though each has had that cause before.