This Amazon Service Could Save You Money -- or Even Your Life

Recalls on potentially harmful consumer products help keep us safe.

I've been an Amazon customer for 20 years now, since my salad days as an undergraduate student. I shop there frequently, and racked up 105 orders last year alone. One of the items I purchased last year turned out to be potentially dangerous, and Amazon reached out to me about a manufacturer recall. This is yet another service Amazon offers, and it could help you stay safe as well as have money returned to your checking account if something you buy is recalled.

Product recalls are a part of modern life

Recalls make the news all the time, and often the biggest ones have to do with unsafe food products. Additionally, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) maintains a database with information about the latest major recalls on other consumer products, running the gamut from children's toys and accessories to electronic devices to furniture. But thanks to the hustle and bustle of modern life (not to mention many media sources competing for our attention), it might be more difficult than expected to keep abreast of recalls on every little thing you buy. This is where Amazon comes in.

Amazon Product Safety and Recalls

Amazon has a product safety team that was established in 2016. It's responsible for monitoring public recall notices and those distributed by product manufacturers. When Amazon learns of a recall, it holds stocks of the particular item in its distribution centers and stops dispatching them to customers. It also reaches out to customers who have already ordered and received recalled items. If you have an e-commerce business and sell your products through Amazon, you'll be notified through your Amazon Business account if one of your items is recalled.

In the last few years, Amazon has tightened up this service. It was actually sued by the CPSC in 2021 in an attempt to compel more robust participation in the recall process. Unfortunately, product liability rules are set at the state level and Amazon isn't technically the manufacturer of most of the items it sells, making this lawsuit particularly complicated. It's likely to be years before the lawsuit is resolved. In the meantime, Amazon is helping to signal-boost recalls, and I recently had my first experience with the service.

An unsafe electric blanket

I was notified by Amazon Product Safety and Recalls service via email about an electric blanket I bought last year. It turned out that it was at risk of overheating, melting, and even catching fire, and a whopping 350,000 blankets and heating pads are part of the recall. There were even reports of burn injuries from consumers who used them. There was news coverage of the recall, but not from an outlet I would usually read. I wouldn't have known about it if not for that email I received from Amazon, and I'm extremely happy that I had used the blanket without incident up until that point.

I was offered a refund for my costs, in exchange for destroying the blanket (in practice, this meant cutting the cord off it and submitting a photo to the manufacturer). Now my elderly cat has a formerly-electric blanket draped over his favorite living room chair, and I was refunded $46 to my credit card. That's a win for both of us.

There's no way to tell if the products you buy could turn out to be hazardous to your health, but having an additional opportunity to learn about and act on a recall notice is definitely a good thing, for your wallet and your livelihood.