Should the sale of second-hand electrical items be banned?

Wouldnt e-waste eventually go down because people would be buying new machines and they could be more reliable than old worn out used machines? - plus of course you are buying brand new machines where normally the manufacturers offer at least 12months warranty on parts (sometimes parts & labor) and you are more likely to get it repaired under warranty (if the repairers do not play the uneconomical to repair card and manufacturers continue to keep parts readily available in stock) and not chuck it out like they would be more likely to do with a used/worn out one so cutting down e-waste that way.

I am not sure what you mean about buying a new machine and it 'not being yours' it will be if you buy the machine outright.

The idea of prices dropping is that demand for new appliances would increase massively if used items were 'banned' and (greed aside) more (mass) production of something should bring down prices in manufacturing and (hopefully) the manufacturers would (should) pass these savings onto customers .

Thats not too bad a thing - about if they cannot afford full whack to buy something they would miss out - this is what people used to do years ago before credit , if they could not afford it they simply did not buy it (live between their means) now these days there is high interest credit payments and loan sharks available for the poorer people who cannot afford to buy items outright and then that has created even more problems in itself for many people.

risk is risk, even if nothing happens - you are 9 times out of 10 'buying blind' - most people cannot gain who much an item has been used and how much its components have worn out inside and become considerably dangerous/a risk - why not take out the whole risk and buy a brand new with all new components, never used item which (bar manufacturers recall) should be absolutely safe .... and if not you do have a bonifide retailer and manufacturer to go back to should you spot (or smell) or something not sounding right/acting right. - its not paranoia - its just logical that by rights (unless you really have got lucky and bought a hardly used appliance with a couple of uses) a brand new appliance is going to be safer that an older used/worn appliance (bar product safety recalls from the manufacturer which happens very rarely)

if not banned (used electrical items) - then only make it that used electrical items can only be bought from certain places.

that means, general members of the public banned from selling used electrical items/appliances and that the only way you can purchase a used item such as that from designated shops/outlets/warehouses who have thoroughly tested the items before they are put out on display or sold for safety (against fire and electrocution risks and dangerously worn out components) and a warranty of 3months or something - this would make buying more safer (and the item safer) and a port of call for if people did buy such from an establishment and have a problem with the item .

oh i wouldn't say fires and electrocutions do not exist from faulty used and worn out / EOL second-hand appliances - quite the opposite

people should not let increases of e-waste cloud the safety of appliances in the home either. It is more important to have safe (or safe as possible) electrical and electronic appliances than trying to put spanners in the works such as getting rid of perfectly working appliances will make e-waste situations worse.

take recycling a washing machine for example. If recycled properly most of the washing machine should be able to be nearly all recycable. salvage the good safe working components and sell as spares , The wires stripped out and copper from the wire is valuable, the metals used on the circuit boards the plastic melted down and used in other manufacturing (in fact I think I read somewhere one manufacturer was making outer drums out of their brand new washing machines from old recycled melted down drums from old machines) - then whatever metal is left from old washing machines can be used/sold as scrap metal

Well it seems to have turned into that I have to start providing statistics now and hard facts otherwise people won't believe it happens which is rubbish. of course there are a lot of dangerous used secondhand appliances out there being sold (maybe some brand new ones as well) .

of course I cannot offer any statistics because that would involve me doing lots of searches to find them (and of course not all fires and electrocution will have been recorded or reported anyway so will be a waste of time. its all just my personal beliefs at the moment. I don't feel strongly enough that I am going to use my time up to find instances and dates and figures. but if you want cold hard facts the same information is out there what will be presented to me if you want to take the time and do your own research.

Your talking of low powered electronics, I'm talking of high powered in the kw power range with metal outer cabinets that heat up and can give electric shock if not earthed properly or repaired shoddily/incorrectly by unqualified people , think washing machines tumble dryers and dishwashers etc...

of course if I were a washing machine engineer say and was called out to a washing machine and it was getting on a bit and needed a major part I would be wondering yeah but if you replace that at a high cost and then something else goes wrong on the machine and it has to be scrapped still then , then thats the money down the drain. (I would still get my callout & check/diagnose charge) I can see where they are coming from .

i know we have to try and repair and repair and repair again - and keep electrical for as long as possible and cut down on e waste .... but in another way we also got to realise as well on the other hand that everything has a life and when something has come to the end of its natural working life... then it needs to be retired/gone