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

haha - yes I can see why you might think I work for one of these type of companies. 😁

Imagine it though, more people buy new more regular and then the costs come down , before you know it in the shops your normally 500euro washing machine comes down to 350 quid

have you seen a pile of shyte though some people sell on second hand over here though, "hardly ever used washing machine - in great condition" - it looks like its been stored in a leaky shed, rusty, grubby and the writing is all worn off the front and things broken off . I scour the second hand adverts quite regularly and I am always coming across listings like that or near it.

Very lucky if you do come across something second-hand and it really is immaculate condition 'as new' haha

Thats a good idea yes - a hand me down from a family member at least you know where its coming from

Yes its a shame if its going to recycling yard just because 'all it needs is a clean'

you ought to see the price of the spares for washing machines and large appliances though these days that is not helpin they can be a fierce price.

you imagine say for example a motor €120 - then a person to call out and fit it could be €150 ... some people will say, Sod that I can go out to Currys and buy a bloody spanking new washing machine with a least 12 months warranty for that and more than likely delivered to the house, plumbed in and old one taken away free of charge ... then of course their old one goes down tip / recycling (if they dont get it taken away) , lovely if you could say 'ah it only needs a motor and try an sell it to try avoid it going to tip but how many people are gonna buy a washing machine with a knackered motor even if the rest of it is ok?

good points - you dont always die from electrocution , you can still get a nasty shock and it can still be dangerous. Would it make the statistics data for how many people get shocks or a burning smell starts coming from it? - I doubt it very much.

as someone mention above here when they get old (especially the quality how things are made these days) they can become dangerous over time (insulation in cables/wires break down , other things could get dust, with fluff inside can get hot and catch fire (especially the case with tumble dryers) - and its all what if's isnt it, just because its served you well after 5 years it doesnt say when something is going to go wrong and go dangerous ... it just does. You have more chance of a used item being more dangerous than a brand new electrical item (well apart from if its a manufacturers fault and in which case they normally send out a recall of the item on it)

just as a precautionary in any case I would urge anyone who has bought a used secondhand washing machine/tumble dryer, fridge, dishwasher, table lamp, hairdryer, toaster, kettle in fact anything electrical that would normally come with a moulded plug on them but where it looks like the moulded plug has been cut off by the last user and replaced with a normal 13a 3 pin plug to take it apart and look very carefully - has the screws been tightened nice and tight, is the earth wire attached (if the appliance uses an earth wire) make sure there are no frayed wires, make sure its wired correctly (looking from back of plug off, blue wire on left, brown wire on right and green and yellow to the top) and make sure the cord grip at the bottom is gripping tightly the outer insulation of the cable, check it has correct rated fuse fitted and make sure all the brass pins are shiny and not dull looking and make sure the casing of the plug is not damaged or cracked, this is the least you can do and do quite easily. You would be amazed the amount of people who have chopped off the manufacturers moulded plug from the factory (for one reason or another) and fitted / wired up themselves a plug onto it .... and done it totally wrong! . - its no good leaving it to chance and saying well its working OK or that it has been working OK since you bought the item only to find one day something happens and you get a shock or it starts to catch fire.

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.