Search how to sell toys from China and you get compliance overviews written for importers of containers, a forum thread asking whether toys from a marketplace are safe, and lab news about new EU rules. None of them walks a store through what its own product page has to show, who signs the certificate when the toy carries the store's brand, or which line the parcel travels on.

The short answer: most toys ship on the general goods products that parcel lines out of China run, so the shipping is the easy part. The work is paperwork. In the US, a toy for children 12 and under needs a test from a CPSC-accepted lab and a Children's Product Certificate before it is sold, and a toy with small parts needs its choking warning on the product page as well as on the box. In the EU, the CE mark, your name and address, and the age warning have to be in place before the sale, online included.

This guide covers:

• The four things a toy needs before you sell it in the US
• Which toys need a choking warning, and where it goes on your store
• What the EU asks of a toy sold under your brand
• Which line toys go on, and the toys that need a different one
• How long toys take from China, and what to do before Q4

The four things a US toy needs before you sell it

Toys sold in the US fall under a mandatory federal standard, ASTM F963. The current edition, F963-23, applies to toys made after 20 April 2024. For products designed mainly for children 12 and under, the CPSC adds testing and certification on top. In plain words, four things:

• A third-party lab test. Samples tested by a lab the CPSC has accepted, against every rule that applies: ASTM F963-23, lead (100 ppm in the material, 90 ppm in paint and coatings) and eight phthalates (no more than 0.1% each in toys).
• A Children's Product Certificate. A written certificate, based on that test, naming the product, each rule it meets, who certifies it, where and when it was made and tested, and the lab.
• A tracking label. Permanent marks on the toy and its packaging that show who made it or whose brand it carries, where and when it was made, and the batch.
• The right warnings. Including the choking warning for toys with small parts, small balls, marbles or balloons, covered in the next section.

The law puts the certificate on the manufacturer or importer, and when the toy carries your private label, on you as well. A factory's own test report is a useful start, but check that it names your exact product and the current edition before you rely on it. Ask the factory for the report in writing at the sample stage, the same way the guide to ordering product samples from China suggests checking anything a supplier claims. This is a summary, not legal advice; a CPSC-accepted lab can tell you which tests your range needs.

Which toys need a choking warning, and where it goes

US rules ban small parts outright in toys for children under 3. Above that age, a toy can contain them, but it has to carry a warning. The CPSC's rules set four cases:

• Small parts, in a toy or game for children aged 3 to under 6. The warning on the pack reads "WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD, Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs."
• Small balls, meaning a ball that passes through a 1.75 inch (44.4 mm) hole, sold for children 3 and older, or inside a toy for children 3 to under 8.
• Marbles, on the same age rules as small balls.
• Latex balloons, or any toy that contains one, at any age.

The part most stores miss is online. Since December 2008, an internet listing that lets a customer buy the toy has to show the same warning on or right next to the listing, in plain view and in the language of the page. A Shopify product page is that listing. Put the warning in the product description near the top, not in a tab the customer never opens, and keep it word for word what is printed on the box.

Age is a judgement the rules check. The age you state counts, but so does how the toy is marketed and whether it is commonly seen as a toy for that age. A plush with button eyes sold "for all ages" is likely to be read as a toy for toddlers.

What the EU asks of a toy sold under your brand

Toys for children under 14 sold in the EU fall under the Toy Safety Directive, 2009/48/EC. When you sell a toy under your own name or trademark, the Directive treats you as the manufacturer. That means:

• Safety assessment and paperwork: technical documentation, a conformity assessment and an EC declaration of conformity, kept for 10 years.
• The CE mark, visible, legible and indelible, on the toy, a label or the packaging.
• A type, batch or model number on the toy, so it can be identified.
• Your name and contact address on the toy, or on the packaging when the toy is too small, and the importer's too.
• Warnings that start with the word "Warning", in the language the country asks for. Toys that could be dangerous under 3 carry "Not suitable for children under 36 months" or the crossed-out baby pictogram, with a short note of why.

The Directive also says the warnings that decide a purchase, starting with the minimum and maximum age, must be visible before the purchase, including when it is made online. And since 13 December 2024, the EU's General Product Safety Regulation asks every online offer to show the manufacturer's name, postal and email address, an EU responsible person when the manufacturer is outside the EU, a picture of the product and its warnings. For a brand shipping direct from China, the EU responsible person is usually the piece still missing.

Rules are changing, on a set date. A new Toy Safety Regulation, (EU) 2025/2509, was published on 12 December 2025 and applies from 1 August 2030. It replaces the paper declaration with a digital product passport, bans intentionally added PFAS and a list of bisphenols in toys, and puts more duties on online marketplaces. Toys placed on the market under the current Directive before that date can stay on sale. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Which line toys go on

Parcel lines out of China run separate products by goods class, and a parcel goes on the one its contents allow. YunExpress, a frontier line, runs general "Economy, Unrestricted" beside "Economy with Battery" and its cosmetics and clothing products. SDH, a lowest-cost line to the US, runs general goods, battery and sensitive goods lines.

Plush, puzzles, wooden toys, building blocks and board games are general goods. A toy store sells a lot more than that, and some of the best sellers change the line:

• Remote control cars, drones, robots and anything that lights up or makes a sound carry a battery and follow the rules in the guide to shipping products with batteries from China.
• Magnetic tiles and magnetic building sets are treated as sensitive goods by many lines.
• Slime, putty and liquid-filled toys are gels and liquids, which many lines also class as sensitive.

Tell the line exactly what is in the parcel and let it pick the product. A battery packed as general goods can be held or sent back, and in Q4 that wait lands on a gift.

How long toys take from China

Toy orders are too small a share of the measured parcels to give toys a figure of their own, so the times here are for the line products toys travel on. On YunExpress to the US, parcels with a first carrier scan in August 2026, the per-store median on the general goods Economy product ran 8.9 to 18.7 days, and on the Economy with Battery product 11.0 to 14.0. On SDH, a lowest-cost line, the general goods product ran 14.3 to 15.2 days. The battery product sat inside the general goods range: the line made more difference than the goods class.

For gifts, the date that matters is the last day an order can leave and still arrive before the holiday. The guide to Q4 shipping dates from China works those out by destination. Testing takes time too, so a toy you plan to sell in December needs its lab report well before stock is ordered.

What to do

• Set the age for every toy before you write the listing, from what it is and how you will market it
• Get each toy tested by a CPSC-accepted lab and issue a Children's Product Certificate before you sell in the US
• Check the factory's report names your exact toy and the current ASTM F963 edition
• Put a tracking label on the toy and its packaging with your brand, the place and date of production and the batch
• Copy the choking warning onto the product page, near the top, word for word
• Put the CE mark, your name and address, and the age warning on the toy before you sell in the EU, and name an EU responsible person
• Sort your range by goods class: general, battery, or sensitive (magnets, slime)
• Measure delivery on real orders, per line and per country, and plan Q4 stock early

How we handle this at Commercive

Commercive is your all in one sourcing and fulfilment partner. We source from a product link or a photo across our vetted factories, or work with the supplier you already use, and we test products without holding you to the factory's minimum, which suits a toy store trying a few designs before the season.

Your stock is received on our floor in China, and every order ships on the line that fits the product and the destination: a general goods line for plush, puzzles and blocks, a battery line for anything with a motor or a light, and a sensitive line for magnets and slime. Each parcel's scans sit in our dashboard. We recommend frontier lines such as YunExpress to essentially everyone; a lower-cost line might suit a low-price toy with patient customers, outside the gift weeks. Our measured delivery times by line and country are on our shipping status page.

If you're currently running a brand, just give us the product and your daily order volume. We'll get you a quote within the next 24 hours to hold up against what you're paying today.

Where these numbers come from. The US rules are from 16 CFR 1250.2 (ASTM F963-23), 16 CFR 1303.1 (lead in paint), 15 U.S.C. 1278a (lead in the material), 16 CFR 1307.3 (phthalates), 16 CFR 1500.19 and 1500.20 (choking warnings and advertising), 16 CFR 1501 (small parts), 15 U.S.C. 2063 (testing, certificates and tracking labels) and the CPSC's toy and certificate business pages, read 27 October 2026. The EU rules are from Directive 2009/48/EC, Articles 2, 4, 6, 8, 11 and 17 and Annex V, read 27 October 2026, with the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 and the Toy Safety Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 as summarised by Fieldfisher and Bureau Veritas. This is a summary, not legal advice. Line product names are the carriers' own. Delivery times are our own measurement: parcels to the US from stores we fulfil from China, first carrier scan 1 to 31 August 2026, test stores excluded, calendar days from the first scan to the first delivered scan, measured 27 October 2026, shown as the range of per-store medians for stores with at least 30 parcels on that line product.

Can you dropship toys from China?

Yes. Plush, puzzles, wooden toys and building blocks ship on the general goods products that parcel lines out of China run. Toys with batteries need a battery product, and magnetic sets and slime often go on a sensitive goods product. In the US, toys for children 12 and under also need a lab test and a certificate before they are sold.

Do I need a Children's Product Certificate to sell toys in the US?

Yes, for toys designed mainly for children 12 and under. The certificate is issued by the manufacturer or importer, and by you as well when the toy carries your private label, and it has to be based on tests by a CPSC-accepted lab against ASTM F963-23 and the lead and phthalate limits.

Does the choking hazard warning have to be on my website?

Yes, when the toy needs one on its packaging and your page lets customers buy it. US rules ask for the same warning on or right next to the online listing, in plain view and in the language of the page. That covers toys with small parts for ages 3 to under 6, small balls, marbles and latex balloons.

Do toys from China need a CE mark to sell in the EU?

Yes. Toys for children under 14 need a safety assessment, technical documentation, a declaration of conformity and the CE mark before they are sold in the EU. A toy sold under your brand makes you the manufacturer, so your name and address go on the toy or its packaging, with the age warnings visible before purchase, online too. Kitchen products have a similar EU name and address rule, covered in the guide to selling kitchenware from China.

When does the new EU Toy Safety Regulation apply?

From 1 August 2030. Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 was published on 12 December 2025 and replaces the 2009 Directive. It adds a digital product passport for each toy and bans intentionally added PFAS and a list of bisphenols. Toys placed on the market under the old rules before that date can stay on sale.

How long do toys take to ship from China to the US?

About as long as other goods on the same line. On YunExpress in August 2026, the per-store median ran 8.9 to 18.7 days on the general goods product and 11.0 to 14.0 days on the battery product, from the first carrier scan to delivery. A lowest-cost line took 14.3 to 15.2 days.