Beware illegal Christmas lights sold at AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish

Buying affordable Christmas lights might feel like a prudent financial move at such an expensive time of year. But 10 of the 12 sets of Christmas lights we bought from AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish failed to meet the requirements of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations in our tests and legally shouldn’t be sold in the UK. 

Two sets of lights in particular would be dangerous for anyone using them. And one set of lights bought from a seller on Wish was so badly made that it posed an electric shock risk to anyone using it and was a fire hazard. 

Another bought through AliExpress presented an electric shock risk to users based on its very poor build quality. And eight further sets of lights, including two each from Amazon and eBay, failed basic compliance checks, making it illegal to sell them in the UK. 

Watch our video above and keep reading to find out more about our investigation.

We reveal how much Christmas LED lights from leading retailers cost to run this Christmas and how you can save money

The results of our Christmas light tests 

As well as the two sets of lights that could give you an electric shock – one of which was also a fire hazard – 10 of the 12 sets of Christmas lights we tested failed our compliance checks and can’t be sold legally in the UK. 

Test failures found include a set of lights blowing during our electrical strength test and build quality on another set being so poor that the product fell to pieces in our hands. 

Also, 10 sets of lights failed to come with instructions or were missing key markings covering things like how to dispose of the lights and what their electrical ratings are. 

We also found lights that came with the wrong kind of plug. And for each set of lights that failed our tests, we retested another sample of the same product and found the same result each time.

Only two sets of lights, one bought from Amazon and one from eBay, passed all of our tests and are legal to be sold and safe to use.

Below you see at a glance which cheap Christmas lights from online marketplaces failed our safety and compliance tests.

Looking for the best outdoor Christmas lights? - find out which impressed in our tough tests. 

The four most dangerous lights from our tests

Fairy LED string lights bought through Wish - £13

Listed product name on Wish: 100 200 300 500 LEDS Fairy LED String Light Festival Home Decor Outdoor Waterproof AC220V 10M 20M 30M 50M Christmas Tree Light String Garland For Xmas Wedding Christmas Party Holiday.

Seller we bought them from: Classic Handmade Store.

This product had very disappointing build quality – we found problems with the cable, the control box and the plug. 

The build quality was so poor the white control box could easily be pulled apart by hand, exposing accessible live parts. And wires could be pulled out by hand with little force. 

The real worry here is that anyone using the lights, maybe parents decorating the tree, a child playing with them or even an inquisitive pet, could very easily receive an electric shock.

Also, the product was marked as being waterproof, but we found no evidence of this when we took it to pieces and examined the components. 

Our tests show that this set of lights poses an electric shock and fire risk.

They're dangerous and can't be sold legally in the UK.

LED fairy lights bought through AliExpress - £13.23

Listed product name on AliExpress: Led Fairy Lights 10M Green Cable Cluster Christmas String Garland Decorative for Outdoor Tree Wedding Bedroom Home Decoration.

Seller we bought them from: Me Light Store.

These lights were so poorly manufactured that they could give anyone using them an electric shock.  

We bought them from a seller on AliExpress. When we checked, we found low-quality soldering and a transformer that didn’t meet the minimum requirements for creepage and clearance, the distances between the live and neutral sections of the circuit board.

It's this that means the lights present an electric shock hazard for users. 

Also, the pins on the plug were too short and there were numerous problems with the packaging, markings and documents provided. Finally, during our electrical strength test, the lights blew.

These lights are both illegal to sell in the UK and dangerous.

LED string lights bought through AliExpress - £10.49

Listed product name on AliExpress: 100M LED String Lights Fairy Green Wire Outdoor Christmas Lights Tree Garland For New Year Street Home Party Wedding Decoration.

Seller we bought them from: Kongdii official store.

This set of lights from AliExpress was provided with a two-pin plug - rather than a three-pin UK plug - and a basic travel adaptor which didn’t come with a fuse. 

It doesn't meet the requirements of the Plugs and Sockets (Safety) Regulations as the dimensions of the adaptor were all wrong, it was unfused, the pins were too close to the outside edge of the plug and the earth pin was too short.

And like all of the 10 sets of lights that failed our tests, the documentation provided with the lights was severely lacking. The lights came with no instructions and we found problems with the markings on the packaging and the lights themselves.

Christmas LED lights bought through Wish - £8.98 

Listed product name on Wish: The Christmas Lights 200 Ultra Bright LED String Chaser, Blue.

Seller we bought them from: Avant-Garde Brands.

This set of lights from Wish came with a non-standard plug – it wouldn’t fit the standard gauge used to assess plugs and doesn't meet the requirements of the Plugs and Sockets (Safety) Regulations.

There were no instructions provided with the lights and they were also missing key information covering their electrical rating.

What you should do if you own any of these Christmas lights

If the lights you bought are exactly the same as those shown here, stop using them and contact the seller and the platform to request a refund.

Our tests show that they're dangerous and shouldn't have been sold to you.

Need to know more about your refund rights? Head over to our product safety consumer rights guide.

How to know if your Christmas lights are dangerous 

• Check your lights aren't damaged when unpacking your decorations.
• Look for things like loose wires, smashed bulbs or a broken control box. 
• If your lights need replacement bulbs, make sure you use the same type when you replace them.
• Switch your lights off when you go out and when you go to bed.
• Keep your lights away from anything that can burn easily.
• If your lights look like they've seen better days, recycle them and buy a new set from an online or high street retailer you trust.

Online marketplaces offer choice, value and convenience, but our investigations have uncovered a huge range of fake and dangerous products to watch out for

How we safety test Christmas lights 

We bought 12 sets of Christmas lights for £15 or under from leading online marketplaces, with three each coming from sellers on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish.

All lights were tested to extracts from BS EN 60598 Luminaires and BS 1363 British Plugs and Sockets - which are the British safety standard tests.

We assessed the build quality, inside and out. This included pulling the wires to see if they simply detached and also pulling on the bulbs in the same way. 

We also looked inside the products to see how well they had been put together, looking for issues such as dodgy soldering.

We measured the permitted distances between parts of the circuitry (creepage and clearance) and then tested how electrically robust the lights were. We also checked how electrically insulated the products were. 

The plugs were measured and tested against a standard plug socket, and the fuses were also checked.

We also assessed the packaging, markings and documentation to see whether the products complied with UK law. We looked for the CE mark or the new UKCA mark, the instructions the products came with, whether their electrical ratings were listed and whether information on how to recycle them was present.

We then checked to see that the lights worked and finally assessed whether they meet the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations.

Which? says...

Sue Davies, Which? head of consumer protection policy, said: 'Cheap Christmas lights could be tempting for many of us trying to save money amid the cost of living crisis – but our latest research shows consumers could be putting themselves in danger due to online marketplaces failing to take safety seriously. 

'The government must make online marketplaces legally responsible for dangerous and illegal products sold through their sites so that people are better protected.'

What do the online marketplaces say? 

We shared the findings of our Christmas lights tests with online marketplaces the lights were being sold through and the sellers listing them. 

AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish have removed the 10 products found to be illegal for sale from their platforms. 

AliExpress told us: 'The items identified as part of the investigation by Which? have been removed. We have reviewed similar product listings to ensure sellers have provided the correct information and paperwork. As a third-party marketplace, AliExpress does not take custody of the goods being sold by third party sellers. We have policies in place that all our sellers must comply with in order to create a safe shopping environment.'  

Amazon told us: ‘Safety is a top priority at Amazon and we require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws and regulations. We have proactive measures in place to prevent non-compliant items from being listed and we continuously monitor our store so customers can shop with confidence. We have now removed the two items from our store.'

An eBay spokesperson said: ‘We take the safety of our users very seriously, and we have removed the listings that Which? flagged to us. Our close working relationships with stakeholders and regulators are an important part of our global product safety strategy for keeping our platform safe. Our Regulatory Portal enables authorities from around the world to report listings of unsafe products for swift removal.

We also have automatic block filters in place, aimed at preventing unsafe listings. These filters blocked 7.4 million listings in 2021 and are updated on a regular basis. On the rare occasion that an unsafe product does make it onto site, we swiftly remove it and provide product safety education to the sellers to prevent relisting.’

Wish told us: ‘Product safety is a top priority for Wish, and we have clear policies in place that prohibit the listing or sale of items on our platform that violate local or other applicable laws, regulations, and/or safety standards. As soon as we were made aware of these unsafe items being listed on our platform, we took immediate steps to take them down and conduct monitoring over certain other identical merchant listings. We thank Which? for bringing these to our attention.’ 

Responses from the sellers and manufacturers

We bought the Gresonic lights from seller Zhenxiaeu on Amazon. They told us their lights had passed Amazon's audit, they meet the standards of UKCA mark and that they have also been audited by Amazon.

As we went to press, the sellers of the other lights found to be illegal for sale in the UK hadn’t responded to our offers to comment.