A recalled pair of shoes may not be sold again, new or used, unless it was fixed under the recall. That rule covers thrift stores, consignment shops, charities, yard sales and people selling on auction websites. It does not mean every used pair has been checked. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does not require resellers to test what they sell, so the check often falls to you as the buyer.
This guide sets out the rule in the words of the law and the CPSC, then shows what a buyer of used children’s shoes, ski boots or work boots can look for, using our archive of 103 footwear recalls.
What the law says
Section 19 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, codified at 15 U.S.C. 2068, lists prohibited acts. One of them is to “sell, offer for sale, manufacture for sale, distribute in commerce, or import into the United States” any consumer product that is “subject to voluntary corrective action taken by the manufacturer, in consultation with the Commission, of which action the Commission has notified the public or if the seller, distributor, or manufacturer knew or should have known of such voluntary corrective action.”
The CPSC’s own guide for resellers puts it in one line: “It is illegal to sell any recalled product.” It also notes that the change came with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, signed on August 14, 2008, after which “Selling recalled products is now unlawful.”
What the CPSC tells resellers
The CPSC’s Resellers Guide to Selling Safer Products turns the statute into plain rules. It says the CPSC’s laws “apply to anyone who sells or distributes consumer products,” including “thrift stores, consignment stores, charities, and individuals holding yard sales and flea markets.” It also names people who sell on auction websites and people who give used products away for free.
Among the things the guide says you “cannot sell or offer for sale” are “Products that have been recalled by the CPSC (unless the products have been repaired in accordance with the recall).” It adds that resellers are not required to test products for safety, but they “cannot knowingly sell products that do not meet the requirements of the law,” and that “Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.” It asks resellers to review the list of recalled products on SaferProducts.gov before taking a product into inventory or selling it. The CPSC’s Resale/Thrift Stores Information Center repeats that “Resellers should closely examine their products in inventory prior to resale.”
One detail is easy to miss. For used children’s products, the guide says thrift stores and similar stores are excluded from the federal lead content limits, except for children’s metal jewelry, as long as the goods are truly used or donated. Recalls are a separate matter. On the same lead page, the guide tells resellers to check for recalls and, if a product has been recalled, to follow the recall instructions or destroy it.
For a potentially defective or hazardous product, the guide lists two ways to report it, SaferProducts.gov or (800) 638-2772.
Why used shoes are worth a second look
Shoes last longer than the news about them. Recalls in our archive tend to arrive quickly, half of the dated ones within about two months of the final sales month, and none more than 13 months after it. But most of the recalls themselves are old. Of our 103 recalls, 78 are dated 2016 or earlier, and of the 60 children’s recalls, 49 are. A pair donated this year may be from a recall that was announced, and forgotten, a decade ago.
Direct notice can also miss the second owner. When a firm can reach its buyers, the notice often says so. The SCARPA Maestrale ski boot recall of 2019 says “SCARPA is contacting all known purchasers directly.” Every footwear Recall Alert in our archive carries a similar line. If you bought the pair used, the firm does not have your name.
Used children’s shoes
Children’s shoes make up 60 of our 103 recalls, and 42 of those 60 involve choking. The usual cause is a decoration or small part coming loose. The newest example, Target’s Cat & Jack toddler sandal recall of July 16, 2026, followed 23 reports of the decorative plastic pearls falling off. Those sandals sold for roughly $20 between January and May 2026, so pairs from that run could already be moving on to younger siblings or resale racks.
Before you buy a used pair for a young child:
- Note the brand, style name and size range on the label, then compare it with our children’s recalls list.
- Look at every attached decoration the way the notices describe them: pearls, pompoms, rivets, rubber tabs, light-up parts. For children’s clothing, the Resellers Guide tells sellers to “be sure that all small buttons and other parts are fastened securely.”
- If a part is already missing, that matters more on a used pair than a new one, since the hazard in most of these notices is exactly that part.
Our guide to choking hazards on kids’ shoes explains the small-parts rule behind many of these recalls.
Used ski and snowboard boots
Ski boots are the one group in our archive where a recalled pair may be legal to sell, because every recall we classify with a repair remedy is a ski or snowboard boot. Of the 11 ski and snowboard boot recalls in our archive, seven offered a repair. A repaired boot meets the guide’s exception for products “repaired in accordance with the recall.” An unrepaired one does not.
The notices sometimes tell you how to tell the difference. The Arc’teryx Procline recall of August 24, 2017, covered about 3,900 boots whose rear axis pin could dislodge, with 18 reports of exactly that. Only boots that “do not have a colored dot on the inside of the spoiler,” the upper rear part of the boot, were included. A Procline with that dot was outside the recall. See the Arc’teryx Procline recall page. The SCARPA Maestrale and Maestrale RS recall had 605 reports of cracked shells and offered a free shell repair through SCARPA. If you are buying one of these models used, ask the seller for proof of the repair, and check the current list on our ski and snowboard boot recalls page.
Used work boots
Our archive lists 13 work boot recalls, and 12 of them are impact hazards, where the notice says the protective toe or guard may fail the wearer. From the outside, a recalled boot looks like any other. The difference is on the label. The Red Wing recall of December 19, 2013, covered about 105,000 pairs whose steel toe cap “could fail to protect the wearer’s feet in an impact.” Whether a given pair is covered depends on a style number and a date code on the tongue label, and the recall is limited to codes running 12/12 to 11/13. A used pair whose tongue label has worn away cannot be checked against that range, which is a reason to pass on it if you need the toe protection. All 13 are on our work boot recalls page.
If you already bought a recalled pair
Stop using it and contact the firm named in the notice. The notices we read address their remedies to “consumers” and do not mention secondhand owners either way. Ask the firm directly, using the phone number or email given at the end of its notice. Before you call, match the label step by step with our recall check walkthrough.