A number of cheap toys being sold online for babies and toddlers – including rattles and teethers – have failed Choice’s latest safety tests.

The consumer advocacy group tested 22 toys marketed for children aged under three and found that six of those bought from Amazon, eBay, Temu and AliExpress didn’t meet Australia’s mandatory safety standards.

The main concerns related to choking hazards posed by small parts that could be torn off and swallowed, while some were found to have insufficient safety warnings.

A Temu teething toy featured pull strings that Choice found could get stuck in a baby’s throat.

“It’s really disappointing to see more safety failures in toys purchased through online marketplaces, particularly as we get closer to Christmas, when we know many people will be buying products like these for the children in their lives,” said the group’s director of campaigns, Andy Kelly.

“Some of the failures we saw in our testing could result in children under three years old choking from ingestion or inhalation of small objects or balls, or choking from objects like handles that could become lodged in the back of the throat.

“The fact that we were easily able to purchase these toys online is simply not good enough.”

The latest findings follow test results released last month which highlighted how many children’s toys being sold online failed to meet button-battery safety standards.

Seventeen out of 24 novelty toys bought by Choice failed the tests, with director of campaigns Rosie Thomas warning that button batteries could cause “catastrophic injuries” within hours if swallowed.

In both lots of testing, Kogan was the only online retailer whose products were all found not to pose a safety concern.

Products that failed the most recent tests were an AliExpress rattle, an Amazon lip-shaped whistle and rattle set, an eBay rattle, a Temu elephant teether, and eBay foam letters and numbers.

Choice said while most of the retailers reported they had since removed the products, AliExpress rejected the claims – as it also did with the button-safety concerns.

An overriding problem is that online retailers don’t face the same regulatory requirements as other retailers.

“While these unsafe toys have now been removed from sale, they should never have been available for purchase at all,” Kelly said.

“Until we introduce stronger product safety laws, online marketplaces will continue to be under no clear, legal obligation to ensure the products sold by third party suppliers on their platforms are safe, even for children.”