Big W slammed for selling at-home tattoo kit on Marketplace
One Australian retailer has landed itself in hot water after a third-party retailer posted an item on its website for $111.
One Australian retailer has landed itself in hot water after a third-party retailer posted an at-home tattoo kit on its website.
Reddit users spotted the beginner tattoo kit set for $111.01 on Big W’s website on Wednesday, which included a working tattoo gun, ink and needles.
The kit was sold online, meaning it had no age requirement checks, which prompted outrage from shoppers.
One social media user said: “Is there an age limit on purchasing this? I can only imagine the horror of a 14-year-old boy buying one of these and trying it out on his 10-year-old sister.”
Another said: “I’m thinking people using it in school lol, I knew a fair few people trying to do prison tatts and DIY ear piercing in the schoolyard.”
“There’s going to be so many fifteen-year olds with cringe-worthy meme tattoos,” one added.
In NSW and the ACT, you need parental permission if you’re under 18 to get a tattoo. Meanwhile, in Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia it is illegal to tattoo someone under 18. In Western Australia, you must be at least 16 and have parental permission.
However, a Big W spokesperson told news.com.au that no kits were actually purchased.
“BIG W Market is a marketplace for trusted third party sellers on the BIG W website,” the spokesperson told news.com.au.
“The tattoo kit was recently listed on BIG W Market and we acknowledge this product was not categorised correctly. We can confirm we have removed it from sale, and no orders have been fulfilled.”
News.com.au understands Big W regularly conducts product reviews to determine if items uploaded by third-party sellers align with the brand, as well as meet health and safety standards.
But some felt like Big W should take more responsibility fir the third-party sellers.
“If it’s sold under their brand, they should be responsible just like typical retail,” one social media user said.
“In trademark law you have ‘passing off’ where your branding is deceptively similar to another brand, to the point where people might think you are that brand – well, this is the exact same thing in reverse, they’re selling stuff highly associated with their own brand to add credence to it.”
Another added: “This marketplace crap needs to end. I was looking at Bunnings for grinders and it kept defaulting to coffee grinders.”