How to check you are buying safe climbing equipment online

Shopping online is often the easiest way to buy gear, and it's safe if you shop through a well-known and established retailer. Of course, if fit is critical to performance it can be wiser to shop in person. But many retailers now offer hassle-free returns, making purchasing such items a much more viable option.

The real lottery begins when you start using general online sales sites, such as eBay and Amazon. Among the genuine and legitimate sellers are some very dubious ones. All sorts of things can turn up on these sites, some of which we'll detail to help you avoid being caught out.

What to check first

First, make sure there is a brand name marked on the product. This is a requirement for any legitimate and correctly certified safety product. This allows users to help trace and identify their equipment in the event of a product issue or recall. More on this here:

READ: BMC Guidance on equipment recalls

Check it is certified

Unfortunately the internet is awash with non-certified products. These are any kind of product that does not have the certification or standards which would apply if they were sold in the UK. The product might actually work and may even be of reasonable quality, but the buyer has no way of knowing this and there is unlikely to be a robust recall and warning process in place in the event of any issues.

Uncertified products may be unbranded but may also have a brand name marked on them. It's worth checking to see if the brand is an established manufacturer or not.

Next, look for the markings and instructions which a certified product must have on them.

The certified product above is a DMM Wallnut. It is marked with the manufacturer's name, a CE mark to show it has CEN certification, and the highlighted batch code which helps with traceability. 0120 is the number for the Notified Body who independently certified the product.

You may also see a UIAA Safety Label on some products. The BMC is an active member of the UIAA Safety Commission, more info about the UIAA Safety Label is found here:

Is the certification legitimate?

A final word of warning before we show some examples of what to avoid. Products have started to appear for sale which have fake certification. Some giveaways that they are fake:

• No brand name
• Missing or incorrect markings on the product
• Missing or incorrect information on the labels attached to the product

Examples of incorrect markings include: the wrong EN standard for the product type; a notified body number for a body which does not certify that product class.

The attached label must contain information on correct usage, lifetime and more. If you follow this guidance you should end up with a legitimate product.

Avoid the horror stories below:

One buyer received an unpleasant shock, which could have ended up being fatal. The crampons they'd recently bought simply folded up and collapsed while out winter walking, becoming useless and dangerous. They were fortunate not to have to call out the Mountain Rescue team, or worse.

This rope was found online for sale as a climbing rope. When tested, it was about as strong as a certified 4mm accessory cord, and using it for holding a climbing fall could likely result in a fatal fall or serious injury

Counterfeit products are rare but do occasionally show up. As you'd expect, these are a serious case of fraud where a rogue manufacturer blatantly tries to pass a product off as something it isn't. These can be hard to spot even by an expert and manufacturers rely on consumers reporting anything which they have purchased which seems suspect. Things to look out for are price offers which seem too good to be true, or poor quality products from a usually good manufacturer.

Unlike the previous examples, second hand sales are usually made by individuals rather than a business. Most items are sold in good faith, but the buyer must take into account the risks in buying critical safety equipment from a stranger. You take a risk buying items with an unknown history, and there also is the possibility that the goods have been stolen.

If buying second hand, it's best to stick to buying unused items still in their packaging. The next least risky are items which can be readily checked for their safety (if you know what you're doing) such as carabiners. It's much trickier to check textile items which can be affected more by aging and storage conditions, so it's best to avoid these completely.

Happy shopping!

Now you know the potential pitfalls, you should be able to shop online with more confidence and vet the sellers accordingly. If you're ever unsure, it's best to err on the side of caution.