Al Ruechel, Your Technology

Shopping for toys is hard because it's just too hard to know what's on the recall list.

With so many recalls, it all gets a bit confusing. Not to worry, there’s two Web sites that take the guesswork out of the recall mess.

The name of the Web site is notonmylist.org. It's put together by the same folks who publish Consumer Reports.

The Web site puts all the important data on one page, including the name of the product being recalled and a picture of what it looks like. There are over 150 items currently being recalled. About half of those are toys, and more items are being added every day.

Go back up to the navigation bar and select newsroom for a list of articles on recalls published by consumers union. Here's a list of 12 tips for buying toys. Most are pretty obvious, like avoiding no-name products and to be careful of any toys with magnets.

If you want even more information, try the Web site Recalls.gov.

On this Web site, you can find recalls listed by category and search by category. The recalls on this Web site go beyond just toys.

The nice part about this Web site is that you can pull up a copy of the official Consumer Product Safety Commission recall, which includes the name of the product, the number of units out there, where it was manufactured, the hazard, a description of the product and the UPC code number, along with a phone number you can call for more information.

Finally, both of these Web sites have places for you to report any problems you might be having with a toy. Don't be fooled in believing the government can keep all toys safe by themselves.

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