Who decides, and when
Updated
On this page11
The definition is objective
A consumer product designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger. Intended is read from evidence rather than from what you meant.
Which is what the four factors are for
Your statements, your packaging and promotion, common recognition by consumers, and the Commission's Age Determination Guidelines. Three of the four are about how the thing looks to other people.
So the determination is made about you
Not by you. You can influence every one of the four factors and you cannot be the one who settles it, which is an uncomfortable and accurate way to put it.
The honest version of the question
Would a reasonable person looking at this piece, in this packaging, at this stall, think it was made for a child. If the answer is maybe, you have a decision to make rather than a fact to look up.
Jewelry is a hard case
Small, colorful, cheap and often made in sizes that fit a child. A resin pendant with a dinosaur inside it is not obviously an adult product.
And the usual craft answer is ambiguity
A table with everything on it, no age statements anywhere, and packaging that does not say either way. Ambiguity is not a position; it leaves the factors to be read by somebody else.
Deciding deliberately is the whole of the fix
Either the line is for children, with the testing and marking that follows, or it is not, and the packaging, the statements and the sizing say so consistently.
Consistency across the four factors is the point
An adult line with a label saying "not a toy" and packaging covered in cartoon animals is still being represented as appropriate for children by one of the four factors.
And a small seller is not exempt
The obligations attach to the manufacturer of a children's product, and the statute does not have a craft fair exception. Volume affects practicality rather than application.
What this property can do
Tell you the factors, tell you what follows, and tell you which of them your packaging choice touches. The determination is yours to make and somebody else's to review.