EU General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR), Total Nightmare - Summer Update
Summary: In a discussion initiated by artofadornment, concerns are raised over the upcoming changes in EU's General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) affecting sellers exporting to Europe. artofadornment highlights difficulties in complying with regulations requiring a 'Responsible Person' in the EU or Northern Ireland, particularly for small businesses using parts from various suppliers. mrdutch1001 and msau4301 share similar frustrations, noting that many sellers have stopped exporting internationally due to such bureaucratic hurdles. Other participants question how second-hand items or pre-existing goods might be impacted by these regulations. darak10 criticizes the EU's role in complicating international trade, anticipating a shift towards more regional e-commerce systems. Meanwhile, lotzofuniquegoodies mentions eBay's new tool to assist with compliance, though its accessibility and utility remain uncertain.
A bit blindsided by this... for those who aren't aware, first read https://www.ebay.ca/sellercentre/resources/seller-updates/2024-summer/gpsr
I make 95% of my own products (fashion jewelry) from parts I source from many different suppliers around the world. According to this, like everyone else selling overseas I'll need a Responsible Person contact in the EU/NI to:
- check that the declaration of conformity, CE marking, and other technical documentations are in order and provided to the market surveillance authorities
- inform the market surveillance authorities about dangerous products and accidents
- ensure the necessary actions are taken to rectify any non-compliance issues
- provide documented evidence of the checks that were performed, if requested by the authorities
So does this mean that every supplier for each clasp, bead, pendant setting, jump rings etc. I use, I need to provide the original manufacturer's contact information in the listing AND find someone over there who can back me up on all of this? Holy mackerel, I may use beads from 3 different suppliers on one item (never mind a range of connectors & stuff), some of whom are private individuals on Etsy & Ebay that may not even know where their items were manufactured in the first place!! How can sellers like me possibly comply with this??
Sounds like a great way to stop small online businesses from selling overseas - but perhaps that's their intention. Oh my, this is awful news. Advice, anyone?
chicweb
·1 year agoA question here:
on eBay help page, we can read:
"Article 51 of the GPSR is also applicable if you sell second-hand products that were first supplied to the EU market before December 13, 2024, and comply with the General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EG). For these products, you’re not required to provide GPSR-required information in your listings."
That would mean, as an example, you sell products that were made before December 13, 2024, second hand and were accessible to the market before that date, no need to add any information, right?
Am I understanding that correctly?
Also, I thought eBay was supposed to offer a tool in july for this ? Is that accessible somewhere? I don't see anything in the listing editor about this.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@chicweb
Re: Listing tool
I have seen it crop up as I was creating new listings when it "could" be applicable. Didn't really check out because as I am making new listings I am slowly removing options for international shipping. My impression is as this kicks in it will be major work for most casual/lower volume sellers and really not worth the time, trouble and frustration. That will be entirely a judgement call.
-Lotz
chicweb
·1 year agoIt depends if it's only for items manufactured after 13th of December 2024. If it's the case, then all of my items would be correct by default for a while.
It will be a pain in the ... in a few years when I'll start getting second hand products made in 2025 and forward tho.
That's what I'm trying to confirm, here. From the eBay help page, that seem to be the case. From other forums from other marketplaces also... That's what people seems to understand.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@chicweb
As an FYI, when you NOW go to create a listing if you choose international shipping...EU etc you will see the following attached to it.
Totally at your discretion if you choose to fill it out or even if you can. But you can bypass and still complete the create your listing process.
-Lotz
darak10
·1 year agothe endgame I suspect is international ecommerce as it operated pre 2022 devolving into a series of national ecommerce website systems or at very most networks of ecommerce sites from areas where economic cooperation largely occurs (EU, Canada/US would be the main ones). The EU have been the major international driver of all these changes, specifically the bureaucratization of international ecommerce destroying what existed before to create a new self protective and from the EU's perspective, self serving and phoney baloney model that ultimately shoots itself in the foot, as it props itself up on this intellectually dishonest agument of the "polluter pays" model - which they conveniently fail to acknowledge that the buyer IS the polluter under this concept as without the buyer buying the product there is no pollution going on. As a Canadian and non EU resident I find this kind of nonsense coming out of Brussels incredibly offensive. As far as I am concerned, they have slapped a 20% tariff on my goods for sale and attached this heavy handed, condescending rationale to it to try to give themselves the moral imperative to bill foreign citizens for domestic recycling programs (I will predict though our country having the slowest trigger finger with adapting to ecommerce changes that we will be the absolute last developed country in the world to adopt this model). But anyways, the EU have just proceeded to hoop absolutely everybody internationally to go along with their rules or leave the game entirely, which many are doing. The fact that ebay US permits US sellers to sell and ship into these markets under their global shipping program while leaving us Canadian sellers high and dry without any similar system of assistance or support does complicate the issue for us big time.
The ebay model of one site fitting all longer term doesnt really work anymore. The model I think going forward for us specifically is for Canadians to develop and implement our own national ecommerce platforms to buy, sell and ship to Canadian customers within Canadian (and probably any US sellers who want to participate) borders and leave everything else to the big guys (which would include ebay in Canada until our government force implements this same polluter pays system to nickel and dime absolutely everyone in the name of "saving the environment" - should we be surprised JT hasnt jumped on this one yet? hahaha
artofadornment
OP1 year agoI think for most of us, we'll be able to manage most of the rules EXCEPT the "responsible person in the EU/NI" part. If we're not a big corporation with franchises/locations/affiliates overseas, nor have a dedicated customs broker who has been handling importation of our items over there for months or years who can vouch for us, how the heck can we possibly get a "responsible person" over there to represent us? No one knows who we are!!
I suspect this is more about finding new ways to collect money (no doubt a govt dept/industry of getting monthly fees for EU representation will magically crop up) and/or discourage international trade from anyone other than Big Box merchants without looking like "bad guys" (for what they would do otherwise, which is to charge huge tariffs to penalize trade from outside the EU). I find this to be underhanded and frankly cowardly. I've been selling there for 20 years and I'm utterly disgusted, and have a few regular customers that are going to be furious too.
A user in another forum mentioned something called "Article 51", which says "Member States shall not impede the making available on the market of products covered by Directive 2001/95/EC which are in conformity with that Directive and which were placed on the market before 13 December 2024". It sounds a lot like "states cannot prevent the sale of any products already complying with safety requirements of the Directive if they were available for sale before Dec 13, 2024". [the Directive basically establishes safety standards]
But it's unclear if that means:
- "only totally new products introduced to the market after Dec 13 will be subject to the new rules, and everything prior will be grandfathered" or
- "any safety Directive-compliant stock that was listed for sale before Dec 13 will be grandfathered until they sell out and you have to restock them; also any totally new products will be subject to the new rules".
I hope it's the first one. But how do we prove it? How will they check??
Here is a link to that discussion, and honestly it just gets more infuriating.
recped
·1 year agoI haven't listened to this yet, recent episode of the eBay for Business podcast which covers the GPSR issue
https://community.ebay.com/t5/eBay-for-Business/Ep-311-Preparing-for-the-General-Product-Safety-Regulation-GPSR/ba-p/34682107
msau4301
·2 years agoI've stopped selling outside of North America myself because all the changes and new regulations haven't been worth it for me personally. Every time I start to consider trying again I see another change like this one (yikes) and stick with Canada and the US. However if you do a good amount of business to Europe you might want to continue, you'll have to decide if it is worth the extra hassle. Good news is it looks like it doesn't take affect until December so you have several months to continue as usual. (And time to figure out how much paper work will be involved with this new process.)
I would think that if you make 95% of the jewelry you sell that would make you the manufacturer (??). You would then put your name (or company name) and info for that part. As for all the individual parts I can't imagine anyone would be expected to give all the details on everysingle part of every product made! This would be a nightmare for so many products with multiple suppliers for all the parts.
I would think jewelry is a fairly safe item for export (wouldn't think you should have to worry about the dangerous products/accidents and such), so they hopefully wouldn't be eyeballing every detail as long as you have the basics in place. As far as giving info on some of the parts you could maybe choose the one that is the bulk of the components??? Don't know if this helps but good luck! Others in a similar situation may be able to shed better info.
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoJust giving this thread a bump as sooner rather than later, this is going to impact any seller who sells to the EU countries as almost all product types and their related online listings and packaging/labelling are impacted, and especially since any seller who has been and/or plans to sell to EU countries will find that their listings won't be shown to those EU countries if the sellers have not filled out the required GPSR form...
mrdutch1001
·2 years agoThis does not surprise me.
As a long time crafter of various items over the past 30 years, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with all the rules and regulations pertaining to the making of products and the shipping of said products outside of one's own country.
Many years ago the associated authoritive departments, clamped down on the crafters of handmade children's toys/hand made children's clothing/ anything handmade that was sold as child related and/or aimed at children. Crafters were required to have their components &/or products"tested" in order to legally sell on line...
It was at that time that I ceased shipping any related products outside of North America and have never looked back as shipping "anything" outside of North Ammerica has become a risky buisiness and simply no longer worth the hassle.