topic Re: Regulatory NOW! in Business Seller Board

Regulatory NOW!

padanpcparts — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:20:00 GMT

Regulatory Now

Stay informed, stay compliant.

Welcome to your go-to resource for regulatory updates, with guidance to help you stay compliant and keep your business running smoothly.

I'm scared. Dare I read this message from E-bay? What new fees have they concocted to drain that last drop of blood from us?

Re: Regulatory NOW!

padanpcparts — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:53:44 GMT

False alarm! Just took me to a random page, that looked broken with information on.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

jlovie — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:02:18 GMT

It looked mightily like a phishing email to me - an email asking me to verify my information via a link.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

padanpcparts — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:06:24 GMT

E-bay links always look a bit suspect to be fair.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

messier44000 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:50:14 GMT

I thought it was a phishing email.

So went direct and not on the email link. And yes it was asking me to verify details.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

sheba-knows-best — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:38:21 GMT

So it either looks dodge and requests your private details or takes you to a random page. Yup, it's definitely from eBay.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

blackcatbooksuk — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:09:03 GMT

I got that and didn't bother with it. Is it legit?

Re: Regulatory NOW!

the_book_seekers — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:11:56 GMT

I had a look at the message and saw the verify your details. I went no further as my first thought was, what if there's a glitch and it causes me a problem? I'll verify my details if I absolutely have to, otherwise no thanks.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

collectablecats — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:14:49 GMT

I got that email too.

This is my reading of it. Hopefully someone will correct anything I’ve got wrong.

It’s about business sellers (but not ‘private’ sellers) needing a licence to send items to Germany, France, and maybe other countries, because of their packaging/recycling regulations.

As I understand it, if I sell just one postcard to a buyer in Germany, in order to be ‘compliant’ I need to have registered with something called LUCID, and then paid something like €39 to a ‘Dual System Provider’ to cover the management and recycling of my little do not bend envelopes in Germany.

And then something similar for France, and any other country that has these regulations.

As I understand it (someone from eBay please correct me if I’m wrong, which I hope I am), even if you use the Global Shipping Programme, you still have to have purchased your own licence.

As I only sell about £50–£80 worth of cards to German buyers each year, the only alternative to paying the licence fee will be to stop offering my items to Germany, or any other countries running a similar system.

It’s not eBay’s fault this has to happen, although you’d hope that, given the increasing competition from ‘private’ sellers, they might consider finding a way of covering this particular extra cost themselves to help the businesses who already generate so much of ebay’s profits.

Re: Regulatory NOW!

stovestickers — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:36:05 GMT

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/extended-producer-responsibility-for-packaging-who-is-affected-and-what-to-do#check-if-you-need-to-take-action

It also includes Northern Ireland -

If you sell to NI you need to register your EPR number with eBay

But -

The government say only those who supply more than 25 tonnes of packaging or have a £1 million + t/o (annually) need to register with the government

In my case I 'supply' (use) around 50kgs of package a year - so in theory I do not need to get an EPR number

But.........

eBay say if you do not register with your EPR number (if you sell to the EU and NI) they will eventually restrict your account

Confused, I have now stopped selling to NI

HELP is needed

Re: Regulatory NOW!

collectablecats — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:51:36 GMT

I think a lot of small busineses who only sell a small number of items to the EU (yes, and N. IReland]

I think it would cost about £30 or so to get an EPR licence for N. Ireland (which has to follow EU packaging rules).

I send about £100 worth of goods there a year, so after eBay fees, that would be most of the profit gone.