Although all you say makes complete sense to the sane and pragmatic like us traders, when have you ever known the EU actually accept their own shortcomings? In that respect, they and eBay are very similar - so I think waiting for either to actually do anything (other than silently drop the 'policing' as if it never happened) is a forlorn wish.
It strikes me that Clause 51 is at the heart of eBay's actions:
"Providers of online marketplaces should designate a single point of contact for consumers. That single point of contact should serve as a single window for consumer communications on product safety issues, which can then be redirected to the proper service unit of an online marketplace. This should not prevent additional points of contact for specific services being made available to consumers."
So, in the first two sentences, the EU has clearly made (in this case) eBay the responsible body for every single GPSR-qualifying sale in their marketplace. Which means that eBay are the ones expected to supply that single point of contact to consumers - which will cost them, as they will need to build-up from scratch a safety information database of everything sold on their site. So eBay in turn, or more likely their lawyers, have decided to slope-shoulder that responsibility directly to us sellers using sentence three as their raison d'etre.
As also mentioned recently here, Amazon are doing none of this. Any of you who also trade on Amazon will know what a PITA they can be with situations like this, so the fact that they have simply told the EU to foxtrot-oscar demonstrates (a) the greater power they feel they have because they also physically sell products and have warehouses all over Europe generating economic growth (as opposed to eBay who are a just service company) and (b) consequently recognise it is unworkable. More to the point, if they have misjudged it (highly-unlikely) Amazon have that safety information database already in their marketplace catalogue, which they have built up over 25-years through physically selling the items themselves – and, more to the point, over the past two years deleting anything from that catalogue that does not have the necessary data. The remaining data also gives them full demonstrability for used goods still in that marketplace catalogue having been available in and to the EU prior to 13th December 2024.
Having read this thread, our perception (as a seller of used collectibles) is that worst case scenario on 13th December is that eBay will not allow sales to be finalised (ie paid for) to the EU or NI from certain item categories, simply using the destination postcode as a limiter at either basket or checkout points. The listings in those categories will remain displayed on the site as the items need to be purchasable by anyone outside of those locations, because to do anything else will drastically reduce the viability of the site, and hence the company. I think that was, and possibly still is, Plan A. However, should they actually do this, it will royally ****-off buyers on 13th December, and the limiter will likely be made to vanish overnight.
However, eBay have now clearly recognised the effect of the overrider to Clause 51: “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” by adding the “recognition” of this in their FAQs. Thus, eBay have effectively created Plan B making their new requirements unnecessary for anything made available on their marketplace prior to 13th December 2024. And the proof of that (for regulatory purposes) is, quite simply, in the listing start date of every single product on offer on the site where EU and NI are currently included in the shipping options. Meaning that, all eBay now have to include in their checkout code is a simple recognition of that listing date, and the sale is compliant.
However, so mealy-mouthed is this “recognition” that we are all unsure of what to do, and consequently still try and comply even though we no longer have to - which is exactly the uncertainty eBay’s lawyers want. Because any new listing activated after 13th December WILL need to comply, meaning eBay will need to have the applicable information in their safety database – and who better to supply that for them than us sellers, free of charge!
So, like many others in this thread, we have adopted a wait and see approach – primarily because we always close down on the last day of posting and do not reopen until the New Year. Best case for us, therefore, is nothing happens and we carry-on as usual. Worst case, all our listings are deactivated by eBay on 13th and we close down a week early, then use the break to make those listings compliant.
Haven’t yet quite worked out what that compliancy might actually look like but (and this is not meant in any way as a recommendation), if necessary, it will likely be along the lines of ticking the most obvious boxes and making a global statement along the lines of products meeting the requirements of the Clause 51 overrider. We will possibly also add a Note to every listing asking buyers in EU and NI to advise us if they are prevented from actually purchasing an item, so that we can use that as the basis for clarification from eBay as to why that particular item is blocked in those marketplaces.
If that doesn't work, we will just have to accept that eBay no longer wants sellers of used collectibles on their site, and find an alternative outlet. Because there will be one, as it will have tens of thousands of potential new customers like us waiting to list on it.
