GPSR Compliance

[bojangled]

This is as clear as mud to me. Been to the gov. advice website and various others.
How does a 1972 poster fit in to this process?

It's not an exempt category. 

Advise buyers this item is for viewing only ? 

My initial reaction, sadly, to to switch EU and NI off. 
Jo

[haymax98]

Royal Mail had a big exercise a year or so back to take all recent non-picture stamps back in and exchange them for barcoded ones. So they will not honour any pre-barcode stamps apart from Christmas issues or other commemorative/picture stamps as postage. That should exclude most post 1971 stamps.

[roverviews]

Just wondered how people are getting on with the GPSR. Have you added all the required information, or have you simply switched of EU and NI?

Ive seen lots of sellers, happily still selling to EU with no issues, no evidence of manufacturer details, safety information or EU representative supplied (unless Im not seeing it on UK site).

Is it all just a storm in a teacup?

[555njp]

I switched both EU and NI off, but as you say many are still happily carrying on as before without any apparent disruptions…..YET!

It’s a huge undertaking for customs to stop, check and apply the new rules, which require a degree of interpretation. It never was fully understood or clarified as to what actually constituted “made available for sale on the market prior to Dec 13th”. 

I suspect the receiving countries simply don't have sufficient resource or individual product knowledge to be able to apply GPSR effectively whilst keeping their imports moving?

It may well tighten up in future but no sign or reports of parcels not getting to customers or being returned/destroyed as yet.

[bzmotman]

I sell paper collectables with most sales going overseas. Some are 100+ years old so exempt but no box to tick. Others may or may not be exempt depending on your point of view.

I have not attemped to complete manufacturer etc but have made an additional disclosure in the GPSR section & also within the description. This reads -

"This item is exempt from the European Union GPSR for one or more of the following reasons

It was available for sale in the EU prior to December 13th 2024

It is an antique as defined in Annex IX of the VAT Directive

It is a collectors item of sufficient interest to justify collecting"

I am also including where justified Antique or Vintage in the item title. Hoping that all this will stop any AI Bot flagging my items up.

As a control I have listed a couple of similar items on my private account without any of this.

So far my regular European buyers are able to see, buy & receive items on both accounts.

Interestingly the last time I went to look at the specific GPSR forum on Ebay Germany it had been removed.

My gut feeling at the moment is that the EU countries, like us, have plenty on their plate at the moment - migrants - some countries have suspended Schenegen, Ukraine, economic problems, Trump etc that GPSR enforcement is way down the list of things to divert resources to. However if Trump tariffs come in & a trade war starts that will rapidly change.

[houseoftheyuccas]

I haven't changed anything--this year so far I've had more sales to Europe--probably because some sellers have excluded it now. I sent a package to Germany 2 weeks ago and it arrived within 3 days

[blackcatbooksuk]

I decided to not turn anything off an wait to see what happens. I have sold 1 to Ireland, which arrived with no issues. And sold one to Italy this week. So far no issues. 

What has surprised me is that Ebay are still allowing these sales to go through. I was under the impression that if you hadn't filled in any GPSR details you items would be automatically blocked from sales in the affected countries. So far that hasn't happened.

[the_book_seekers]

Is the responsibility for complying with GPSR with the business seller or ebay or both? I can't see the EU allowing this to go on for too long. It has a track record of hitting tech companies with large fines for what it considers to be non-compliance. The question is what will it do to business sellers. 

[blackcatbooksuk]

That is the point isn't it. Is it us as the business that has to do this, or the platform? I suppose time will tell on that score. 

[russellmattin]

You are right, also it may turn out like many other regs eg GDPR, PAT testing etc where there`s an initial big panic then everyone just ignores it!

[trafton.-47]

I've just listened to the latest webinar from the Dept of Biz & Trade. Well, still work in progress, it seems. Comments from prsenters included: "Not aware of problems getting products into the EU. General panic over GPSR has died down." Still lots of SMEs and individual sellers unaware of GPSR or what they have to do to comply - or even whether they need to.

If you're selling business-to-business, as opposed to an individual customer, you don't need an AR as the distributor will take on that role, BUT you do still have to produce a technical file as the distributor will need it.

If you're selling lots of things of the same type, eg postcards or paperback books, you just produce one generic safety risk assessment. If it doesn't have any appreciable safety risks (PCs and books again) you don't need to translate any 'safety statement' or similar. 

If you're importing someone else's product, eg from Japan, and selling to customers in the EU and NI, and if tyhe product does NOT include your name/badge/logo/imprint etc, then the Japanese company is the one that has to do all the GPSR heavy lifting - you're just counted as the distributor. But you do have to check that the manufacturer has fulfilled its GPSR obligations.

Goods found to be non-compliant are being returned rather than destroyed. It doesn't seem as though the MSAs are coming down very hard on 'honest' non-compliance. Germany is operating the strictest regime. Customs are currently more interested in the value of products than in the letter of GPSR compliance.

If you have an AR, then their address needs to be on the product itself and on your website and on customs paperwork, commercial invoices etc.

Hope that's helpful.

[555njp]

Very, thank you!

[truck-88]

It has been some time since I last visited this site. The same problem still applies but there is now more to consider. We have been selling on the E bay system for around twenty years. Over this time we have exported to over thirty countries. Since the Covid situation we have not sold very much outside the UK. Our line of work is the sale of used industrial equipment so we are now blocked from selling in the EU and the North of Ireland. Another matter with exports we will need to consider. When selling in to the US with the current E bay system there is no way we can remove the VAT from the sale value. As a result of this goods sold through e E bay cost US buyers 20% more than they should. Now as some will know there it the possibility that the US will impost a 20% surcharge on goods which are imported, as a result of this US buyers will then have to pay 40% more than they should. E bay need to consider this and it would be a great help if we were able to remove the VAT from the sale value. We are allowed to do this with sales made on other platforms but not with E bay and as a result of this we will not be able to sell to the US on the E bay platform. Apart from the loss to us of sales E bay are also losing  fees. I understand the current Government are trying to get closer the the EU but have been told in order to do so we will need to follow EU rules. If we need to do this all sales of used items which do not have access to the original paperwork that came with the goods when new will be blocked. E bay and other platforms need to have talks with government in order to prevent the collapse of the used market as this will have a very large impact E bay sales.

[555njp]

The used market is a vital lifeline for many who cannot afford new. Plus there is the positive environmental impact of keeping used products going through reuse/repair rather than replacement and so reducing landfill.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

When selling in to the US with the current E bay system there is no way we can remove the VAT from the sale value.

Must admit, this one had me a bit stumped.

VAT is automatically removed by Ebay when selling to the states, so really can't see the issue.

Also, you are not blocked from selling to other countries as you seem to imply, (unless there is a specific block that you are talking about) you just have to follow the rules.  And as it seems from your post, that it is a fairly significant part of your trade, it would probably worth finding out a bit more about it, before just writing it off.

Not entirely sure why Covid is what blocked you from selling abroad.  Covid may have caused sales to change considerably, because of the lockdown etc, but it certainly wouldn't block it.  That may have been caused by Brexit, but that is something else entirely.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@therenewalworkshopltd wrote:

When selling in to the US with the current E bay system there is no way we can remove the VAT from the sale value.

Must admit, this one had me a bit stumped.

VAT is automatically removed by Ebay when selling to the states, so really can't see the issue.

---

It isn't. When a VAT registered seller sells something to the EU the domestic VAT element is correctly removed. This also happens in some other countries where eBay is responsible for charging and remitting the buyer's domestic sales tax such as Australia.

However, for the rest of the world eBay charges a VAT-registered seller's domestic VAT inclusive price but does not show the buyer a VAT element. eBay therefore artificially inflates the seller's actual price as although they can zero-rate such a sale it will be zero-rated at the usual domestic VAT inclusive price. Obviously this means eBay are always maximising the final value fee they take...

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Yet, I am VAT registered and that is exactly what happens with my sales to the USA.  Not that I have them very often.

Ebay removes the VAT portion of the sale.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@therenewalworkshopltd wrote:

Yet, I am VAT registered and that is exactly what happens with my sales to the USA.  Not that I have them very often.

Ebay removes the VAT portion of the sale.

---

Weird, as that has never happened in my case nor does it seem to have in @truck-88 's case. I'm not doubting you but I do wonder if this is state-specific. For example, if the item is being shipped to a state where eBay is responsible for charging and remitting a state-imposed sales tax then perhaps eBay is removing the domestic VAT element.

I don't currently have anything available to be shipped to the US but I checked one of your listings in a private browsing window (not logged in) with my location set to the US. In this case it certainly did appear that such a buyer would be charged your usual domestic VAT-inclusive price: