General Product Safety Regulation Regulations December 2024

[knit-in-styles]

I am part of the Ebay Expression where you participate in surveys. Today I received a survey re the new regulations which are coming in later this year if you sell to the EU. The survey was all about the wording of the email that will go out to sellers.

I have to admit, I was not aware of this and have no idea of which products this will affect but is a major change as the suggested email mentioned having to add the product manufactures name, address and contact details, add product safety and compliance information, product manuals on all listings. There is a link to to eBay EU if you are not aware where you can read some of the info.

https://www.ebaymainstreet.com/eupublicpolicy/issues/product-safety

[fatbobfan]

If its rolled out the same as Toy Sellers in May June it would help if sellers had a clear date/understanding to avoid removal  of inventory. 

I only recall 'Get ready for GPSR' communication', I understand its live now its a transitional period, but thats the point, sellers need clear instruction on this, its not effecting all, only some, its confusing made worse with not being able to communicate with the Compliance Department. 

On the create new listing, yes it would make sense but as CS couldnt advise I though I would see what develops.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@bluefrogtoysltd wrote:

I'm even more confused than I was a week ago about our ebay listings...Amazon confirmed multiple times that a UK Amazon store/seller won't have to make any changes...but on ebay we need to remove our NI delivery option?

---

The latest Amazon announcement mentions products offered to NI but also mentions UK sellers don't need to do anything unless their items appear on Amazon's EU-based websites. I believe this is due to the way Amazon works; i.e. offering shipping to an EU country (like Germany) means the listing appears on that (EU) website; i.e. Amazon.de and would require economic operator details. The eBay equivalent of this would be creating a listing directly on eBay.de (for example) rather than offering international shipping on a domestic listing. In the latest Amazon announcement it sounds like they haven't realised that although the regulations apply to Northern Ireland NI is not an EU member but is still part of the UK that just happens to be in the EU's customs union due to the Windsor Framework.

---

@bluefrogtoysltd wrote:

And my Royal Mail account manager didn't know anything about this...will take about two weeks for them to escalate to the right person and find out what's going on.

---

Royal Mail don't need to be aware. All they care about is that you are not sending anything they prohibit and if there is a customs declaration (one isn't required for Northern Ireland) that it is completed correctly.

Out of curiosity you seem to sell mostly "brand new" toys. These should have certification information on the packaging or the product label itself - the economic operator you need is whoever is identified as having provided the CE approval on the label or packaging. In the case of soft toys the label may have separate "leafs" containing the CE and EN71 information.

[ojewellery]

Not promoting Amazon (that's a whole other thread), but the Amazon forums have been discussing this a lot longer than the eBay ones.  There is an Amazon staff forum poster/ moderator who has stated the following as part of a post (three months ago):

Just confirming that the help page statement aligns with what our partner team has verified. Therefore, is correct.

The GPSR does apply in Northern Ireland, however, Amazon isn't currently collecting information through the UK store.

I'm continuing to collaborate with the team on this.

Partner team being their team dealing with legislation, another post implied external consultants.  They are most definitely aware and acknowledging that NI is not necessarily the same as Great Britain from a shipping point of view.  I wondered if they'd handle it by software.  I also wondered if the current Amazon fulfilled stock could possibly be classed as already in/ available in, the EU market for sale so fall into exceptions but haven't really given it lots of headspace. 

My brain is going to mush over this and its so frustrating/ illogical/ potentially costly, for what is a small percentage of my business.  I'd love to retain that business, but think from a profitability vs time spent perspective, I'm probably better off focusing energies elsewhere.

[fatbobfan]

Holding on to your shirt tails a bit @4_bathrooms thanks for the abundance of knowledge and information, genuinely big thanks

Item Disclosures is one of the new sections on creating/editing a listing

1. Manufacturer

2. EU Responsible Person

3. Reparability Index

4. Economic Operator

5. Additional Disclosures

3 Reparability Index - Thoughts? as a reseller the manufacture will not give this to me as they want the business, have googled seems primarily a French thing

All of the above, presuming the market place will insist on all of the above if a seller can not supply one it will fail GPSR

Second new section on creating/editing inventory, 

Hazard Information - According to the Ebay bulk editing, 'No selected listing is eligible for this action' To me with toy inventory surprises me, looks more like a duff link?

And with all of the above Im bringing it back to requests for Compliance Documents and Test Reports, Firstly I appreciate your not the person I should be asking but that department has no communcation department, Thoughts on what sellers have been asked for and whats currently been rolled out.

Myself as an example with your help I can understand 1,23 and maybe 5, 4 I need to dig deeper on but all the above seems fruitless if Compliance Dedpartment what PDF Compliance documents/certs and Test reports.

Just chewing the cud so to speak, and again thanks

[fatbobfan]

I know its a different Market Place but hopefully its being addressed here, if so, some comforting information for @pacman90 and @Anonymous in posts 44/45

I read those posts and couldnt beleive it, totally bonkers

[bluefrogtoysltd]

That would make sense, but the ebay edits require contact information for a reponsible person based in the EU or it's not valid...and we can't afford to hire someone in the EU, other platforms are not asking for this for NI delivery.

And more than anything, my account manager was concerned about how many of their ebay customers are about to stop delivering to NI, causing a large reduction in UK postage through Royal Mail.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@fatbobfan wrote:

1. Manufacturer

2. EU Responsible Person

3. Reparability Index

4. Economic Operator

5. Additional Disclosures

---

1. The manufacturer's details. If the product is CE marked the section at the bottom (2) is where you put the name and address of the party that appears on the EU Declaration of Conformity.

3. Only applies to certain electronic devices offered for sale to France (more information here).

4. If there is no EU responsible person entered in (2) the EU-based economic operator's details go here.

5. This is where you enter any local regulations the product needs to comply with similar to (3)

Most sellers should need (1) and (2) or (1) and (4) to comply.

---

@fatbobfan wrote:

Hazard Information - According to the Ebay bulk editing, 'No selected listing is eligible for this action' To me with toy inventory surprises me, looks more like a duff link?

---

This sounds like the sort of warnings you often see on packaging like "Choking hazard" on toys marked as suitable for older children or "Irritant" on cleaning products etc. This must be category-specific as I don't see that section on any of my own listings.

---

@fatbobfan wrote:

And with all of the above Im bringing it back to requests for Compliance Documents and Test Reports

---

See my earlier reply to @bluefrogtoysltd. Anything that requires CE marking (new or used) will need the information in (2) and copies of their test reports. Anything that doesn't require CE marking that isn't excluded from the GPSR's remit requires the information in (4).

What I don't know is whether eBay will integrate this information into their catalogue. If they already have the requisite information for a product with an EAN and that product is in eBay's catalogue it wouldn't make much sense for eBay to ask every new seller of that item for the compliance details. However, I'm not expecting common sense from eBay.

[1019suzanne]

After talking to Ebay for Business, I find that antiques, collectibles and works of art are excluded.    According to the info on the Seller Centre > http://spkl.io/6188f8ziE, under the FAQ section "The regulation excludes antiques, which, for purposes of this law, includes collectors’ items and works of art since they cannot meet the necessary safety requirements"

[salden39]

Received this email today and spent a good amount of time reading over threads like this one as well as eBay's guidance on the matter. 

I'm most concerned eBay start pulling listings as they have a habit of doing without notice for the smallest of infractions. GPSR only seems to apply for registered businesses (something eBay insisted we switch to a while ago) but it doesn't seem to apply for private sellers. I wonder if the best thing to do is remove EU and Northern Ireland from shipping options and offer the items from an ordinary prviate seller eBay account? Are you allowed to advertise this kind of workaround for EU / NI buyers? 

[camerapartsuk]

If you have a small inventory, it might be possible, but many have large
inventories and it would take a long time, not forgetting when you end an
auction, you lose potentially 100's of sales for that auction which goes
far in getting new buyers to pick your item over others.

And any positive feedback for that listing at the bottom of the page will
also be lost.

There's actually more reasons to simply block the sale to the EU and
Northern Ireland than swap them to a private listing where you may be
forced later to switch over to a business account anyway due to how much
stock you are selling.

[fatbobfan]

I'm most concerned eBay start pulling listings as they have a habit of doing without notice for the smallest of infractions. - They started some Compliance Requests in May not sure if they are doing so now, my last one was July into Aug

GPSR only seems to apply for registered businesses (something eBay insisted we switch to a while ago) but it doesn't seem to apply for private sellers. I wonder if the best thing to do is remove EU and Northern Ireland from shipping options and offer the items from an ordinary prviate seller eBay account? Are you allowed to advertise this kind of workaround for EU / NI buyers?  - Advertising it may not be the best option, perhaps asking for communication from International Buyers and advising them their best options, you know, like your good buddy Mike whose selling his 😉  That is if you cant legally assit of course.

All abit grey at the moment

Personally Im going to watch this space as they say and see what develops and act accordingly and make definitely make decisions nearer December 13th or sooner. Some great advice on the threads but its all down to interpretation and to me ifs and maybes, all seems up in the air.

Then guessing aftert December 13th we will see how it goes into practice in the real world and we will see how the borders process it, am I wrong to think this is likely to chuck up its own spanners in the works?

Could get messy, hoping it doesnt, thinking observing from afar for a few months might be wise, especially in the quieter Jan/Feb, thats from a point of view where I know I cant supply the GPSR information

[paradiseprettycompany]

I use the ebay Global Shipping Programme and NEVER ship to an address outside the UK. Does this mean that I do not need to fill any information out regarding GPSR. If so I'll block EU and NI like I used to before using the Global Shipping Programme. Can someone from ebay Legal team please give me a definitive answer on this please.

[cobwebcottage]

That doesn't make sense. The purpose of GSP is to ship globally even though the parcels are being sent to their hub who ship them on. Sellers are responsible for the contents and descriptions of the items sold which will include GPSR when necessary.

A lot of us who use GSP are looking at blocking Europe and NI before the December deadline.

[ojewellery]

In the session on legislation at the open yesterday they didn't give a definitive answer when someone asked this but said they thought you would need to comply because they've just established sellers are also responsible for their own LUCID ID for the German packaging act even when only using GSP to ship to Germany.

[lotnumber73]

"Will this have any impact on me being able to sell products from NI to UK?

Hi

It appears not, as the UK has not imposed such stringent regulations for importation into the UK. There are regulations as the UK has effectively mirrored the EU legislation but nowhere near as complicated as the EU is being with imports into the EU (inc N.I !!!) 

Good old Brexit eh... 

[ojewellery]

---

@lotnumber73 wrote:

Good old Brexit eh... 

---

Yep glad for Brexit on this one.  If we didn't have Brexit we couldn't just switch off EU (and unfortunately NI) to get away from this one - we'd be obliged to do it for all our listings.  Which many on thread have said is imposible so this is an instance of us being better off, not worse.

[the_hoff]

Agreed.  I was a pretty ardent remainer, but on this issue which directly affects my business, I'm actually glad we left the EU!  I'm just keeping everything crossed that the new government doesn't decide to mirror the GPSR rules here in the UK in it's attempt to reset trading relations with the EU.  If that happens with the sort of things I sell it will be game over for my business.

[4_bathrooms]

---

@ojewellery wrote:

Yep glad for Brexit on this one.  If we didn't have Brexit we couldn't just switch off EU (and unfortunately NI) to get away from this one - we'd be obliged to do it for all our listings.  Which many on thread have said is imposible so this is an instance of us being better off, not worse.

---

If Brexit had never happened there would have been no need to exclude NI as there would never have been a Northern Ireland Protocol nor it's successor (the Windsor Framework). UK sellers would also not have been obliged to employ an economic operator as the seller themselves would have been fulfilling that role.

The rest of the GPSRs would still have been in effect; i.e. compliance documents required for goods requiring CE/EN labelling, textile labelling requirements, safety information etc. If Brexit had never happened you would actually have had an easier life as your products are not subject to any EU safety legislation.

[ojewellery]

Like so many issues if you scratch the surface (In/ Out Europe), its more complex than a one size suits all. 

I'd have been better off being my own economic operator and easily able to produce my own documents, many would have been worse off having to upload documents that they'd struggle to put their hands on.

Brexits happened - only history will help us establish the real impact but not everything Brexit was/ is one way.  

[debsbeautique]

Hi regarding changing for non Eu or NI in your listings can you do that in bulk or does it need to be individually added ?? Any info please I am so confused