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

[twistedmelondesigns]

you think ebay is bad, try working with amazon

[jayfive2001]

Had a long conversation with ebay CS about this tonight. By the guidelines as it stands I have to add safety information for a DVD and info about user guides for a book. It is madness. It is sheer rolling on the ground foaming at the mouth pants on head declaring one is the Emporer Napoleon insanity. The information for a seller such as myself who deals in lots of used and some vintage is at best incredibly time-consuming to obtain at and worst simply does not exist.

The upshot of the conversation was that ebay are as confused as everyone else and they seeking clarification as to which, if any, categories may be exempt out of practicality and not require some, none or all 5 (6?) categories of information.

I put some scenarios to them like what if I simply put "N/A" in every field? Apparently ebay will have systems to spot that. Yeah, OK.
OK then said I, what I put my own or a friends address for the manufacturer? Would you verify that information? If you couldn't verify it would you ask me for evidence, just assume I was lying or assume I was telling the truth? And are you going to do that for millions upon millions of listings? Are you going to contact factories is China and ask "This thing from 20 years ago, did you make it?". Because you'll need entire neighbourhoods of buildings full of staff to go through them all.

What if I just selected some irrelevant safety information like "This toy does not provide protection." for every single listing I have regardless of the item category - would that satisfy that criteria? For "Product documents" could I just upload a pdf or jpeg that says "this item doesn't have any documents, it's a frickin' pair of shorts" would that be enough? No straight answers. Because they don't know.

They did advise me that I might want to exempt EU and NI from my listings at global level or mass edit just before December 13th because if the neccessary fields aren't completed it won't be a case of the item not being visible, it will be a case of the item will be blocked from being (re)listed. And there may be filters to find out which listings are or aren't compliant but no ETA.

Also apparently regardless of how old the item is, if you list OR relist on ebay after the 13th December 2024 it's not exempt. Even if it's an item you sell, get an NPB or relist or a relisted auction.

Bottom line is refuse point blank to fu_...mess about for hours, days, weeks at a time trying to find a manufacturer for a £2 H&M shirt made ten years ago or a 40 year old cassette tape or deal with one of these companies that will be "Responsible Person". Especially if I have to pay them. Though i might ring one of them for a laugh.

This will kill ebay if they don't get their act together. They will render it more or less impossible for sellers in the EU or NI buy entire categories of media from UK sellers because they are, as things, stand being asked to declare information the item itself does not display. Buyers and sellers are decamping to V1nted and the like in droves as it is. As soon as V1inted UK starts offering benefits to Pro sellers on there, ebay is just screwed.
I have begged ebay to release some sort of update on what is happening with 60 days to go even if it's just "hang tight, we're working on it" - it's already not enough time for me to edit 2200 or so listings. And I don't want to do a load of work that turns out not to be needed, not the right information or just that it turns out the information simply does not exist. How in goods name do I find out the manufacturer or, say, a Dorothy Perkins skirt from 10 years ago when the brand itself is defunct? 

I voted Remain, I'm all for many of the EU's aspects. But I want to grab one of the bureaucrats behind these regs by their lapels and scream "WHY DO YOU NEED SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR A BOOK? WHY DO YOU NEED A USER GUIDE FOR A CD? WHY ARE COINS EXEMPT WHEN A CHILD COULD EASILY SWALLOW THEM?"

[the_book_seekers]

WHY DO YOU NEED SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR A BOOK?

I only sell to the UK because of the increasing regulations for businesses, but it would be tempting to write something tongue in cheek to match the insanity of these latest regulations. If I were to be selling to the EU I'd be looking at what the mega sellers are doing and adapt accordingly.

[the_hoff]

Apparently at a recent ebay open event ebay had no idea whatsoever that scores of GB businesses selling secondhand items are proposing to stop GSP to the EU and NI in December.  What with Vinted Pro going live as well, next year is going to be a bumpy year for ebay.

Unfortunately Vinted Pro will have to comply with GPSR as well, although they might handle the implementation better.

I think the online selling platforms have been caught asleep at the wheel over GPSR.  After all they are huge businesses.  Where was their lobbying power and pushback when the GPSR was initially being proposed?  The GPSR rules probably took a long time to develop and there was probably lots of consultation on it.  Where were the big online sellers during this time?  However dumb the GPSR is, the basic principle behind it makes sense - products brought to market must be safe, and regulations should be in place to ensure that, but the way they've gone about it is over the top and damaging to small businesses like mine.  Having said that the EU has 600 million of its citizens to think of and a bunch of resellers selling secondhand goods online probably didn't figure at all in their decision making. 

I probably blame the management who are running these online selling platforms just as much for being completely out of touch, not having their eyes on the ball during the early stages of proposing the GPSR, and having no appreciation of how GPSR would affect businesses like mine and many others.  Didn't ebay and the other big selling platforms see all of this coming?  The answer as we've seen over the last few months is:  Evidently not!

[knit-in-styles]

eBay have known about this for months. I am part of the Expressions panel and it was me who originally posted re this back in March this year so they have known about this for months.

[555njp]

Agree, so am I. First I heard of it was a survey in Feb/Mar. I posted a question but got zero response. Nobody seemed to wake up to GPSR until much later.

To be honest it was the same with distance selling regs compliance in 2013 where eBay wouldn't allow sellers to have compliant returns info on their listings, took around 12 months before they fixed it.

[555njp]

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@the_hoff wrote:

Apparently at a recent ebay open event ebay had no idea whatsoever that scores of GB businesses selling secondhand items are proposing to stop GSP to the EU and NI in December.  What with Vinted Pro going live as well, next year is going to be a bumpy year for ebay.

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So what is the point of the weekly chat? This question has been put to the mods time and time again and many eBayers have said on the chats that they will simply turn off EU and NI come December (I've already done it to get rid of the constant compliance warnings from eBay).

You would think they have to report back to the seniors each week?

Obviously the last couple of weeks it's been the shock of the free to sell announcements but for them to say they are not aware many UK businesses will be turning EU & NI off in order to comply with GPSR (especially as some of can't upload new listings unless that info is fillies in) beggars belief.

They really need to read the boards.

[ett1954]

"I probably blame the management who are running these online selling platforms just as much for being completely out of touch, not having their eyes on the ball during the early stages of proposing the GPSR, and having no appreciation of how GPSR would affect businesses like mine and many others."

This is what happens when a business cuts its costs to the minimum and relies on its 'name' to push its agenda - something that many US companies are finding doesn't work with EU officialdom.  Where is the eBay 'compliancy' department in all this?  Or doesn't it exist? ......... probably not judging by all the 'private' business sellers operating on the site.

Large businesses I have worked for and with in Europe always had a 'compliancy' department which was backed up with an in-house legal department or had a reputable legal company advising on a consultancy basis.  These were always essential when dealing with the never-ending rule changes brought in by EU bureaucrats.

[farrarscape]

The amount of sales to the EU of NI is a tiny percentage of my overall sales, not sufficient to justify learning a whole new raft of EU legislation, and compliance would be time consuming task for over 1000 listings of collectables, which may or may not come under the rulings. Time and effort not justified for the potential reward and risk of come backs involved. It seems the only viable option for the UK seller is to block sales to EU and NI. I have to ask myself the awkward question, where would my business stand if the UK hadnt left the EU and compliance was compulsory?

[bzmotman]

"I have to ask myself the awkward question, where would my business stand if the UK hadnt left the EU and compliance was compulsory?"

Compliance is compulsory for internal EU trading as well - this is nothing to do with Brexit other than the NI Windsor Agreement. The Germans have a very lengthy thread on GPSR where some very strong views have been expressed.

I think Ebay will start taking notice when they see sales to & in the EU plunge hurting their profits. I deal in Collectables which as a category could be almost wiped out apart from "New" Collectables & sales from the private sellers. The Delcampe site has declared that it considers all collectables to be exempt so is not asking for any of the information that Ebay wants.

[1019suzanne]

'Collectibles' are exempt apparently.

[1019suzanne]

I was told by eBay that collectibles are exempt from GPSR regulations.

[cooksongold]

It depends what you mean by 'collectables' because thats a broad church. I would refer to the FAQ on the GPSR page

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. Specifically, antiques are defined to include items of extraordinary age, works of art (created solely for artistic purposes), and collectors’ items (of sufficient rarity and historical or scientific interest justifying their collection and preservation). To determine if an item qualifies as an antique, please refer to Annex IX of the VAT Directive, which the GPSR specifically says can be taken into account. 

For other categories, you can specify the Year of Manufacture or Year of Publication. Additionally, you can use model, product, serial, or batch numbers, as well as EAN or UPC codes to identify specific products or batches. Include these details, along with brand or manufacturer details in the item specifics area of your listing. You can also provide any additional information you have to help your buyers make an informed decision. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@bzmotman wrote:

Compliance is compulsory for internal EU trading as well - this is nothing to do with Brexit other than the NI Windsor Agreement. The Germans have a very lengthy thread on GPSR where some very strong views have been expressed.

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There's one key difference when the seller is established in the EU.

Non-EU established business sellers will be required to employ an EU established responsible person if they want to sell anything that doesn't require a CE mark and/or that isn't specifically exempted from the GPSR or Annex IX. A GB established seller will need to employ an RP if they want to sell things like (non-antique) posters, books, jewellery, stickers, DVDs etc. to the EU. However, an EU established seller will not be required to employ an RP for such items as they will be deemed to be the "EU established economic operator" that is performing this role. 

[bzmotman]

Can you provide a link to that or was just word of mouth?

At the moment I can find nothing in print about Ebays policy towards Collectables. The Regulation states that certain Collectables are exempt but it is not a blanket exemption. If Ebay is going to follow Delcampe in allowing all Collectables to have visibility to EU/EEA then that is good news but at the moment the complete lack of confirmation in print from Ebay causes me to mistrust them.

[bzmotman]

I agree that should be the case though I have seen comments on one of the German threads that suggests they don't see as straightforward as that. It may be down to the translation.

[wyntersemporium]

I had 5 orders from NI last week, but probably I have to block 

[wyntersemporium]

Not been over to delcampe for years 

[1019suzanne]

I had a conversation with Ebay for Business a few weeks back, where they confirmed that collectibles are exempt.  Obviously the category of Collectibles can encompass a wide range of items, but mine are my own artwork - which would be impossible to apply all these ridiculous regulations to.

[4_bathrooms]

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@1019suzanne wrote:

I had a conversation with Ebay for Business a few weeks back, where they confirmed that collectibles are exempt.  

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When it comes to collectibles and works of art the GPSR states:

"Antiques, such as works of art or collectors’ items are specific categories of products which cannot be expected to meet the safety requirements laid down by this Regulation, and should therefore be excluded from its scope. However, in order to prevent other products from being mistakenly considered as belonging to those categories, it is necessary to take into account that works of art are products created solely for artistic purposes, that collectors’ items are of sufficient rarity and historical or scientific interest to justify their collection and preservation, and that antiques, if they are not already works of art or collectors’ items or both, are of an extraordinary age. When assessing whether a product is an antique, such as a work of art or a collector’s item, Annex IX to Council Directive 2006/112/EC (13) could be taken into account."

Reading Annex IX it seems some of your items might be exempt but most would not be. For example; the limited edition prints of your original paintings might be exempt (works of art):

"original engravings, prints and lithographs, being impressions produced in limited numbers directly in black and white or in colour of one or of several plates executed entirely by hand by the artist, irrespective of the process or of the material employed, but not including any mechanical or photomechanical process"

However; things like calendars, greetings cards, Christmas decorations, keychains etc. would not be exempt as they are considered manufactured articles and they don't appear to meet the definitions of collectors' items as used in Annex IX.