EU & NI GPSR block for Digital Sales

[RivermistCreationsUS]

I'm positive a lot of sellers of digital files will NEED the ability to block EU & NI sales due to GPSR. I for one do not sell enough there to want to nor have the funds to comply with the new GPSR. I have embroidery files that I already spend hours designing, test stitching, writing instructions, and listing. I cannot add hours more to translate into every language in the world and find testers with other machines to test in every type other than the two I can test myself. I also do not have the funds to pay some representative in the EU to oversee my listings. 

Etsy, we NEED the ability to block digital sales to the EU & NI and we NEED it now! 

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

Couldn’t agree more!  Have you been letting Etsy customer service know? We all know they sadly lack a lot of information and have no real clout, but it’s still worthwhile for every affected seller to contact them and let them know the current system is seriously problematic for digital sellers and that you’re asking them to escalate the concerns to Etsy management.  (I’ve contacted them twice already.).  

If we all do it, they can’t keep ignoring us forever.

[RivermistCreationsUS]

Yes I've been doing that also and added it here in hopes other sellers would add their voice too. 

The more noise we make, hopefully Etsy will wake up.

[Elendipity]

I have contacted them and they actually reply to me that I can continue selling my pdf crochet and embroidery patterns because they don’t think are included in the GPSR.

[BagmakerSupply]

@Elendipity: "... they don’t think are included in the GPSR." The problem is perfectly described by the work "think". The regulations are vague and no one knows for sure. And digital art, patterns, etc are not explicitly exempted.

[CosyCrochetByTasha]

@Elendipity and @BagmakerSupply Etsy are unfortunately wrong (no surprises there!) and digital products are included.

https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate/#/screen/pages/obligationsForBusinesses

There's a download of a Q&A section on this page and on there it specifically says "The GPSR applies to all types of products (physical or digital products too, including software)
that are placed or made available on the EU Single Market"

[CraftyCornishMaids]

I have logged a ticket over 6 weeks agio, to separate out NI from UK, for physical goods,

It's crazy that I can't just sell to my own country, or even the 3 countries of GB, I have to sell to NI too, which needs an economic operator

....other platforms have separated them out - etsy just doesn't care - they expect us to hire an economic operator

.... have you logged a ticket?

[MaynardMillinery]

Exactly. England is my country, I am able to operate fully legally in England (as it stands right now).

I don't need an AR, to sell in MY country.

Etsy says I MUST sell to my country, but they have attached 3 other countries to mine which they wont let me remove, countries that have their own governments/assemblies and laws.

Northern Ireland is not my country, and, being on the South Coast of England, I couldn't get much further away from it. I don't need to be jumping through legal hoops, I'm quite happy to cut NI off like I am the rest of Europe...but I can't because of some ridiculous notion by Etsy that we have some kind of legal attachment to NI that they can't break. WE DONT!!!

[RivermistCreationsUS]

I haven't submitted a ticket but I will now! Thanks for the suggestion. 

[BagmakerSupply]

@CraftyCornishMaids: What is even more perplexing for those of us across the pond is that the United Kingdom and Ireland are listed as separate countries for US sellers' shipping profiles. So undoubtedly if they deselect Ireland and select United Kingdom many will think that Northern Ireland is also deselected when in fact it will not be.

[TinTeddy]

@BagmakerSupply   Ireland IS a different country to the United Kingdom.

But Northern Ireland is PART of the United Kingdom.

Ireland and Northern Ireland are two separate countries.

Ireland is in the EU, Northern Ireland isn't, but is being treated as a sort of "honorary member" for this situation.

Sellers in the other parts of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland and Wales - can exclude Ireland.

But they can't exclude Northern Ireland because it is just classed as part of the United Kingdom by Etsy. It is not separable.

[BagmakerSupply]

@TinTeddy: Yes I know, but I was just trying to point out that it is even more confusing for some people outside of the United Kingdom and the European Union who may think incorrectly that they are in compliance by deselecting Ireland.

I suspect that Etsy's thinking about the United Kingdom is just like for US sellers since we cannot pick and choose which states we will ship to even though the rules and regulations that a seller must comply with vary widely between states.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@BagmakerSupply 

Ireland is separate for us too

Northern Ireland is not

[TheWoollyDesignCoUK]

I have emailed too but don't hold out much hope as there is no sign that Etsy is intending to assist it's sellers with the deadline imminent! It seems that all digital download sellers are doomed here wherever they are selling from.

[RivermistCreationsUS]

I'm sure you are right and that is the biggest problem. We need more sellers to post, respond, message, send help tickets to even get a tiny blip on their radar and even then it probably won't be enough. After all, we still have first class mail options as a choice in setting up shipping for the U.S. after how many years now? 

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

I'm a little embarrassed to ask, but how does one submit a ticket?  I used the "chat" function last week and am pretty sure I interacted with two humans (i.e. not chatbots).  They both said they'd "escalate my concerns."   But I don't think that's the same thing as logging a ticket, is it?  

We all need to be squeaky wheels LOL

[MaynardMillinery]

Go to your shop manager, click on Help on the left hand bar, select Contact Us, then click on your avatar in the top right hand corner and select My Support Requests, then click Create a New Support Request

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

Thank you so much!  In 17 years here, I've never felt I needed to do that!

[digitaldoodlebug]

I tried the support request. It takes me in a loop back to get help options. If I narrow down on the issue the only option is call or chat.

[RivermistCreationsUS]

I just received my final response to my help ticket.  Basically, Etsy doesn't provide us the ability to only sell to specified locations and I need to consult a legal advisor to ensure compliance. Really, they are saying we don't have a choice. Comply or stop selling digital on this platform. I do sell on another platform and my own website but I wanted to keep my listings here also. Guess Etsy is the new owner of all of our businesses, or so they think. 

[DreamesayaDigital]

I'm thinking of adding personalization text to tell people from EU and NI not to buy due to this GPSR rules.

But not sure if that would work...

[TinTeddy]

The law says a seller can't offer the products to the EU or NI without a representative etc.

So sadly, this wouldn't work, as there is still no way to not offer the items.

And someone from the EU or NI could ignore your text and still buy.

[DreamesayaDigital]

Oh so 'offer' meant 'listing be visible' to people from EU and NI regardless of any disclaimer/warning.

Ok there's nothing in our control to prevent that i guess.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@DreamesayaDigital 

offer, is legally is - offer to treat

which means  - you are offering it to them, so they can add the item to their cart and purchase, if they want to

[JackdawCrochetStudio]

This is what Ravelry say (from the Shopkeepers forum):

"There have been lots of questions about Ravelry’s position on this and I wanted to share here what I have been responding via email:

The regulation focuses on products that could present risks to consumer health and safety. We don’t expect that anyone who sells PDF patterns on Ravelry will need to block any EU countries for sale, and that is not a feature we plan to add now or in the future. There may be other platforms which do have this feature."