EU & NI GPSR block for Digital Sales

[#1]

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! 

[Elendipity]

Yes, I have a very similar reply from Etsy and from Ribblr, this was Etsy answer:

I understand your situation as a UK seller regarding the upcoming GPSR regulations. 
 
It's important to note that the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) does not apply to digital products like PDF files, so you can continue selling your crochet and embroidery patterns without needing to appoint an EU representative.
 
Currently, Etsy does not offer a feature to exclude specific regions for digital products. However, your feedback is valuable, and I will share it with our team for future consideration. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out.

[JackdawCrochetStudio]

So Ravelry think GPSR wont apply to digital files. But they locked the thread, so no one can reply.

[TrinketDrawersUK]

Highly unlikely that visual files will be subject to gpsr, it's for software, apps etc. 

[RivermistCreationsUS]

According to everything stated in other posts here, they are subject to GPSR (visual and machine files). I sell digitized embroidery files made for embroidery machines. I cannot control what a buyer does with those files but to comply I would have to sew test every file type, translate into every language known to man, hire and continuously pay a PR, state on every file that they are virus free along with any possible safety hazard, and stand on one foot while singing a song and patting my head and rubbing my belly. 

So, if anyone has proof they are NOT included, show the proof here please. 

[AprilCottageCrafts]

I already sell PDF patterns on Ravelry and Lovecrafts, however, because neither of those platforms require you to relist your files after a certain time then they will all be offered for sale before 13 December so they should be OK to sell to EU/NI.  New patterns listed after 13 December will not be OK and will fall under the new rules.  the EU GPSR advice states that digital download files ARE included in the new rules no matter what Etsy/Ravelry (both US run sites) or anyone else says.

[PosieAndMarmalades]

Hi, @AprilCottageCrafts,

I hope you don't mind me asking but do those other sites sell PDF charts for xstitch? I'm basically invisible on Etsy', I'm also on another site but want to try some other sites to sell my digital charts (maybe my physical items too) I'm just unsure of where would be possible and if they're reliable etc.....x

[TheWoollyDesignCoUK]

@AprilCottageCrafts LoveCrafts have confirmed that they are the ones responsible for the GPSR on any sales made by their Indie designers.

[DigTheDesign]

So @thatregina (forum manager) the legal advice is that every seller of digital downloads globally that doesn’t have an eu rep and appropriate paperwork will be trading outside the law tomorrow because they are offering a product for sale into the EU and Northern Ireland that doesn’t meet the new GPSR directive. Etsy has so far stonewalled on providing any GPSR help whatsoever. Do you or they have any comment today, the day before the new legal framework goes live?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

they are only a forum moderator, they are not etsy support, or help , or anything else

[TwiLdCapitHog]

@DigTheDesign   a notification is only sent if the name is "live" (underlined). 

[DigTheDesign]

@craftycornishmaids. That is fine. I have a screenshot that the message went to Etsy, so legally they have received it. If the forum manager chooses not to escalate it that is their lookout. If it was me back in my corporate life that message would already be widely circulated. It wouldn’t be worth risking my career not to. But Etsy will be what they will be.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@DigTheDesign 

moderators of the forum, are nothing to do with escalating to etsy, or etsy support

the forums are outsourced, not even run by etsy, 

... etsy has provided gpsr support, they have information on what you need to do, and they have a place to add your economic operator.

You decide whether you want to sell to EU or UK from tomorrow, etsy really doesn't have to do anything else

[DigTheDesign]

@craftycornishmaids. I ran a compliance team for an £80m business unit as well as being the lead trader and managing a relationship with the external auditors of a £1bn business. I deliberately sent the message on the Etsy system (an expression of dissatisfaction) to the manager of the team. What they do with it is absolutely their business but if they do nothing there can be consequences - the question is on the Etsy system as a matter of record whether they like it or not. And as I said in other posts, Etsy have silently inserted a few basic details about GPSR into their manual (which I cant now find by the way without doing a google search rather than search the Etsy site) with near zero publicity and zero answers to legitimate questions. Only the educated few Etsy users are therefore in a position to do anything about GPSR because they get proper support from other providers. Most are completely oblivious to the issue - which would be a seriously negative consideration against Etsy in any proceedings.  

Etsy doesn’t have to do anything else. Well, yes it does. It needs to go through all the shops and suspend the non GPSR compliant ones - including every digital seller without the appropriate rep and paperwork and pretty much all shops with a UK shipping profile given the NI situation. It knows those shops aren’t compliant simply by looking at its own records so it could easily shut them down - or issue warnings if it feels so inclined. That isn’t proactively looking at products by the way, that is just closing those who don’t have the right fields filled in - the same way that Ebay say they wont show your products to GPSR territories if you aren’t compliant.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

says someone who doesn't even legally declare themselves as a trader
(which is why you didn't get the message)

etsy sent it to those, they legally had to 

[Kandoupatterns]

I think you're spot on here. The new rules place significant responsibility on marketplaces to police their sites and take down any non-compliant listings 'that they are aware of'. Items listed before 13th December are not included. So my guess is, Etsy might trawl new listings after tomorrow. They have a new responsibility now that will be a shock to their system. This doesn't bode well for sellers that's for sure. They will be ruthless I think, because they will be monitored in a new way that they are not used to. 

With regards to digital files, clarification is expected to be forthcoming re the position of pdf files as products. We are entering an 'interim' period of settling in from tomorrow, so it's unlikely digital sellers will be taken down quickly. They aren't the real issue with this initiative, which I believe will focused on dangerous products first and foremost. PDFs do not come into that category.

[RivermistCreationsUS]

All of this comes down to one thing, Etsy MUST give us the ability to block digital sales to all EU countries including NI. There is no way they don't have the ability to do so. Now reports are coming in that you can't even find a PR willing to take digital products, so even if a person wanted to jump through all the hoops and pay a PR, you can't. Maybe Etsy wants all digital products off the site..... 

[ChloeRedfernPatterns]

I contacted Etsy to ask if they were planning to add a way for sellers of digital products to specify where they were available to, in the way one might be able to via adding postage options for physical items, but it didn't seem like they had plans to do this or were aware of the need. Sadly as a result I have had to set my shop to holiday mode and ultimately may just end up having to close it.

[NanaLetha]

@ChloeRedfernPatterns  You were not talking to Etsy but to a contracted help desk. I saw an announcement within the last week that by sometime in February we would be able to exclude certain countries from buying digital downloads. If you listed them before December 13th, they are exempt from the new restrictions.

[ChloeRedfernPatterns]

Hello, apologies I have only just seen your reply, thank you so much that's great news That's interesting about them being exempt if listed before the 13th of December, I have some due to renew soon so will hold off reopening until Etsy have something in place, but great that they plan to do something about it

[JackdawCrochetStudio]

I've just been looking on Ravelry to see what other designers are doing.

There isn't a way to block EU sales on Ravelry, and any discussion on the forum on GPSR gets shut down.

Designers are writing GPSR statements in their listings, things like: this is a PDF file only, the file was free from viruses at the time of uploading to Ravelry & buyers download at their own risk.

That's not enough to comply surely?

I have just listed a few PDFs on Payhip and Folksy, it is easy to block EU and NI there, so why cant Etsy hurry up and do the same?