Suggested Change for GPSR

[SimplyCreativeColors]

I am based in the United States and I have EU sales turned off due to GPSR.

I am being contacted by a lot of European users, stating that they would like to buy from me, but are unable to.

Is this not a technical issue that Etsy is displaying products to users that they can’t purchase? That’s a terrible user experience, wastes views, and ad spend.

Is there a way to suppress this? I think it should be automatic.

I’ve asked the most recent buyer exactly how they got to my product. Whether it was through Etsy search or an external link, but I haven’t heard back yet. Even if it’s an external link like Google, I think it would be better to show this as listing not available.

Is anyone else experiencing similar issues?

[Arcalliq]

that's not a technical issue. That's how internet works. 

Etsy is visible and searchable to everybody, worldwide.

[FancyTogs · Accepted solution]

@Arcalliq 

Listings in search results and Ads are only displayed to buyers in countries that they ship to.

The "ships to" filter is automatically applied to search and ads based on the user's region setting.

The problem is that Etsy's EU GPSR settings switch to disable sales to EEA and NI only disables the checkout for buyers with a delivery address in those regions. It does not disable "ships to", so it does not disable inclusion in search results and Ads.

Buyers are still being shown listings that they cannot purchase for their region.

This enables Etsy to continue charging sellers for ads clicks for listings that can't be sold.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[SimplyCreativeColors]

This isn’t entirely true. I’m a programmer and it is possible to redirect that search result click even if it’s external if the user is in the EU. However, what the other user said about people in EU being able to ship somewhere else makes sense as to why Etsy wouldn’t do that.

[GlassyFields]

I've excluded the countries I don't ship to because of the packaging recylcing license requirements, but I still get messages from them 'can you ship to my country'. It makes me think that Etsy is working correctly in terms of what it shows within the site but that they're seeing products via advertising or social media and clicking on that.

[FancyTogs]

Etsy's solution to the EU GPSR only disables the buyer checkout for EEA countries and Northern Ireland (NI). It does not override shipping settings, so buyers in those regions still see listings in search results and Ads from shops that they are not allowed to buy from. It is terrible functionality.

To avoid the problem you need to disable shipping to all of the EEA countries.

The UK is split with most of the UK not affected by the EU GPSR, only Northern Ireland is affected. You can continue to ship to the UK and use the shop settings switch to disable the checkout for NI buyers.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[FortDarnetStudios]

I'm a new seller and basically asked almost the same question in "Managing Your Shop" section of the forum (but not GPSR specific) - it's a feature as old as internet selling platforms - can I limit visibility of my listing only to the country I sell to. Because if I cannot the entire idea of ranking system based on conversion rate of clicks to sales etc and paying for ads to improve visibility and ranking - goes out of the window. 

Apparently there is no way to limit visibility of the listings to the country we sell to by any setting on Etsy. Most basic feature of Amazon, eBay, even Yahoo Auctions when it still existed in black and white internet era - apparently was never implemented on Etsy.

Literally anyone, from anywhere, can come about, type "crochet" or "t-shirt" or "artisan ladle" and if their query matches your US only, UK only, Rings of Saturn only region specific listing - it will be shown to every visitor, bot, agregator and crawler from Dikson in Russia to the dwellers at The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and anywhere in between. And if they happen to be real person they'll only discover they can't buy it when they try to add your product to the basket. And you'll pay for it either with ads view or your ranking.

Mind boggles...

[FancyTogs]

@FortDarnetStudios 

"Apparently there is no way to limit visibility of the listings to the country we sell to by any setting on Etsy."

You are incorrect.

Physical product: Remove the default line "everywhere else" from your shipping details (on the listing or in the shipping profile"), and only add shipping lines for the countries that you will ship to. Then Etsy will only include that listing in search results for buyers in countries you do ship to. 

Digital products: you are stuck with being included in search results worldwide.

Everybody worldwide can always see all of the listings in your shop.

Lawrence