Anyone selling to EU - new GPSR regulations come into effect tomorrow.

[Nomad]

Hi. Putting this here just in case anyone sells items to Europe, GPSR details can be found at https://blog.folksy.com/2024/11/26/gpsr-guide-for-artists-and-makers-on-folksy

Comment on another forum from a small business who exports to EU :

We can no longer sell to the EU or Northern Ireland, without paying for an appointed representative to ensure our products are safe. The cost for this is completely unachievable for most <small> businesses like mine. Obviously, we all want our products to be as safe as possible but is it right that it'll cost me at least £2,000 a year to tell me my paper stationery is safe!!

No need for any political comments, I'd not heard anything about this new requirement and I'm sharing it in case it helps anyone avoid problems @fizzy

 

[DAPPH]

The EU have been pushing that sort of certification for 70 or more years slowly killing any small business off.
I remember when they did the same with seeds all seeds sold in the EU had to get dozens of conformity and toxicity tests .., All seeds had to come from certified & tested stock .
We used to belong to a seed exchange group passing on home grown seeds that were classed as heritage seeds & the number of attempts to close us down was ridiculous. In the end we came off the internet and mailed lists and seeds to each other . I have some seed for large tomatoes that had come from the original strain some 7 or more years ago .

 

[Erie Fred]

Sounds like a back door tariff.

 

[fizzy]

The EU have been pushing that sort of certification for 70 or more years slowly killing any small business off.
I remember when they did the same with seeds all seeds sold in the EU had to get dozens of conformity and toxicity tests .., All seeds had to come from certified & tested stock .
We used to belong to a seed exchange group passing on home grown seeds that were classed as heritage seeds & the number of attempts to close us down was ridiculous. In the end we came off the internet and mailed lists and seeds to each other . I have some seed for large tomatoes that had come from the original strain some 7 or more years ago .

If we were still in the EU we wouldn't need to appoint an authorised representative.
This legislation means that small British businesses or even individuals can't sell a product directly to someone in the EU or Northern Ireland.
Someone like @Dcal could make a fortune becoming everyone's authorised representative

 

[julianf]

Our exit from the single market already killed off the trade of most small non-vat registered businesses, as their goods suddenly became 20% more expensive (plus all the processing fees) in the EU.

When you think that most businesses start off as small non-vat registered entities, that's not great.

I know that my own trade with the EU dropped overnight to virtually nothing. I even appointed a IOSS agent in Sweden [taking back control] but none of it was really economically viable any more.

The cost to the UK of leaving the single market, as is evident by this topic, just continues to rise.

And the xenophobes are still equally as unhappy too, so I don't know who really benefitted in the end.

 

[sickpup]

I don't think anyone benefitted, I think some were hurt less than most.

 

[Kram]

Same people complaining again, blaming brexit for the fact the EU are arsholes

If we were still in the EU we wouldn't need to appoint an authorised representative.

No there would still be a load of bureaucracy if still in the EU. The only difference is we would need to do the same to sell our own products here!

This is an update to existing 2005 regulations. I notice most chinese imports already have a label with this sort of info printed on it. I dont believe it costs all that much and wont make the slightest difference to product safety.

And the xenophobes are still equally as unhappy too, so I don't know who really benefitted in the end.

A dislike of EU regulations and politics does not make us xenophobic.

 

[Memmeddu]

That's a shame as many things I get come from eBay sellers in the UK, I've managed to get a Stihl Ms 361 for something like 100£ but it cost me the double really because of the change and import taxes.

 

[Kayos]

Hard to keep it non political but I will try

I was on the verge of project managing a Huff Haus build when Brexit happened, I had been called to another and solved the boiler problem, got talking to the owner and ze Germans and was asked to price managing the build of the next one

Then Brexit, and costs spiraled so it was cancelled

I also nearly missed the RHI deadline, containers of parts stuck in France for weeks of unspecified "extra checks"

Not a fan if I'm honest, and as above, those who wanted it because foreigners are still not happy, it truly is lose lose

 

[addjunkie]

Same people complaining again, blaming brexit for the fact the EU are arsholes

regardless of in or out views, political leanings, sexuality, religion etc..its just a fact that a percentage of society are only happy complaining about something.

 

[ajlelectronics]

If this was fact rather than fearmongering, I am sure that those of us who sell worldwide via the likes of Ebay would have heard about it.

I am still selling my kits worldwide and Sovereignty (such as the remainer Boris stitched us up with) has made little difference. TVA is payable in the EU regardless of it coming from a non registered manufacturer, so it hasn't become 20% more expensive at all, that TVA was always due.

The fact is that the likes of Barnier are determined to make life as difficult as possible in revenge for not kowtowing to them and the likes of our incumbent government are complicit. There is no need for all the bureaucracy, it is just more of the same knife sticking pour encourager des autres.

 

[addjunkie]

If this was fact rather than fearmongering, I am sure that those of us who sell worldwide via the likes of Ebay would have heard about it.

I am still selling my kits worldwide and Sovereignty (such as the remainer Boris stitched us up with) has made little difference. TVA is payable n the EU regardless of it coming from a non registered manufacturer, so it hasn't become 20% more expensive at all, that TVA was always due.

The fact is that the likes of Barnier are determined to make life as difficult as possible in revenge for not kowtowing to them and the likes of our incumbent government are complicit. There is no need for all the bureaucracy, it is just more of the same knife sticking pour encourager des autres.

“Its my ball and Ill only play-if want to” is how much of this our political world appears to me. And the players we get to choose from are the ones no one in the real world really wants.

The original 9 for was probably a good thing, the bigger experiment was just that an experiment thrust upon us by those who's ball it was that day.

 

[julianf]

TVA is payable n the EU regardless of it coming from a non registered manufacturer, so it hasn't become 20% more expensive at all, that TVA was always due.

If you are a non vat registered trader, who's end price is mostly made up of the labor component, then your end price consists of -

The parts cost (which you pay vat on as you are not registered)
The labor cost (which you do not have to charge vat on, as you are not vay registered)

Becoming registered forces you to charge vat on the labor component.

Our exit from the single market has forced an extra 20% on to the sale price (plus processing fees) of all sales from this market sector. The parts are then double vat'ed and the labor component is charged at 20%. Previously this was not the case.


This is not opinion. It's simply the numerical truth of how things have worked out for small non vat registered traders selling to the EU.

 

[ajlelectronics]

This is not opinion. It's simply the numerical truth of how things have worked out for small non vat registered traders selling to the EU.

We will have to agree to disagree then Julian! The only difference for a non registered business selling to the socialist (lower case deliberate) superstate is their demand for TVA to be collected at source and paid into their slush funds. A £200 kit sold to the UK is going to arrive at £200, the same kit to the aforementioned S.S. Is going to be £200 plus TVA.

 

[julianf]

We will have to agree to disagree then Julian! The only difference for a non registered business selling to the socialist (lower case deliberate) superstate is their demand for TVA to be collected at source and paid into their slush funds. A £200 kit sold to the UK is going to arrive at £200, the same kit to the aforementioned S.S. Is going to be £200 plus TVA.

£100 sale price.

£12 in parts
£88 in labor



In the case of a sale by a non vat registered UK small trader, there would be £2 vat paid, by the non-vat registered UK small business. This would be the £2 vat on the £10 of parts.



Prior to our exit from the single market, the price would be the same across the EU. Still the £100, with the £2 vat paid.





Post single market exit, from the same non-vat registered retailer -



£100 sale price.
£20 vat added
£15 (approx) processing fee.


Made up of -

£12 parts (of which £2 is vat)
£88 in labor
£20 in eu vat
£15 (approx) processing


So, the £100 part becomes £135 to an EU buyer, whilst, prior to our exit, it was £100.


A 35% increase in price to the end user.

 

[ajlelectronics]

£15 (approx) processing fee.

I pay no "processing fees" ?

 

[ajlelectronics]

EU buyer, whilst, prior to our exit, it was £100.

The SS demanded the ransom, not us.

 

[fizzy]

Not only are we a logistics company but we are also customs agents. We are still dealing with this mess daily.
To give people an idea of the damage caused to smalled UK businesses Palletways alone used to ship 600 pallets a night into their Paris hub. Now it's 30
5 times the government put off import controls on food coming in from the EU. British companies had to comply from day 1. Why? Because they didn't want empty shelves in UK supermarkets and higher prices. They wanted people to think it had all bee a great success

 

[fizzy]

Same people complaining again, blaming brexit for the fact the EU are arsholes

No there would still be a load of bureaucracy if still in the EU. The only difference is we would need to do the same to sell our own products here!

This is an update to existing 2005 regulations. I notice most chinese imports already have a label with this sort of info printed on it. I dont believe it costs all that much and wont make the slightest difference to product safety.

A dislike of EU regulations and politics does not make us xenophobic.

Of course they are but our civil service are far worse.
If there was an EU law the French or Italians didn't like they just ignored it. Our jobsworths would take a 100 page document. Turn it into 500 pages and enforce it with glee.
Is there less red tape since we left? Don't be daft there is FAR more

 

[fizzy]

£100 sale price.

£12 in parts
£88 in labor



In the case of a sale by a non vat registered UK small trader, there would be £2 vat paid, by the non-vat registered UK small business. This would be the £2 vat on the £10 of parts.



Prior to our exit from the single market, the price would be the same across the EU. Still the £100, with the £2 vat paid.





Post single market exit, from the same non-vat registered retailer -



£100 sale price.
£20 vat added
£15 (approx) processing fee.


Made up of -

£12 parts (of which £2 is vat)
£88 in labor
£20 in eu vat
£15 (approx) processing


So, the £100 part becomes £135 to an EU buyer, whilst, prior to our exit, it was £100.


A 35% increase in price to the end user.

A great example is one of our customers sending pallets of handmade cakes. She didn't ship many - perhaps 10 or 12 a year. But when you think there are thousands and thousands of small businesses like this you realise just how much the UK has lost out.

She used to pay £121 for a pallet to Berlin. NO paperwork at all needed - as easy as shipping to Birmingham.
Price now £200 for shipping.
Health and phytosanitary checks along with vet inspection as product contains milk and eggs - £250
German customs clearance £100
UK export paperwork £40

It would now cost her £590 to ship a pallet of cakes compared to £121 before. Obviously she has just given up. Multiply this by 100,000 small businesses and the nature of the problem should be obvious even to the most blinkered

I have a warehouse half full of stuff that has been rejected by customs in the EU. It gets returned to us. Customer refuses to pay. Yes we have the right to dispose of the goods to reclaim costs but usually we lose out.