Etsy to make it simpler to cease gross sales to Northern Ireland | EUROtoday

Online market Etsy has stated it intends to comply with different e-commerce websites by making it simpler for sellers in Great Britain to cease promoting to Northern Ireland.

New EU guidelines imply small companies in Great Britain should conform to stricter necessities in the event that they need to promote to Northern Ireland or the EU.

Some platforms, like eBay, have responded by permitting sellers in Great Britain to successfully flip down orders to Northern Ireland.

Etsy says it’s desiring to do the identical early subsequent 12 months after strain from GB sellers.

In an replace to its vendor handbook, it stated: “We are actively looking into a solution for sellers who wish to discontinue offering their items to Northern Ireland buyers.

“We will present an replace on timing by December 31, 2024.”

Another platform, Folksy, has changed its delivery regions so that the UK now excludes Northern Ireland. Its Europe delivery region is now EU and Northern Ireland.

The EU’s General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) came into effect last week. It applies in Northern Ireland as the Windsor Framework means the region is still effectively in the EU’s single market for goods.

The GPSR updates existing rules to reflect the growth of online commerce and aims to give better protections for consumers.

That includes the need to have a “accountable particular person”, which is effectively a compliance agent, inside the EU or Northern Ireland.

That is a particular challenge for small businesses in Great Britain who are selling direct to consumers who have no physical presence in the EU or Northern Ireland.

Etsy’s seller handbook warns that if it gets a notification from an authority that a product is non-compliant with GPSR, it will take appropriate action “which can embody eradicating your itemizing and/or suspending your account”.