Tomorrow is a dark day for small businesses in the UK

[lostmybuttons]

I run a small business, mostly selling on Etsy. But as of tomorrow, Friday 13th December the introduction of the new GPSR legislation is creating such a huge headache for businesses like mine.

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 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!!

Our only choice is to stop selling to the EU and Northern Ireland, which is a huge loss in income for those already struggling.

We feel like we are shouting into the void and absolutely no one is listening.

This is compounded by the fact that Etsy refuse to separate Northern Ireland in our shipping settings, so by default we are all breaking the legislation and risking fine of up to £20,000.

All Etsy have advised is to cancel any NI orders, which frankly is terrible customer service.

If there was ever a time to shop independent, your small business friends need you now.

Bumping because I don't think enough people who aren't small business owners know about this.

And I'm already dreading the slew of people berating us not selling to those places!

Just aim to sell in the UK then. 2k is a minimal cost if your business is any good

Awful. Sorry for you.

I think this is a bit harsh, given the way the OP talks about it.

Thanks for the bump @hilariousnamehere . You're right, I feel so frustrated that there isn't more information out in the media. Hardly any one I know in real life knows anything about this.

I used to happily sell to the EU, even happy to jump through all the packaging directives. But GPSR is just such a different beast.

I hadn’t heard of this. Awful:

Tell me you don’t run a small online business without telling me you don’t run a small online business

OP, I’m very sorry for your situation. My friend is facing the same problem as you and is at her wit’s end.

Do you understand that Northern Ireland is part of the UK?

I'm sorry OP, I hadn't heard about this either and I am glad you've highlighted it. Brexit has screwed over so many people and this is another real example. I hope your business is less affected than you fear, and that people read your message and choose to support a small business this weekend.

Not necessarily. People could be crafters, selling what they personally make. Maybe earning £20k a year with low overheads andreduced hours to fit in with having children. That is a good, viable, tax paying business. But takig 2k from it would hit it hard.

@lostmybuttons On Etsy/Ebay can you just add a big sign saying due to new regulations this company is now no longer able to ship to NI or Europe.

Can a few of you band together as a co-operative of sellers and split the check cost between you?

Presumably the cost is tax deductable, so the government is the one really losing out as you'd just pay less tax due to rising overheads.

Why are the people in charge so useless at thinking plans through?

That’s harsh, small businesses often need the income from worldwide sales, not just UK

A friend has made the decision they simply can’t sell to the EU anymore after tomorrow, that’s a big loss for her, as well as those abroad who want to purchase. £2000 a year will eat massively into profit margins for small businesses

its a real pity you don’t understand that with your glib comment

Absolutely. I run a small business and about 50%-60% of my clients are overseas. It wouldn't be viable if I relied on UK sales. Mine is service-based not product-based, so it doesn't get hit by this shift but I have a lot of sympathy for those who are affected.

The regulations, which I heard about right at the beginning of the month, say each individual type of good has to have someone to be the safety address. So being a co-operative won't work.

The aim is to stop the poor behaviour of some Chinese suppliers who send dangerous goods into the EU. (England's Companies House doesn't help here.)

You are a charmer

Thanks for the mostly positive support.

@Mum2jenny It's not as easy as that. Etsy won't let me turn off sales to Northern Ireland. So the very fact my shop is open means I'm in breach of the rules. £2,000 is a minium, there is basically a cost per product. I have a very good business model but to lose such a large percentage on each product seems maddening.

@SereneCapybara has hit the nail on the head. That is exactly my situation.

So yes, we can put notices on our shop but 9 times out of 10 people don't read them.

I dont think we could club together as the authorised representative has to work on a product by product basis and we all source our supplies from different places. I like your thinking though!

@Reugny You are completely right. I love the idea behind it, to keep people safe from the dodgy products from the likes of Temu and Shein. However, for the products I sell, this is such overkill. I'd be happy to work with someone to prove my products are safe but I wish someone had considered the thousands of people like me.

Same, although we stopped selling to EU after Brexit because customs and postage costs meant most of our customers unsubscribed from their boxes anyway. We've now ceased subscriptions entirely but I think this will impact parts of my other businesses.

On the plus side, I was part of the campaign team for the VATMOSS debacle ten years ago and we did eventually get a de minimis limit put in place - Brexit has probably killed that too, but we got somewhere so hopefully at some stage something will shift for the smallest businesses with this too.

I can see from comments already that some people have absolutely no clue how small businesses run and how small some of us are 😭

Thank you for highlighting this.

I'm sorry how you and other small businesses are going to lose out.

It's so tricky isn't it? It feels like we're flooded with unfit unsafe tat and that is something that needs to be dealt with - lucky EU - but it's a shame this is prohibitively expensive. I

I wish someone in Government would put a stop to all the Temu and Shein shite coming in.
I'm sorry OP I heard it on the radio the other morning radio 5.
Nobody gives a shit about business do they apart from the large ones who get away with paying nothing, next to nothing very little.

It's truly awful and so many small businesses will just give up.

It is likely to have a impact on UK customers as well as those willing to jump through all the hoops will inevitably have to put all their prices up to recoup the outlay.

At least Brexit did wonders for the NHS, so the Boris bus told us, and stopped those pesky economic migrants coming here and taking our jobs (sarcasm, lots of seething sarcasm).

Doesn't all this just mean that UK companies will sell in the UK- keeping all our businesses, employees and taxes here? That has to beneficial, surely?

It’s also pretty shit for people in NI. It’s already pathetically difficult to order online sometimes before this, the number of items on Amazon for example that won’t deliver here, companies absolutely ripping the arse out of postage charges even with Royal Mail (Royal Mail charges the same for NI delivery as the rest of the UK). I fear it’s going to be a nightmare trying to shop online now.

So as part of this directive, the appointed representative has to know the source of all my products. They have to write up technical documentation in case products need to be recalled. Which is fine but so unlikely for greetings cards!

I need to include all of this safety information on my packaging as well. As a small eco friendly business, my packaging is minimal. I don't send cards in cello bags, so I'd have to include all of this information on the back of each greeting card. How silly is that going to look. Aargh, this is so frustrating.

Every one thinks all businesses can just swallow all of these additional costs. It's bad enough at this time of year having to deal with couriers and Royal Mail not delivering as promised, without all of this extra admin on top.

Selling in NI is selling in the UK.