My online store is moving!
Summary: I’ve shut my Etsy store and am limiting sales to Great Britain for the foreseeable future. Sorry. This makes me super sad too. But my online store will be back soon, bang up to date and hopefully much improved!
This post is a bit of a downer - but I feel like I owe you guys an explanation of why I’ve stopped selling to Europe and Northern Ireland and why my website has been a big old mess for a bit. But there is some good news too.
Did you know that when I was starting out, I originally was interested in making kick ass dolls clothes? Well I was, in fact I learned how to use a laser cutter as a way of speeding up the production of tiny ninja outfits! Why didn’t I pursue that immensely cool idea? Product safety, that’s why. Making toys that are safe and that can be proved to be safe is complex and a legal minefield that was too complex and costly to navigate. So, when I started making badges, I checked what safety regulations applied. I even contacted our local trading standards to check. There were none, however I do have a choke test tool and my smallest badges are not suitable for under 3 year olds. Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t want you to think I don’t care about product safety. I really do. And if you want to see me riled up, ask me what I think of people who don’t bother with safety. So, in principle I’m in favour of product safety regulations which is why I find it deeply ironic that because of safety regs I’ve stepped away from Etsy and am currently only able to sell within Great Britain. It’s a case, I believe of unintended consequences.
The General Product Safety Regulations are EU regulations which came into action in December. They seem to be intended to prevent dangerous products swamping the European market. Under the regulations sellers need to have an agent (which can be the seller themselves if they live within the EU or Northern Ireland) who will take responsibility for confirming that the goods on sale adhere to all relevant EU product safety rules. If you sell to the EU you need to declare that you have met these regulations. Because of Brexit, Northern Ireland is deemed to be part of the EU market and so anyone selling to Northern Ireland also needs to make the same declaration. What’s the problem? If you live outside the EU/NI you cannot make the declaration yourself, you need to appoint an agent who is based in the EU market area - and that is really expensive! More expensive than I can currently justify. I’m in good company, people in EU/NI will have found that a lot of artist/makers/small indie businesses outside their area have suddenly stopped selling to them. It’s not because they are breaching safety regulations per se, it’s because they can’t afford to pay someone to declare that they aren’t breaching those regulations.
How does this affect my Etsy store? Well there doesn’t appear to be a way of distinguishing between NI and GB on the platform. When I asked an Etsy representative how to handle the new rules, I was unhelpfully told that I could suspend sales to the whole of the UK to make sure I complied. That’s when I put my Etsy store on holiday indefinitely. Unfortunately it was all very short notice as there was practically no advance warning from either the UK government or the online sales platforms that the GPSR was on the way. It all came in the middle of the big pre-Christmas busy period and I had no time to tidy up. So for a wee while, I’ve had effectively no online shop.
So that’s the big cloud, but there is a silver lining! I’ve been considering selling most of my goods on my own site for a while and this whole GPSR thing has been one heck of a rocket up the proverbial. So the good news is that you’ll be seeing some changes on my website happening. Do bear with me while this is happening - the website is still up, but will continue to look a bit confused until I’ve finished tidying up.
What say we have a bit of a party when it’s done? Let’s celebrate with a bit of a relaunch - how about I try and work out a special deal or two and let you know about it when it’s up and running? If you fancy that, join the mailing list (I promise I don’t email often I hate spam too much to do that to you - and am too busy to write a lot of newsletters!) and I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, dear reader, thank you for your patience.
Sad badger waves the white flag