GPSR for Etsy sellers: what you must do to keep selling to the EU
Since 13 December 2024, every consumer product sold to buyers in the European Union falls under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 — the GPSR. It does not matter whether you are a one-person handmade shop or where you are based: if an EU customer can buy it, the rules apply. Marketplaces, including Etsy, are now required to make sure listings show the right information, and listings can be hidden when it is missing.
The short version
- Manufacturer details in every listing and on the product or packaging: your name or trade name, postal address, and email or website.
- An EU responsible person if you are based outside the EU (e.g. UK, US, Canada, Turkey). Their name and contact details also go on the listing and the product, packaging or parcel.
- Product identification: a type, batch or serial number on the product (or packaging if the item is too small), plus a picture in the listing.
- Safety warnings and information in the listing and with the product, in a language consumers in each country understand.
- An internal risk analysis and technical documentation — kept on file for 10 years and shown to authorities if asked.
Where it goes on Etsy
Etsy has added product-safety fields to listings and shop settings for manufacturer and EU responsible person details. Paste your safety warnings into the listing's safety information field (or the description, if a field is not available for your category). Keep the text short and specific to the product: generic "use responsibly" text does not satisfy the regulation.
"I just make jewellery / candles / prints — does this really apply?"
Yes. The GPSR is the safety net for all non-food consumer products that are not fully covered by more specific rules. Handmade makers are the manufacturer in the eyes of the law. The amount of work scales with risk: a framed print needs very little, a candle or a child's hair clip needs more. Toys, cosmetics and electrical items have their own additional rules (CE marking, safety assessments) on top.
What the risk analysis looks like
It is a written document listing the hazards your product could realistically present — choking on small parts, nickel in earrings, fire from a candle, strangulation from a long cord — who could be harmed, how serious and how likely it is, and what you have done to reduce the risk (design, materials, tests, warnings). It does not need to be written by a lawyer, but it needs to exist and be specific.
Do it in 3 minutes
GPSR Kit generates the full pack — risk analysis, technical file, multilingual warnings, label sheet and ready-to-paste listing text — from a short description of your product. Generate a free preview.
Get your GPSR pack in 3 minutes
Risk analysis, technical file, multilingual warnings, labels and listing text — specific to your product.
Generate free preview →More guides
- GPSR risk assessment: how to write the internal risk analysis (with example)
- GPSR label requirements: what has to be on your product and packaging
- GPSR on Amazon, eBay and Shopify: listing information checklist
- EU responsible person under GPSR: who needs one and what they do
- GPSR for candle makers: risk assessment, CLP labels and warnings
- GPSR for jewellery sellers: nickel, lead, cadmium and choking hazards
- Crochet, amigurumi and soft toys: GPSR, toy safety and CE marking
- GPSR for ceramics, mugs and tableware: food contact rules explained
- GPSR for children's clothing: cords, drawstrings and small parts
- GPSR for art prints, cards and stationery: the low-risk checklist
- GPSR for UK sellers: selling to EU and Northern Ireland customers after Brexit
- GPSR for US sellers: what American Etsy and Amazon shops need to sell to Europe
- GPSR safety warnings in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Polish