Listing submitted by API for items selling to EU - now requires contact info of the manufacturer

[itolduandso]

Wondering if people are aware of this, I guess it is EU requirement. Seller selling to EU customers must provide contact information of the manufacturer of the product.

Right now this is only API requirement, but I am wondering if they flip this over also for the regular selling form. Yet another headache. I think they should have limited it by specifying the volume of sales in dollars and number of sales before this is required. This adds quite more work. Already struggling to ship items if I get an occasional sale to EU, gone are the times.  

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Here is the notice:

Product Manufacturers and Responsible Persons

By December 13, 2024, sellers operating in, or shipping to, EU-based countries, or Northern Ireland, will be required to provide contact details for the product manufacturer. The seller will be expected to provide the mailing address and email address of the manufacturer. A Manufacturer container will be added to the AddItem family of calls in the Trading API and to the Offer-related methods of the Inventory API to support providing this information.

If the product manufacturer is not based in an EU country, the seller must also provide the mailing address and email address of at least one Responsible Person who is based in the EU or Northern Ireland. A Responsible Persons array will be added to the AddItem family of calls in the Trading API and to the Offer-related methods of the Inventory API to support providing this information.

A new getRegulatoryPolicies method will be added to the Metadata API that will indicate whether Manufacturer and/or Responsible Persons are recommended or required for listing categories on a specific marketplace. The new getRegulatoryPolicies method will also indicate whether hazardous material labels, energy efficiency labels, and product safety labels will be recommended or required for listing categories on a specific marketplace.

[kensgiftshop]

Heard about it a few weeks ago.

Don't think there will be much shipped to those two countries when it starts.

[ittybitnot]

@itolduandso 

It is my understanding it will be for everyone/anyone who sells to the EU or Northern Ireland.  

You can read about it here: 

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/general-product-safety-regulation

and 

the Q & A  (not much in the "A" department from the seller update.  More info supposedly coming in July which is more than half over: 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/2024-Summer-Seller-Update/Get-ready-for-the-EU-General-Product-Safety-...

[ittybitnot]

Don't think there will be much shipped to those two countries when it starts.

@kensgiftshop 

Countries in the EU:  

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden

Looks like Norway and Switzerland might be ok though. 

[orangehound]

Yeah, we were discussing this several weeks ago.  This seems like an existential threat to eBay in the EU ... I don't see how eBay survives in the EU unless they can somehow get a waiver on this.

[itolduandso]

The product manufacturer is identified in the UPC or EAN code. At least pre-filling that information based on the UPC/EAN code would be helpful. Let the seller decide to accept it or override it.

[ittybitnot]

The product manufacturer is identified in the UPC or EAN code.

@itolduandso 

Not all products that will be under the upcoming mandates even have those. I know a sterling silver necklace made in the 1950s by a designer in the US or Spain that is now deceased will be a "no go".  eBay EIS won't allow it, and I don't care to ship on my own only to have it confiscated in customs for non-compliance in Denmark.