EU Packaging Laws: is there a definitive answer?

Shop Talk
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I’m seeing lots of sellers giving conflicting advice to each other about the packaging/recycling laws that have been introduced by some countries in the EU. Some are saying you don’t need to worry about it (eg, because you’re not a big importer sending items on pallets, etc), others are saying they’ve purchased permits to allow them to continue posting (although that looks complicated as there’s more than one country requiring this it would seem, and the cost for some countries is high), and many are saying they simply won’t send to anywhere in the EU now.

I’ve scrolled through the Folksy Clubhouse page on FB too, and there doesn’t seem to be anything definitive there either - especially from Folksy themselves. Whilst I don’t send much to the EU, I do want to be able to continue offering that option (both on here and on my own website) - but I don’t want to get caught out should I try and send an item to, say, Germany or France and then come unstuck!

Can I please ask in particular @folksycontent @Folksyadmin (sorry, not sure which one to tag!) to tell us what they officially know, and what they can advise? Thank you :slight_smile:

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I agree. I’ve just taken all European countries off my posting for now. It seems a minefield with different rules for different countries. I have read that it’s no use waiting till you get a sale to one of those countries to register, if you offer to sell to those countries then you must register and pay (where needed) up front whether you get a sale or not. From what I’ve seen, if I have to pay, it’s just not viable for me and I’d rather not get caught out but obviously by removing Europe I’ve narrowed my audience.

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I know, that seems to be what lots of sellers have done - but I’d like to know for sure if that’s the only option (other than us all individually paying for permits). There seems to be so much conflicting advice, even between sellers, that I feel we really need Folksy to give us some proper advice. The last bit of advice I could find from them was from about 2-3 years ago, and that was basically saying “we’re not sure, we’ll check” - and there’s nothing I can find on the blog or help/faq pages for sellers, so I think it really needs an answer. If we’re all taking off overseas/EU options then that narrows not only the audience for the individual seller, but that of Folksy as a whole.

Hope they can help! :crossed_fingers:

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I would really welcome advice as well - a the moment I’ve got this on my shop announcement

Sadly because of packaging regulations WE CAN NO LONGER DELIVER TO SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES including Germany, Austria, France, Luxemburg and Lithuania.

I also have this on each listing description

SADLY WE CURRENTLY CANNOT DELIVER TO ONE OR TWO EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS - IF THIS AFFECTS YOU, YOUR ORDER WILL BE CANCELLED AND REFUNDED.

Not a satisfactory solution or very professional one but other than not offering goods to any European country I can’t think of a better one.

I do hope we can get some advice and clarity on the matter.

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Yes, especially as excluding Europe as a whole also means excluding Ireland (where personally most of my European orders come from) :confused:

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From July the onus will fall on market places to check that their sellers who offer to ship to Germany (and this is specific to Germany) have a license or they will be liable for a fine if those sellers are caught shipping to Germany. (Etsy are badgering sellers for registration numbers if they have shipping to germany active) So for Germany at least you must have a license if you offer to ship there. (I’ve heard rumours that France are also going to start requiring market places to check that sellers have registered/ bought a license from january)
This spreadsheet outlines some of the other restrictions countries have in place EU Packaging Act - Licensing Overview - Google Sheets
Given that RM have split europe into 3 pricing zones I’m hoping that Folksy might update the shipping section (which still only has 1 europe zones) so that we can enter which countries we will ship to.

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Thanks so much for the overview @SashaGarrett!

I have found this relating specifically to Germany: https://www.lizenzero.de/en/who-is-affected-by-the-german-packaging-act/marketplace-retailer/

This info sets out the licensing requirements for Germany:

  • when selling through a marketplace, such as Folksy
  • when selling through a fulfilment service provider (no licensing requirement)
  • if you use dropshipping (no licensing requirement)
  • if you sell directly to customers from your own website
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Thanks very much Sasha!

So it seems as if Folksy are going to HAVE to do something and contact us about this - and also quickly review their shipping regions (because just barring all of Europe is really not a solution for any of us). I’m amazed that we’ve not heard anything yet to be honest. The RM shipping zones have Ireland, France, Germany, Corsica, Denmark and Monaco listed as ‘Zone 1’ - so if they split the Europe zones into 3 to match RM then that would still knock out Ireland as it comes under the same zone as Germany, which would be really lousy.

I’ve had a quick look at that spreadsheet and not sure I’m quite getting my head round it! So if, for example, you were sending to France you would need a license that costs at least 80 euros (if you’re sending under 10,000 items a year). If you were to be sending to Ireland for example, as long as you’re sending under 10,000kg of packaging and your turnover is under 1 million euros a year, you won’t need a license. Am I understanding the chart right?!

So basically, everywhere on that chart that shows it needs a licence (Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain) would have to be either excluded as an option for sending to, or the seller would have to have a permit? And those with questions marks against them (eg, Poland), we don’t know yet I’m guessing. Lithuania I’m confused by (looks like you need to register for a license, but there’s no cost), and Greece I’m also confused with (‘has to be licensed by a Greek business…’)

It looks to me as if Folksy are going to have to put in place a system where we can choose/exclude countries manually, or they’ll have to create another shipping region just for those that require permits (which seems really difficult to organise). I’m hoping they’ve got some kind of plan, would be good to hear from them especially as this is all very time critical!

Speaking personally, just as when the new VAT rules came into being, it would be extremely convenient to have a marketplace that is set up and capable of dealing with this at source: so overseas customers know what the charges will be, and can see easily if that seller will send to their country (it looks like Etsy has this option in place). I have my own website, but it wouldn’t be capable of this kind of system in the way a larger marketplace can. If it means sending all my overseas customers to my marketplace shop rather than my website, then I’d much rather do that.

And I’d much rather that be Folksy than have to move to Etsy, so hope they can sort this out asap!

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There is a big difference between the countries as to at what point they require you to have a license so yes for some of them you can send masses of stuff and not need a license but for others you need a license regardless. Given the size of the fines Folksy do need to do something ASAP.
For me because of Brexit related issues with Hallmarking it was easier to just switch off all european shipping rather than figure out which I need a packaging license for/ which I need to do something different hallmarking wise/ which I just don’t want to send to as they still can’t handle IOSS.

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It feels just awful and unfair to shut down selling to countries like this - both for the humble seller trying to make a living, but also for buyers! :frowning:

I’ve never sold on Etsy, but currently on their forum and it looks as though sellers there have the option to select the countries they want to ship to manually - with a bit of luck, that’s what Folksy will also be able to offer because otherwise this is going to quickly become a very British-centric website for shoppers, and will have a very big impact on the site’s reach/interest!

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Yeah you can on etsy but I tried it and it’s such a long winded process that I decided not to bother. You have to add each counrty you ship to manually and add the price for each country!
It needs tick boxes so you can put in a price for Europe but either tick the countries you don’t ship to or tick the countries you do ship to.

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That feels like it should be a relatively straightforward fix for Folksy - let’s hope! :pray:

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I wonder if Folksy could have the packaging licences and we all use it under their umbrella.

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That would make life easy, even if we have to pay something towards it like if we have a sale to say France, there’s a bit of extra commission to pay.

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That’s a very interesting thought @DeborahJonesJewellery and one I hope Folksy are looking into.
The last thing I want is to limit my potential market - sales are hard enough to come by as it is!

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Yes I do hope @Folksyadmin can organise something about this! Usually I hardly post to Europe, but in the last month I’ve posted to France twice - repeat customer! I certainly wouldn’t want to exclude her from purchasing from me, but if the licensee is cost prohibitive - which sounds like it is - will have to soon not accept sales from those particular countries! Ridiculous really as all my packaging is paper and easily recycled anyway!:roll_eyes: which I think most small businesses think of and do well - it’s big businesses that they need to focus on!:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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I’m not entirely certain, but I don’t think it would be possible for Folksy to have a way of having licenses that we could all use… I may be wrong, but I’m sure I’ve read this somewhere.

@folksycontent @Folksyadmin - have you got any news or information for us please, please, please?! :pray:

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Etsy are asking for LUCID ID numbers if you ship to Germany. We seem to be hearing nothing on folksy though.

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I can’t be bothered without the hassle I am going to remove europe from my shipping profile. Is there an easy way of doing this?

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The bulk edit tool - you will have to overwrite the existing data so select a few items which have the same postage level (you need to click the tick boxes and then on ‘set postage costs’ button) which brings up a new box to fill in, fill in the cost for UK shipping/ additional item shipping but leave the europe boxes empty. Click on save and it will update the postage.
Don’t try and do too many in one go as the system can fall over.

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