Hey everyone. It’s with a heavy heart that I need to, as of today, announce that until further notice I won’t be selling to EU residents anymore.
The EU has enacted the General Product Safety Regulation which is coming into force as of the 13th of December 2024, and requires extra steps to be taken when selling items from non-EU countries to EU countries. As the UK is no longer part of the EU, I fall under this.
If I wanted to continue selling to the EU, I would have to appoint a ‘responsible person’ – basically, a compliance agent – that is responsible for my props within the EU. Current estimates for this sort of service are looking at about £4k per year, which is something I cannot afford.
Additionally, I would be required to include a safety document with every item – printed in multiple languages – which is added work and cost.
Europe makes up a rather large amount of my customer base; there are hundreds of wonderful cosplayers based there, and due to this regulation I am now no longer able to work with them. Or, as matter of fact, eSports orgs based there. Even Ubisoft France, Barcelona and other EU offices with which I’ve worked before.
I’m going to look into what options are available to me as a one-man business, and hopefully this isn’t a permanent change. I can still sell to the US and non-EU countries.