Why this matters
The General Product Safety Regulation has applied since 13 December 2024 and covers many new, used, repaired, and reconditioned consumer products. Small online sellers need to know that product and safety information must already be visible in the offer and that a covered product cannot be placed on the EU market without a responsible economic operator established in the EU.
Turn knowledge into a start plan
This guide explains one topic. Whether it is really a priority for you right now depends on your answers in the start plan.
Create start planWhich products and sales are covered
The GPSR is the EU's general safety net for consumer products. It applies where more specific EU rules do not regulate the same safety aspects exhaustively. Products subject to CE rules can therefore still have complementary GPSR obligations.
New, used, repaired, and reconditioned products can be covered. Purely private sales fall outside the rules, while a person selling regularly as a business acts as an economic operator. Categories such as food and medicines have separate regimes and need their own assessment.
An online offer is treated as targeting the EU market when it is directed at EU consumers. Shipping destinations, language, currency, payment methods, and the domain can all be relevant indicators.
Your role determines your duties
If you have a product made and sell it under your own name or trade mark, you are generally the manufacturer for product-safety purposes—even if a factory physically makes the item. If you source from a non-EU country and first place the goods on the EU market, you may be the importer. When reselling EU goods, you are often a distributor.
These roles are not mere labels. Manufacturers must, among other things, perform an internal risk analysis, draw up technical documentation, provide product identification and contact details, and organise corrective action. Importers and distributors have their own checking, information, and cooperation duties.
Dropshipping and fulfilment change the operational route but do not automatically transfer your responsibility. Record the manufacturer, importer, distributor, responsible person, and actual shipping route for each product.
The responsible person in the EU
A covered product may only be placed on the EU market if there is a responsible economic operator established in the EU. This can be the EU manufacturer, importer, an authorised representative appointed in writing, or in certain cases a fulfilment service provider.
For goods made by a manufacturer outside the EU, the name, postal address, and electronic address of the responsible person must be provided. A warehouse, marketplace address, or invented ‘EU Responsible Person’ is not enough.
Obtain contractual evidence and contact details before buying stock or publishing the listing. Also check whether that person can actually hold the technical documentation, cooperate with authorities, and act when a risk appears.
Information that belongs in the online offer
The offer must clearly and visibly show the manufacturer's name or trade name, postal address, and electronic address. If the manufacturer is outside the EU, add the name, postal address, and electronic address of the responsible person in the EU.
You also need information identifying the product, including an image, product type, and other identifiers, as well as applicable warnings and safety information in a language consumers in the destination country can easily understand.
A product photo that only reveals the information after extreme zoom is not a robust listing strategy. Add the details as genuinely legible offer information and keep them synchronised across your shop, Etsy, eBay, Amazon, and other channels.
Risk assessment, documentation, and traceability
If you are the manufacturer, product safety begins before the sale. Assess foreseeable risks during normal and reasonably foreseeable use, consider the users and product interactions involved, and document the findings in technical documentation.
The product, batch, or serial number must support traceability. Keep supplier and recipient information organised and retain the required documentation for the statutory periods. Distributors should not leave sample checks, complaints, and safety reports scattered across email inboxes.
For own brands, imports, electrical goods, toys, cosmetics, and other regulated categories, GPSR documentation may not be enough. Check additional product rules, labels, testing, and registrations before purchasing.
When a product may be unsafe
Safety complaints need a clear escalation route. When serious information appears, you may need to pause the offer, secure the affected batch and supply chain, inform the relevant economic operators, and assess corrective action immediately.
Economic operators report dangerous products and accidents through the Safety Business Gateway where the legal conditions are met. Measures can include warnings, withdrawal, or recall; a recall notice must be understandable and must not downplay the risk.
Record the decision, timing, affected units, communications, and outcome. Removing a marketplace listing alone neither resolves the safety risk nor informs customers who already received the product.
Das deutsche Produktsicherheitsgesetz kommt obendrauf
Die GPSR gilt unmittelbar in der ganzen EU, sie ist aber nicht alles. Ergänzend gilt in Deutschland das überarbeitete Produktsicherheitsgesetz, das am 19. Februar 2026 in Kraft getreten ist. Es stellt klar, dass GPSR-Produkte ausdrücklich unter das ProdSG fallen, und verschärft an mehreren Stellen.
Für kleine Händler ist eine Vorgabe besonders praxisrelevant: Nach § 6 ProdSG müssen sicherheitsrelevante Informationen, Anweisungen und Warnhinweise bei GPSR-Produkten in deutscher Sprache vorliegen. Wer importiert oder über Dropshipping verkauft, bekommt Anleitungen häufig nur auf Englisch oder Chinesisch geliefert. Das reicht dann nicht.
Die Pflichten sind bußgeldbewehrt: § 28 ProdSG stellt Verstöße als Ordnungswidrigkeit unter Geldbußen von bis zu 100.000 Euro in den schwereren Fällen und bis zu 10.000 Euro in den übrigen. Zusätzlich hat die Marktüberwachung erweiterte Befugnisse und kann bei gefährlichen Produkten anordnen, dass Inhalte entfernt oder gesperrt werden, auch gegenüber Online-Marktplätzen.
Quick checklist
- Check the general and sector-specific safety rules for every product.
- Determine whether you are the manufacturer, importer, distributor, or fulfilment provider.
- Verify a responsible EU economic operator with reliable contact details.
- Clarify the risk assessment and technical documentation before selling.
- Set up product, batch, or serial identification.
- Display manufacturer and, where required, EU responsible-person details in the offer.
- Add the product image, type, identifiers, warnings, and safety information.
- Check language requirements for every country you supply.
- Record complaints, accidents, and safety reports centrally.
- Define the process for listing suspension, authority reports, withdrawal, and recall.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the GPSR only applies to large manufacturers or CE-marked products.
- Treating an own-brand product as a simple distributor case.
- Failing to verify a genuine responsible person in the EU for non-EU goods.
- Showing mandatory details only on the packaging, not in the online offer.
- Using English-only warnings for every EU destination country.
- Confusing dropshipping or marketplace selling with a transfer of responsibility.
- Deleting the listing while ignoring products already sold.
Frequently asked questions
Does the GPSR apply to handmade one-off products?
There is no blanket handmade exemption. A business making and selling a consumer product can have manufacturer duties. The safety and sector rules depend on the specific product, materials, users, and risks.
Are second-hand products exempt?
No. Used, repaired, and reconditioned products can be covered. Transitional questions apply to individual units first lawfully placed on the EU market before 13 December 2024, so origin and timing should be documented.
Do Etsy, eBay, or Amazon take over my GPSR duties?
Marketplaces have their own GPSR duties and may provide dedicated data fields. This does not generally replace your duties as the manufacturer, importer, or distributor of the specific product.
What this guide can and cannot do
This guide helps with
- break your supply chain into possible GPSR roles
- prepare a product-data and listing checklist
- flag common risk points for own-brand, imported, handmade, or second-hand products
This guide does not replace
- certify the safety or conformity of your product
- replace a technical risk assessment, laboratory test, or legal review
- make a binding decision on which additional sector rules apply