GPSR. All you need to know to sell Knitting and Crochet Patterns

If you’re a knitting or crochet pattern designer and sell digital downloads to customers in the EU, you may be worried about the introduction of GPSR, and what you can do to protect your business. In this blog post, we’ll explore what GPSR is, how it affects you, and what you can do about it. You can also sign up here, to hear more about the GPSR representation I am offering.

What is GPSR?

GPSR stands for the General Product Safety Regulation. It is an EU law designed to ensure that all consumer products sold within the EU meet high safety standards. The regulation applies to both physical and digital products. It requires sellers to assess and address potential safety risks before making products available to consumers. It also requires that you have a point of contact inside the EU who can pass messages and answer questions about the safety of your product.

Does GPSR Apply to Knitting and Crochet Patterns?

The short answer is: yes, it applies to knitting and crochet patterns. GPSR applies to all products that are “placed on the market” in the EU, which includes digital pattern downloads sold to EU consumers. It also includes free downloads. Therefore an offer of a free pdf pattern to join a mailing list is covered (even though you are giving it away for free).  Knitting and crochet courses may also be covered, if they are based on any downloadable content. It doesn’t include courses that are based on information based support – coaching, mentoring or memberships. But any parts of the course which may be downloaded or saved electronically are included. 

Why was GPSR introduced?

A whole lot of stuff is sold into the EU through online market places such as Amazon, Ebay, Shein, Temu and Etsy. Not all these cheap imports are up to standard. In fact, very many of them aren’t. I bought a clothes airer recently. You know that feeling when you buy something on line, and it turns out to be flimsy rubbish? No doubt you have also been caught. But who was responsible? The big online retailer (rhymes with ‘blamazon’)? Or the little seller with an account on the big market place? Or the manufacturer? 
The General Product Safety Regulations are a way to protect EU consumers In circumstances like this, by making sure anything sold in the EU is fit for purpose, safe to use, and traceable.

It wasn’t introduced to make life harder for the individual designer. (Even if it feels like that, right now). It was introduced to protect everyone against unsafe goods sold by unscrupulous big marketplaces. Short answer – it’s not you that they are targeting. It’s Etsy, for allowing so much drop-shipped rubbish to filter through. But now Etsy need to be more careful, so they will need to make more demands on you. 

I write patterns. What can I do now?

Some designers will try ignoring it. They may hope that tiny businesses will fly below the radar. This is, however, a risky strategy. In particular, it will make it difficult to sell on Etsy and other sales platforms, which will require your GPSR representatives details.

Some designers will try to cease selling to EU customers. Depending on the sales platforms they use, this may not be possible. Ravelry, for example, don’t currently have a way to block sales to a specific region.

Alternatively, you can become GPSR compliant. To do this, you need to appoint a rep (such as myself) inside the EU.
You need to carry out a risk assessment on your patterns. This shouldn’t be a long or complicated process. There are not a lot of risks that a PDF pattern can pose, after all. But its always good to have a quick think about such issues.  I provide a quick and simple form to help you reflect on the quality and safety of your pattern. 
You need to add relevant safety information to your pattern. If you sign up for my service, I will provide instructions on how to do with inside all the main pattern selling platforms such as Etsy, Ravelry and Shopify. 

You can sign up here to find out more about using my representation services. I offer low cost representation specifically for knitting and crochet designers. Just click the image below, and sign up to hear more.