GPSR for Small Businesses: Affordable Compliance That Actually Works

If you run a small shop and you've been hoping GPSR has a carve-out for businesses your size, here's the bad news up front: it doesn't. The European Parliament put it plainly. The General Product Safety Regulation "does not make any exemptions for small and medium enterprises and very small enterprises." Big Cartel's help center says the same thing in plainer English: "In short... there is no small business exemption."

So that's settled. The good news is the part nobody tells you because it doesn't sell consulting packages: compliance for a low-risk small business is genuinely cheap. The realistic floor is around €220 a year. This guide breaks down where that number comes from, what you can skip, and how to avoid overpaying for things the regulation never asked for. For the wider picture of what the law is, start with what is GPSR.

Why there's no exemption (and why that's almost fine)

GPSR is built around product risk, not company size. A children's toy is just as dangerous whether it ships from a 500-person factory or a kitchen table, so the law treats the obligation the same. Trade groups have pushed back. Heritage Crafts UK argued that "simplified compliance pathways, such as self-certification for certain product categories, would help small craftspeople remain competitive." That's a fair ask, but it isn't the law yet.

The thing to understand is that the obligations already scale with risk, even if they don't scale with size. A cotton t-shirt and a battery-powered gadget face very different requirements. So while you can't dodge GPSR by being small, you can keep costs low by being low-risk, and most small sellers are.

The realistic minimum cost, line by line

Here's the actual budget for a small seller of low-risk goods. Round numbers, real prices.

• EU Responsible Person: €150–500/year. This is your one unavoidable recurring cost if you sell from outside the EU. Entry plans are cheaper than the scare quotes suggest. EAS advertises GPSR compliance "starting at just 199€ a year," and one seller on Amazon's UK forum reported finding a provider "at around $200 per year." More on this below.
• Technical documentation: €0–50. For low-risk products you write this yourself. A risk assessment template is free, your product photos cost nothing, and material safety data sheets usually come from your supplier. Most simple goods only need your own self-assessment, no formal testing.
• Product labeling: €20–50, one time. You print stickers or small labels with your manufacturer and Responsible Person details. Handmade sellers print these at home.

Add it up and you're at roughly €220–300 for year one, then about €200 a year after that once the labeling is done. That's the honest minimum. See GPSR compliance cost for the full breakdown across product types.

When does it get more expensive? When your product needs third-party lab testing. Electronics, toys, and anything with a chemical component can trigger required testing that runs €300–2,000 depending on the product. If you sell a cotton t-shirt or a ceramic mug, none of that applies to you.

The Responsible Person is the real cost. Shop around.

If you manufacture inside the EU, you may already be the Responsible Person yourself. If you sell from outside the EU, you need an EU-based person or company on file who accepts the legal role. EUProof does not provide this service, so treat the following as a buyer's guide, not a pitch.

Prices for the identical service vary wildly, and the high end is often quoted to scare you. One UK Amazon seller summed it up: "The service providers on Amazon came back very expensive (650 - 2000 EUR per year). I did find 1 company that might work at around $200 per year that I'm happy to share." That's a 10x spread for the same legal function.

The pricing models differ too. Some charge per product type. EAS frames its entry tier as covering "1 product type" from €199/year, which suits a one-SKU seller. Others charge a flat company fee. EU Compliance Partner lists an "Entry Rate – All products – company flat fee" starting around $500/year, which gets cheaper per item the more you sell. Pick based on how many distinct product types you have, not your order count. To understand the role itself before you buy, read the Responsible Person guide.

Could you use a friend in the EU instead? Technically yes, but they have to formally accept liability and hold your full technical file. That's a heavy thing to hand a friend, which is why most small sellers pay a service that signed up for the job on purpose.

What you can write yourself for free

The documentation is where small sellers waste money. You do not need a consultant to produce a risk assessment for a low-risk product. You need to think clearly about your own product and write it down.

A self-assessment covers the materials, how the item is made, who's meant to use it, and what could go wrong if someone misuses it. For a ceramic mug that's a short document. For a cotton t-shirt it's shorter. No lab visit, no fee. Our risk assessment guide walks through exactly what to include, and you can pull the structure from a technical documentation template so you're not staring at a blank page.

The trap to avoid: agencies selling a "GPSR certificate." There is no such certificate and no EU database that issues one. What they're really selling is consulting time to draft the file you can write yourself plus their Responsible Person service. Pay for the RP if you need it. Don't pay a premium for paperwork you can do in an afternoon.

A note on Etsy's grandfathering

One quirk worth knowing if you sell on Etsy. Etsy currently treats listings created before 13 December 2024 as exempt, even when those listings are renewed. That's a seller-friendly reading of the rules, and it may not hold if it's ever tested in court, but Etsy is following it for now. If you rely on it, understand it's Etsy's interpretation and not a guarantee from the regulation. See the Etsy-specific guide for how the listing fields work.

The cheapest path that still holds up

Put it together and the budget route for a low-risk small business looks like this. Appoint a budget Responsible Person for €150–200 a year. Write your own risk assessment from a free template. Print labels at home with your name and your RP's EU address for €20–50. Enter those same details into your marketplace listing fields. Keep the file so you can produce it if a regulator or platform asks. That's compliance, for around €220 the first year.

If you ignore all of it, the consequences hit your sales before they hit your bank account. Amazon deactivates your EU listings, Etsy hides your products from EU buyers, and customs can hold your shipments. Member State fines are possible too, but the platform enforcement is the part that stops your revenue overnight.

One UK seller, working through this on a forum thread with others in the same position, put the right attitude on it: "I'm certain there's a lot of us in this same boat, let's all work together on this!" You're not the only small shop figuring this out, and the path is more affordable than the loudest quotes make it sound.

Where EUProof fits

EUProof generates the GPSR compliance documents a small seller needs, the risk assessment, the technical file structure, and, where a product or marketplace requires it, a declaration of conformity, from answers about your product. For GPSR-only goods that declaration is a self-declaration marketplaces sometimes ask for, not a statutory requirement; a formal Declaration of Conformity is only mandatory for products covered by specific EU harmonisation legislation, such as CE-marked toys or electronics. It's built for exactly the cost-conscious case this article describes, which is why the Starter plan exists at the low end. EUProof does not act as your EU Responsible Person, so you'll still appoint one of the budget services above. What we remove is the consultant fee for paperwork you can produce in minutes. You can check whether you're affected first, then generate your documents when you're ready.

This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with a qualified advisor or your Responsible Person.