Digital Services Act trader checks: what marketplaces ask you for

A marketplace that lets consumers buy from traders must collect your identity, contact, payment and compliance details before you can offer products to consumers in the EU, and it must check them. That is Article 30Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of the Digital Services Act, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.. The duty is the marketplace’s, but you meet it: with the details missing or wrong, the marketplace may not let you sell, and it must suspend you if you do not correct them. Article 31Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. adds that its listing form must let you show the product safety information, and Article 32Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 32Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. that buyers of an illegal product are told who the trader is. The test is where the consumer is located, not where you are (Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation leaves Union consumer protection and product safety law untouched (Art. 2(4)(f)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 2, paragraph 4, point (f)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so it works beside EU consumer law.

What you do:

1. Have the five items ready before you list in the EU: name, address, telephone number and email address; a copy of your identification document; your payment account details; your trade register and registration number, if you are registered in one; and your self-certification (Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
2. Give details that match your documents. The marketplace must make best efforts to check them, and you are liable for their accuracy (Art. 30(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
3. Correct an item when the marketplace asks. If you do not, it must swiftly suspend its service to you for offers to EU consumers until you do (Art. 30(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
4. Self-certify only what is true: that you offer only products that comply with the applicable rules of Union law (Art. 30(1)(e)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1, point (e)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What those rules are for your product is in the GPSR guide.
5. Fill every product safety field the listing form gives you: the manufacturer, the EU responsible person where the manufacturer is outside the EU, the product identification with a picture, and the warnings (Art. 31(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 31(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 22(9)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22, paragraph 9Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What goes in each field is GPSR marketplace requirements.
6. If the marketplace refuses or suspends you, complain in its own complaint system, then to a certified out-of-court body (Art. 30(4)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 20Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 21Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 21Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The route is in what keeps a listing blocked.
7. Expect buyers to see part of what you gave: your name, address, telephone number and email address, your trade register details and your self-certification (Art. 30(7)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The marketplace collects each item “where applicable to the trader” (Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The details go to the marketplace. The marketplace may pass them to a third party only where the applicable law requires it, including orders of the authorities (Art. 30(6)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A trader is anyone acting for the purposes of a trade, business, craft or profession

The Regulation defines a trader as “any natural person, or any legal person irrespective of whether it is privately or publicly owned, who is acting, including through any person acting in his or her name or on his or her behalf, for purposes relating to his or her trade, business, craft or profession” (Art. 3(f)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 3, point (f)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A consumer is a natural person acting outside those purposes (Art. 3(c)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 3, point (c)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The test is the purpose of your selling. The definition names no sales figure, turnover or number of items, so a sole trader and a company are both inside it.

Recital 72 says the requirement also applies to traders that promote messages on products or services on behalf of brands, based on underlying agreements, and that any trader identified under the information rules of Directive 2011/83/EUDirective 2011/83/EU, Consumer Rights Directive (consolidated text of 27 September 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. and Directive 2005/29/ECDirective 2005/29/EC, Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (consolidated text of 27 September 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. should be traceable when it offers a product through an online platform.

Marketplaces decide for themselves how to record whether you are a trader. Etsy says the Digital Services Act “applies to you if you sell to buyers in the EU/EEA and are considered a professional seller because you enrolled as a ‘business’ seller on Etsy, you’re an incorporated business, or you set your seller status to ‘trader’ in your shop’s About info” (Etsy Help). That is Etsy’s own sorting. The Regulation’s test is the one above.

The rule covers marketplaces that let consumers conclude distance contracts with traders

The duties in this page sit in one section of the Regulation: the one for “providers of online platforms allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders”. An online platform is a hosting service that, at the request of a user, stores and disseminates information to the public, with an exception for a minor and purely ancillary feature of another service (Art. 3(i)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 3, point (i)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation reaches services offered to people in the Union wherever the provider is established (Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). GPSR has its own name for the same kind of service when it sells products: a “provider of an online marketplace” is a provider of an intermediary service using an online interface which allows consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders for the sale of products (Art. 3(14)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 3, point 14Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The section does not apply to a marketplace that is a micro or small enterprise. It keeps that exclusion for 12 months after the marketplace loses the status. A marketplace that the Commission designates as a very large online platform is covered whatever its size (Art. 29(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 29, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 29(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 29, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A very large online platform has an average of at least 45 million monthly active recipients in the Union and is designated by a Commission decision (Art. 33(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 33, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 33(4)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 33, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What this means for you: a marketplace that is not a micro or small enterprise is inside the rule, and a very small one may not be. Which side a given marketplace falls on is a fact about that business. Etsy ties its own requests to the Regulation, as shown below. Amazon’s public pages read for this page do not.

A marketplace must obtain the details before it lets you use its service, and check them

Before you use the marketplace to offer products to EU consumers, it has obtained the five items (Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Once it has them and before it lets you sell, it must, “through the use of any freely accessible official online database or online interface made available by a Member State or the Union or through requests to the trader to provide supporting documents from reliable sources, make best efforts to assess whether the information … is reliable and complete”. The Regulation adds: “traders shall be liable for the accuracy of the information provided” (Art. 30(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The marketplace keeps what it obtained in a secure manner for six months after the end of its contractual relationship with you, and then deletes it (Art. 30(5)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A marketplace must suspend you if you do not correct an item

If the marketplace has “sufficient indications or has reason to believe” that an item is “inaccurate, incomplete or not up-to-date”, it must ask you to put that right “without delay or within the period set by Union and national law”. If you do not correct or complete it, the marketplace “shall swiftly suspend the provision of its service to that trader in relation to the offering of products or services to consumers located in the Union until the request has been fully complied with” (Art. 30(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The suspension is limited to offers to consumers located in the Union.

A trader that was already using a marketplace on 17 February 2024 was covered too. The marketplace had to make best efforts to obtain the details “within 12 months”, and where the trader did not supply them, the marketplace “shall suspend the provision of their services to those traders until they have provided all information” (Art. 30(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That 12 months ran from 17 February 2024 and is over. A trader that was already selling then is now under Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and Art. 30(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. like any other.

If the marketplace refuses you under Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. or suspends you under Art. 30(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., you have the right to lodge a complaint as provided for in Article 20Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and Article 21Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 21Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.: the marketplace’s internal complaint-handling system and out-of-court dispute settlement (Art. 30(4)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What the marketplace owes you in that process is in what keeps a listing blocked.

Buyers see your contact details, trade register details and self-certification

The marketplace must make the contact details, the trade register details and the self-certification available to the people who use the platform “in a clear, easily accessible and comprehensible manner”, at least on its interface where the information on the product is presented (Art. 30(7)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The identification copy and the payment account details are not on that list. How each marketplace shows the items was not read for this page.

The listing form must let you show the product safety information

Article 31Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. is the duty to build the form. The marketplace must design its interface so traders can comply with their obligations on pre-contractual information, compliance and product safety information under Union law. In particular it “shall ensure that its online interface enables traders to provide information on the name, address, telephone number and email address of the economic operator” as defined in Article 3, point 13Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 3, point 13Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. and other Union law (Art. 31(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That is the text behind the “economic operator” box some marketplaces show. The Regulation requires the field. It does not tell you to appoint anyone. The GPSR rule that needs an EU operator for the product is the EU Responsible Person.

The interface must also let you provide at least (Art. 31(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

• the information to identify the product clearly and unambiguously;
• any sign that identifies you, such as a trademark, symbol or logo;
• where applicable, the labelling and marking information required by Union product safety and product compliance law.

A marketplace that learns you offered an illegal product tells the buyers who you are

When a marketplace becomes aware, “irrespective of the means used”, that a trader offered an illegal product to consumers located in the Union through its service, it must inform the consumers who bought it, insofar as it has their contact details, of three things: that the product is illegal, the identity of the trader, and any relevant means of redress. This reaches purchases made within the six months before the marketplace became aware (Art. 32(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 32, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where it does not have the contact details of all buyers, it must publish the same information on its interface, in an easily accessible way (Art. 32(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 32, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

For you the point is the second item: the buyers are told your identity. The Regulation defines “illegal content” to include information in relation to an activity, including the sale of products, that does not comply with Union law or with EU country law that is in line with it (Art. 3(h)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 3, point (h)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Article 32Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 32Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. speaks of an “illegal product” and the text gives no separate definition.

GPSR Article 22 sets the product safety side of the same duties

GPSR does not repeat the Digital Services Act. It points at it. Article 22Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of GPSR applies to the providers of online marketplaces and fills in what the Digital Services Act articles mean for product safety:

GPSR Article 22Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. also gives each marketplace a single point of contact for the market surveillance authorities and one for consumers, makes it register with the Safety Gate Portal, and requires it to act on a removal order within two working days and process a product safety notice within three working days (Art. 22(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 22(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 22(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 22(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 22, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Those duties are the marketplace’s.

What a distance offer must show, in your own name, is GPSR Article 19Regulation (EU) 2023/988, General Product Safety RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.: GPSR marketplace requirements covers it. If the offer shows a product that GPSR does not cover, whether GPSR applies to you settles it.

What Etsy and Amazon ask a seller outside the EU is set by each marketplace

Everything above is law. What follows is marketplace practice: each marketplace’s own pages, read on 5 October 2026, which can change without notice.

Etsy names the Digital Services Act in its own pages. Its “Etsy Asked Me to Confirm My Seller Info” page says the confirmation is “an important part of complying with laws, like the INFORM Consumers Act, the Digital Services Act, and tax regulations such as EU DAC7”. It says what it asks for depends on the laws that apply to the shop: “It might include financial info like your taxpayer ID, government ID, and bank account, or contact information like your business email, phone number, or address.” If asked for an address, “this must be your taxpayer address, and not a PO or Postal Box”. It uses a partner to verify identity: “We partner with Persona to securely verify identity information, including biometric data used only for identity verification and fraud prevention” (Etsy Help).

Etsy’s page on its shop-level box says: “If you are a ‘trader’ that sells into the EU … you may be required to appoint and disclose an economic operator to comply with the Digital Services Act”. The box is under Shop Manager, Settings, Partners you work with, Add economic operator, and takes the name, address and contact information. The examples it names are manufacturers, importers, authorized representatives and fulfillment service providers (Etsy Help). That matches the field Art. 31(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 31, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. requires the interface to offer. Whether filling it meets GPSR is on GPSR on Etsy.

Amazon’s public pages read for this page do not name the Digital Services Act. Its public sign-up page lists what to have ready for a seller account: a business email address or an Amazon customer account, a chargeable credit card, a government ID (“identity verification protects sellers and customers”), tax information, a phone number and a bank account for proceeds (Amazon). Amazon’s own help pages for the EU stores sit behind a seller login and could not be read. For the product safety fields, Amazon’s announcement says “Responsible Person and manufacturer information, along with relevant images and safety documents, will be displayed on product detail pages within 24 hours of confirmation”, through the Add compliance information widget in the Manage your compliance dashboard (Amazon Seller Forums). The field is on GPSR on Amazon.

The last row is not a Digital Services Act item: the Regulation’s list names no tax number. A tax number comes from the tax reporting rules, which DAC7 covers. Etsy puts the laws behind one request, so its pages do not say which item belongs to which law.

What happens if you do nothing

The marketplace may not let you offer products to EU consumers until it holds the details (Art. 30(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). If an item stays wrong or missing after the marketplace asks, it must swiftly suspend its service to you for offers to EU consumers until you comply (Art. 30(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A trader that was already selling on 17 February 2024 and gave no details was to be suspended too (Art. 30(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Etsy’s version, for the laws together: after the deadline you “won’t be able to receive funds from your sales”, Etsy “may need to place your shop on pause via Etsy-initiated vacation mode”, and “your listings can’t be purchased and don’t appear in search”. If the steps are not done within 90 days of the deadline, “your shop will be closed”, and you can reopen it, with vacation mode staying until you verify your information. If the information is still unconfirmed after another 90 days, Etsy says “your shop will be closed again”. Etsy says the deadline “is mandated by law, not decided by Etsy” and that it cannot grant extensions (Etsy Help).

The fines for breaking Article 30Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. fall on the marketplace: Article 52Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 52Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. sets penalties for infringements by providers of intermediary services, up to 6 % of their annual worldwide turnover for failing an obligation (Art. 52(1)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 52, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 52(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 52, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The text of Article 30Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 30Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. sets no fine for a trader. One fine can reach a trader: a trader that gives a Digital Services Coordinator incorrect, incomplete or misleading information when asked for it can be fined up to 1 % of its annual income or worldwide turnover (Art. 51(1)(a)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 51, paragraph 1, point (a)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 51(2)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 51, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., second subparagraph, Art. 52(3)Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, Digital Services ActArticle 52, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The penalties for a trader that breaks GPSR are national: GPSR fines.