do I need to comply with GPSR if I sell handmade products via Etsy or my own shop

Handmade products are also covered by GPSR

Yes: anyone who sells handmade products to consumers, via Etsy or via their own webshop, is in principle subject to GPSR. The regulation does not look at the method of production — whether by machine or by hand — but at what it is and to whom it is sold. A ceramic mug, a wooden toy or a knitted scarf offered as a new consumer product falls under the same scope as a factory-made product. There is no exemption for small-scale production, craft manufacture or handwork as such.

What becomes immediately relevant is the role. Anyone who designs and makes something themselves and sells it under their own name is a manufacturer under GPSR — with the associated obligations concerning risk analysis and technical documentation. This also applies to anyone who purchases semi-finished products or components and processes or assembles them into a finished product themselves: in that case too, there is manufacturing involved, not resale. Selling via a marketplace such as Etsy does not change this; the platform is not a party that takes over the obligations of the maker. Anyone who is uncertain about their own position in the chain can first measure it against the question am I a manufacturer, importer or distributor under GPSR, and for anyone who sells purely as a private individual from time to time there is a separate assessment framework on selling privately on a marketplace.

Why this follows from the definitions

Article 1 and 2 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 describe the scope of application as all products offered to consumers, unless another EU rule specifically applies to that product; the method of manufacture plays no role in this. Article 3 defines "manufacturer" as the person who manufactures a product or has it designed and manufactured and places it on the market under their own name or brand — a description that, without distinction between factory and workshop, affects everyone who makes and sells something themselves. Articles 9 to 12 then link the obligations per market participant to this. The NVWA confirms on its page on product safety and GPSR that the scope of application is broad and runs along the line of role and risk, not along the line of production scale.