Etsy urges sellers to sign petition against Europe's digital services tax

Recently, an announcement released by the Etsy platform has attracted the attention of many sellers. According to Etsy , this announcement is mainly to call on sellers to sign a petition against the digital service tax ( DST) promulgated by European countries . The proposed petition was presented in the form of its announcement on February 16.

Etsy opposes European digital services tax

The announcement said that most sellers must have known that many European countries , including the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey, have recently enacted digital service taxes.

Although digital service taxes are mainly levied on digital giants , they are often borne by third-party sellers on the platform in the end. In other words, sellers either pay higher fees or reduce marketing investment or other expenditures.

The Etsy platform stated that it will continue to bear the costs of the digital service tax until at least July , but this digital service tax may affect the interests of sellers. It hopes that sellers can join Etsy's petition plan and expressed the hope that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD) can develop a clearer, simpler and fairer agreement to replace the digital service tax before July.

Etsy adds 10 million new customers

Speaking of Etsy, I believe that most sellers are familiar with it. In 2020, due to the epidemic, people's demand for handmade masks unexpectedly surged, and Etsy saw this potential market, adjusted its product categories , and coupled with its personalized confidence, set a record sales in 2020.

While sales of Etsy's mask products soared, it also drove the growth of other niche categories, making the Etsy platform famous. Its GMV in 2020 also doubled to US$9 billion, an increase of about 90% from 2019.

Data shows that in the third quarter of 2020, Etsy added nearly 10 million new customers and reactivated more than 5 million old customers. In addition, its sales more than doubled to $452 million in the September quarter.

In fact, this is not the first time that a digital service tax has been levied, but in the end it is the sellers who suffer. This concerns the sellers’ vital interests, so we need to be cautious and pay close attention.

Europe

Digital Services Tax

Etsy