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Crafts
Selling handmade products, insurance and sustainable pricing
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“Handmade” does not remove product-safety, traceability, consumer-rights or product-specific rules. The seller is responsible for what is placed on the market.
Selling handmade products
Identify the product category before choosing the label or safety evidence.
- Describe the intended user, reasonably foreseeable use and foreseeable misuse.
- Check whether specific law applies—for example toys, cosmetics, candles/chemical mixtures, electrical goods or food-contact articles.
- Carry out and document a safety assessment; keep material and supplier information.
- Add maker/responsible-person identification, batch or serial traceability, instructions and warnings as required.
- Use the correct conformity marking only where the product-specific law requires and supports it.
- Keep a complaint, incident, withdrawal and recall process.
- Display the total price and a contact route for faulty goods or questions.
From 13 December 2024, EU Regulation 2023/988 on general product safety applies in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with NI-specific UK guidance on implementation.
Official guidance
Insurance considerations
Match the cover to the product and public access.
- Tell the home/farm insurer about business stock, customer visits, signage and the structure.
- Consider public liability for injury or property damage at the site.
- Consider product liability for injury or damage caused by a supplied product.
- Check stock, theft, money, weather, transit and equipment cover.
- If anyone works for the business, check employers’ liability and employment status rules.
- Give the broker exact product types; a policy covering knitted goods may not cover candles, cosmetics or toys.
Official guidance
Pricing advice
Price for replacement, not just for the joy of making.
| Cost layer | Include |
|---|---|
| Direct materials | All components, packaging, labels and wastage. |
| Labour | Design, making, finishing, packing, stocking and admin time. |
| Overheads | Tools, electricity, studio, insurance, card fees, photography and market/testing costs. |
| Risk and margin | Defects, weather damage, theft, unsold stock, tax and a sustainable profit. |
A useful check is: total batch cost ÷ saleable units = true unit cost. Then add the margin needed to fund replacements, growth and tax. Compare with the local market only after calculating the true cost.
- Use a small number of easy-to-pay price points.
- Bundle slow items only when the bundle remains profitable.
- Review time-heavy products separately; popularity does not guarantee margin.
- Do not coordinate prices with competing sellers.
Official sources
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General product safety regulations — Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
Republic of Ireland obligations for consumer products under Regulation (EU) 2023/988.
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Selling products to consumers: legal obligations — Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
Republic of Ireland trader obligations under the Consumer Rights Act 2022.
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Product safety advice for businesses — UK Government
Explains the separate product-safety treatment for Northern Ireland and the EU GPSR applying there.
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Product safety: A to Z of industry guidance — UK Government
Product-specific guidance, including NI-specific routes for regulated goods.
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Becoming self-employed — Citizens Information
Republic of Ireland business-start-up overview, including public-liability considerations where the public visits.
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Insurance for businesses — Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
NI distinctions between compulsory employers' liability and voluntary public/product liability cover.
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Pricing and price reductions — Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
Republic of Ireland price-display and unit-pricing obligations.
Scope note: These sources are signposts, not a substitute for advice on a producer’s exact product, process, premises or sales route.