Trader status: understanding marketplace requirements
Last updated: January 29, 2025
The Digital Services Act, a European Union (EU) law, requires marketplaces to disclose information about certain sellers and products. To comply with the law, we have made some changes to Epic’s marketplaces, including ArtStation Marketplace, the Epic Games Store, and Fab.
The changes include:
- Verifying and displaying required information for certain sellers that intend to distribute products on Epic’s marketplaces to users in the European Union.
- Requiring sellers who identify as Traders to certify that they will only offer products on Epic’s marketplaces that comply with European Union law.
- Disclosing when sellers indicate that their products contain promotional content.
Below are FAQs to help you better understand what this means for you and what steps you need to take.
What is a Trader?
A Trader is a person or company that uses a marketplace for purposes related to their trade, business, craft, or profession. You are likely to be a Trader if you do one or more of the following:
- You very frequently sell content to the consumers with the intention of making a profit (the sales do not all have to be on a specific marketplace)
- You sell content through a registered company, you are a sole proprietor, or you have a VAT number
- You sell a large volume of content over a period of time.
The European Union’s guidelines for Traders are available here.
What information do I have to provide as a Trader?
All Traders need to provide certain information that is required by the law including their email address, physical address, and phone number. If your business address or business phone number is also your personal address or personal phone number, you will be given the choice of whether to display the information publicly. If you choose not to display your address publicly, we will only publish your city and country. Please note that not disclosing information that is required by law may have legal consequences.
What if I declare myself as a Non-Trader?
If you self-identify as a Non-Trader (currently not an option on the Epic Games Store), you will only go through standard onboarding, which requires that you provide your contact information for tax and payment purposes. This information will not be displayed to the public. The following disclaimer will appear on your profile and be visible to users from the European Union: “This publisher is registered as a non-trader, so consumer rights stemming from EU consumer protection laws do not apply.”
What if I don’t want to self-identify as a Trader or Non-Trader?
To set up a new account on our marketplaces you have to self-identify as a Trader or Non-Trader (not available on the Epic Games Store) and provide necessary information. In the future, sellers will have the ability to set up a Fab and ArtStation account even if they do not self-identify, they will just not be able to sell products in the European Union.
If you are already a seller and have not identified as a Trader or Non-Trader for each applicable marketplace, you may need to complete self-identification and provide the necessary information by February 1, 2025, if you want your products to remain available to buyers from the European Union.
What is promotional content?
When you upload new content to an Epic marketplace, you will have to identify products that contain promotional content in the products’ settings. Promotional content may include things like product placement, logos, slogans, or other content that promotes or advertises your own or someone else’s real-world brand.
Information for self-declared Traders
What kind of documentation do I need to provide for the verification process as a Trader?
The documentation that is required will depend on whether you indicate that you are an individual or a business entity during the Trader verification process.
If you indicate that you are a business entity, you will need to provide documentation that contains the business name, business registration number, and the address of the business. The type of documents that need to be provided may vary depending on what country you are based in, but typically this would be an authority-issued business license, certified confirmation of incorporation, or a government-issued excerpt from a trade register.
If you indicate that you are an individual, you will need to provide a government-issued identification document that includes your name and address. Phone number verification will also be required.
Important things to keep in mind:
- All documents must be from an official entity and cannot be self-generated (for example a W8 or an invoice will not be sufficient).
- The information you submit must match the information as it appears in the document you provide. Any document used to confirm your address should include the name that was provided as part of the verification process.
- All fields are required except those labeled as optional.
- If you’re taking a picture of your documents, make sure the background is neutral, the picture is well-lit and the entire document is visible. Don’t make any edits after you’ve captured the photo, as this may result in the document not being accepted.
- Verification by either SMS or a phone call is required to verify your phone number for this process.
What if I don’t have a single document that includes all of the required information?
At the moment, the system only allows one file to be uploaded. If you are a business entity and you don’t have a single document that meets every requirement, you should combine all of your documentation into a single file to submit.
How can I check the status of my Trader Verification?
If you are an Epic Games Store partner, you can check the status of your Trader Verification in the Developer Portal by navigating to the Dashboard > Organization > Trader Info.
If you are a Fab seller, navigate to Trader Details in Publisher Settings.
If you are an ArtStation seller, you can see your status in the seller settings.
I’m concerned about my privacy. Does my contact information need to be displayed publicly?
If your business address or business phone number is the same as your personal address or personal phone number, you will be given the choice of whether to display the information publicly. If you choose not to display your address publicly, we will only display your city and country.
Information for buyers
What is changing in February 2025?
Starting from February 2025, any seller who has not self-identified as either a Trader or a Non-Trader will be unable to distribute products to customers in the European Union on Epic marketplaces. If you are in the European Union, you will still be able to view the product page (for instance, via a direct link), but you will not have the option to acquire the product from that product’s seller. Instead, you will see a note saying that the product is not available in your location. Buyers from outside the EU will not be impacted by the changes.
What does it mean if a seller is a Trader or a Non-Trader?
You can see whether a seller is a Trader or a Non-Trader (or neither) by checking their seller profile page or the product page on Fab or ArtStation, or by visiting the Publisher Index on the Epic Games Store. The Trader and Non-Trader designations are from the EU Digital Services Act and they only affect buyers from the EU.
A Trader is a person or company that uses a marketplace for purposes related to their trade, business, craft, or profession. Traders are also required to certify that they will only offer products and services that comply with EU law and undergo a verification process.
A Non-Trader is a person who uses a marketplace to sell goods more casually, perhaps, as a hobby or for supplementary income. These sellers are bound by the same Epic Games marketplace distribution agreements as all other sellers, but when you purchase from these sellers, consumer protection mechanisms stemming from EU consumer protection laws may not apply to your purchases.
If a seller has not completed the Trader/Non-Trader self-identification step, their seller profile will not display their trader status. These sellers are bound by the same Epic Games marketplace distribution agreements as all other sellers but due to legal requirements, they may be unable to distribute their products to EU customers on Epic’s marketplaces.
After February 2025, will I lose access to anything that I have previously purchased or downloaded for free?
No. You will continue to have access to anything you have purchased or have acquired for free, regardless of any changes in the trader status of the products’ creators.