Hello I'm looking at selling some of my electronics projects I've built, they are all 12 volt systems such as dual thermostats and stuff. What legal stuff do I need to do before I can sell them such as CE certification and Rohs?

My project are on copper board at the moment but I intent to make them on PCB in the future.

 

You probably need to set up a web site.

Note: AAC comes down heavily on spamming. If you post without talking to a moderator you will be banned and the post removed. Even if you do talk to a moderator it will probably not be allowed, as we are very serious about this.

Notice a certain lack of advertisements here?

 

I'm not spamming, I just wanted to know what legal requirements I am required to fulfill before I can sell a project, whether it be on a website I set up, or making a store on ebay/amazon. I just don't want to throw something out there and find a lawyer at my door the week later because I haven't done some paperwork or registered the product or something.

 

I understand, but I was making sure you knew our rules. If you had slipped there would have been no going back. We get a lot of spamming from all over, especially China. I've banned two people in the last 15 minutes, they knew what they were doing. All the moderators are kept busy keeping spam off of this site.

Patents have been discussed a lot on this site, general consensus is unless it is truly ground breaking then it isn't worth it. If it is special then sell it to a large corporation and let their legal teams handle it.

If the products are popular expect Chinese knockoffs in 6 months or less.

 

Ok well it is just some projects I've worked on since university (nothing groundbreaking) they would be made by myself, but are you saying that if I got a 3rd party to produce them then they would be responsible for its certification?

 

Depends, I would get a contract if so. Many cases certification is not needed, but then, you will be the one in court is they decide to sue (and certification may or may not help).

Depending on the circuit a certification may not be needed, this is more of a safety issue. What country are you posting from?

UL is an service provided to (or is that by) American insurance company, the cost of getting them to certify your products is probably more than you will take in as profit.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the rules are, but I am reasonably certain certification is not needed in the United States. You may think about selling these as kits and including disclaimers with the paper work.

Are any of these circuits line powered, and if they are, can you use a wall wart instead? Wall warts would help put the onus on the other guy.

 

I am posting from the UK. I am using purchased wall PSUs as then I only have to deal with 12 or 5 volts. But I look at something like an arduino board and see that has CE certification so maybe I should need it as well.

 

you need to contact the organization who's certification you desire. They will give you a run down on thier services. Full certification is often a costly process.

 

Your device will fall outside the scope of the "The Low Voltage Directive (LVD) 2006/95/EC". The Directive covers electrical equipment with a voltage between 50 and 1000 V for alternating current and between 75 and 1500 V for direct current. How the rules apply to kits. but the rules are complicated. As an example your dual thermostats. They will for sure not be legal to use for control of any device that fell inside the scope of LVD.
Another thing is the economical aspect. Have you done some calculations of how much you must sell each kit for in order to cover all your expenses. I do not think you will like the result