As the end of 2020 approaches and more businesses have moved to online retail spaces, the US has seen an uptick of 43% in online sales making for $60.4 billion in sales in September 2020 alone. With such a boom in online retail, it makes sense that many small businesses have taken to selling goods on new websites or more commonly, on Amazon.
When looking into selling your products on Amazon, there’s a lot to consider, plan, and research. Selling on Amazon may seem as easy as signing up and just listing your items, but that’s not all. Like with any online retailer, you’ll need product liability insurance in place along with a couple of other coverages you might not know about.
To help you understand what insurance requirements from Amazon look like we’ve gone into detail below. We’ll also give you some information on a valuable asset available to you that could help you grow your business on Amazon. Keep reading to learn more!
WHAT DOES AMAZON REQUIRE OF SELLERS?
In order to sell online in Amazon stores, you need to sign up for an Amazon Selling Plan. This plan allows you to sell products on Amazon and comes with strict guidelines for how to prepare to sell. Before you can begin selling products, you need to provide Amazon.com with proof of Commercial Liability Insurance. Amazon details those out on the plan:
“Sellers with professional selling plans on Amazon.com must provide proof of Commercial General Liability insurance. This insurance, obtained at the seller’s expense, shall cover up to $1,000,000 per occurrence and in the aggregate and must include products liability, bodily injury, or personal injury, property damage, and other requirements as stated in the Participation Agreement. The insurance must indicate that ‘Amazon.com, Inc., and its affiliates and assignees’ are added as additional insureds.”
This means that:
- Amazon requires General Liability Insurance.
- They want you to be sure that Product Liability Insurance is included in your policy.
- They need you to list them as an Additional Insured on your policy.
WHAT TOOL CAN HELP BUILD MY AMAZON BUSINESS?
Now that you know what Amazon wants from you in order to start selling online, you’ll need a tool that can help you build your business by helping you find the best products to sell on Amazon. Finding the right research tool means using ProfitGuru.
ProfitGuru is an all-in-one product research tool for Amazon sellers. While you likely already have a niche of products you’re selling in, ProfitGuru can help push your business forward. They offer their customers services to help them find product niches that their competitors aren’t seeing, identify competitors’ best-selling products, connect and expand with more brands, get access to suppliers, improve their sales, and much more.
If your small business is just starting out, then ProfitGuru is where you want to start looking; you’ll realize just how much more opportunity there is on Amazon when others might think Amazon is a saturated market. ProfitGuru offers tools for both private label sellers and wholesalers, so no matter the type of seller you’re trying to be, they likely have some info you want to get your hands on.
Check out ProfitGuru if you’re interested in expanding your Amazon business. You can get started for free to see if it’s the right fit for your business endeavors.
And now that you know what online tool can help you succeed in online sales, we’ll tell you about your greatest asset–insurance.
You’re probably wondering…
WHAT WOULD INSURANCE FOR AMAZON SELLERS COVER?
GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE
General Liability Insurance protects your business in cases of bodily harm and property damage. This is for slip-and-fall incidents as well as if someone were to be injured due to your business operations or if you were to drop a box of product and dent the floor, general liability could cover any legal action or medical bills.
PRODUCT LIABILITY INSURANCE
Along with being insured against bodily harm and property damage, you also need to have insurance for your products. If someone were to purchase an item from you and that item caused them bodily harm, then you could be on the hook for any legal fees or medical bills on their behalf. With product liability insurance, you have peace of mind that your products are insured and your business is protected.
WHO DOES THE POLICY PROTECT?
When you have general liability and product liability insurance in place, those protected on the policy include you, your product, and any listed additional insureds. An additional insured is anyone listed on the policy (besides yourself and your company) which is usually the name of the company or retailer in which you’re hoping to sell your product. In this case, Amazon.com would be your additional insured.
WHERE CAN YOU GET INSURANCE FOR AMAZON SELLING?
You have a few options when trying to buy insurance for Amazon selling, we suggest you choose an insurance company that provides coverage from top-rated carriers, has a proven track record of providing general and product liability policies to businesses, and can service a long list of business niches—such as Insurance Canopy. Learn more details about Amazon Sellers Insurance and general liability insurance today so you can focus your efforts on building your business on Amazon!
