Amazon Seller Insurance: Costs, Coverage & Requirements
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On the US marketplace, Amazon requires commercial liability insurance once your gross proceeds exceed USD 10,000 in one month on Amazon.com, or whenever Amazon requests proof — with a limit of at least USD 1 million per occurrence and in aggregate, a deductible no greater than $10,000, and "Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees" named as additional insureds. You have 30 days. Other marketplaces use different threshold and limit amounts. This is a platform contract requirement under section 9 of the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement, not a law — and meeting it is a separate question from having coverage that fits your actual risks. Figures verified against Amazon-published sources August 6, 2026; the wording in your authenticated account governs, and one detail is currently published two different ways (see below).
Three things not to get wrong
- A certificate of insurance is evidence of a bound policy. It cannot create coverage, add Amazon as an insured by itself, or substitute for a valid policy.
- Additional-insured status comes from an endorsement or policy provision, not from a name typed on a certificate. Ask what the endorsement costs before you bind.
- Your insured name must match the legal entity name in your Amazon Account Info. A mismatch is a common rejection, and single-member LLCs are the only stated exception.
Where to go from here
- You sell physical products and your main exposure is a customer or third-party claim — start with a liability-led quote path. That is an option to quote, not a promise that any given form covers your products.
- You also hold meaningful inventory at home, in a warehouse, or in transit — start with a package-style path (a business owner's policy with property questions).
- You private-label, import, sell higher-hazard categories, or have prior claims — use an assisted route through a licensed agent or broker; online forms handle these poorly.
- Amazon has sent you a notice, or your sales are near the trigger — read the current rule in your authenticated Seller Central account first, then quote to its exact fields.
- You are already over the threshold and uninsured — bind valid coverage first, then request the certificate. Do not seek, alter, or submit proof of insurance without a valid bound policy.
- You came here for a price — there is no honest single number, and no Cover My Trade premium sample is published for this page yet. What we can tell you is which inputs move the cost hardest: start with which cost drivers move your price most.
Scope of this page. This page covers the Amazon US marketplace requirement and the coverage decision behind it. If you also sell on Walmart, Etsy, eBay, Target Plus, or your own site, each platform sets its own insurance requirement and the required limits are not always the same. This page does not cover those rules: verify each against that platform's own current wording, and see our platform-requirements table when it publishes. Business licenses, seller's permits, and surety bonds are separate obligations from insurance and are not covered here either — see business license vs. bond vs. insurance for the distinction, and your state or city's licensing authority for what applies to you.
Cover My Trade is an independent editorial publisher — not an insurer, agency, broker, advisor, or certificate issuer. Nothing here is insurance, legal, or tax advice, and reading this page does not satisfy any requirement.
On this page
- Does Amazon require insurance for you?
- Start here: six questions that set your coverage
- Which insurance coverage fits your seller model?
- Workers' compensation: what your state decides
- How your operations change the decision
- What may affect your cost?
- How to compare your insurance options
- What to prepare before quotes and proof
- Exclusions and gaps to test before you buy
- Choosing a provider at a glance
- Keeping coverage after you are covered
- Frequently asked questions
Does Amazon require insurance for you?
Requirement fields verified August 6, 2026 against Amazon-published sources · next scheduled check September 6, 2026 · recheck on publication day.
Possibly — it depends on your sales, your account, and whether Amazon has asked. The requirement is a contract requirement: an obligation Amazon imposes on defined sellers through the agreement you accepted when you registered. It is not a state or federal insurance law. And satisfying it is not the same as being adequately insured: a policy can check Amazon's boxes and still leave your real exposures on the table, or vice versa.
What Amazon's published requirement says
Amazon publishes the criteria in two places that public retrieval can reach: the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement (BSA), section 9, hosted as a document on Amazon's own content network; and a detailed criteria list posted by an Amazon-badged staff account in Amazon's public Seller Forums. Both are first-party. Neither is the authenticated help page inside your account, which remained login-gated to public retrieval on August 6, 2026.
A note on the BSA document used throughout this page. The copy Amazon publishes at the link below is a redlined comparison version, and the trigger language in its section 9 appears to have been superseded (see the next section). Its section 6 and its FBA Service Terms language matched other current Amazon-published copies of the agreement when checked on August 6, 2026 — but because this document's currency has to be confirmed section by section rather than assumed, every citation to it below carries that qualification.
| Field | Published value | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger (Amazon US) | Gross proceeds exceeding USD 10,000 in sales in one month on Amazon.com, or if otherwise requested by Amazon | Amazon Seller Forums staff post (retrieved Aug 6, 2026) | Verified with limitation — see the trigger conflict below |
| Deadline (Amazon US) | Within 30 days after the trigger | Same | Verified with limitation — post is approximately two years old |
| Threshold amount (US) | USD 10,000 ("Insurance Threshold") | Amazon BSA General Terms, Definitions (redlined copy, retrieved Aug 6, 2026) | Verified — both sources agree |
| Required limit (US) | At least USD 1,000,000 per occurrence and in aggregate ("Insurance Limits") | BSA Definitions (redlined copy); Seller Forums staff post | Verified — both sources agree |
| Policy type (Amazon US) | Commercial general, umbrella, or excess liability, occurrence-based — except certain product categories | Seller Forums staff post | Verified with limitation — the excepted categories are named only in account-gated FAQ |
| What the policy must cover | Liabilities caused by or occurring in conjunction with your business operations, including products, products/completed operations, and bodily injury | BSA §9 (redlined copy); Seller Forums staff post | Verified — both sources agree |
| Products in scope | All sales from products you have listed in the Amazon.com store | Seller Forums staff post | Verified |
| Maximum deductible (Amazon US) | Not greater than $10,000, and the deductible amount must be listed on your certificate | Seller Forums staff post | Verified with limitation — not stated in the BSA text |
| Additional insureds (Amazon US) | "Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees" | Seller Forums staff post (exact naming); BSA §9 ("Amazon and its assignees") | Verified with limitation — the two sources word the naming differently; use your account wording |
| Named insured (Amazon US) | Must match the legal entity name in your Amazon Account Info. Single-member LLCs may instead match a trade name or DBA | Seller Forums staff post | Verified |
| Insurer financial strength (Amazon US) | Global claim-handling capability and a rating of S&P A− and/or AM Best A− or better, or a local equivalent | Seller Forums staff post | Verified with limitation — not stated in the BSA text |
| Policy condition | Completed in its entirety and signed | Seller Forums staff post | Verified |
| Cancellation notice (Amazon US) | Insurer must give Amazon at least 30 days' notice of cancellation, modification, or nonrenewal | Seller Forums staff post | Verified with limitation — not stated in the BSA text |
| Certificate delivery (per the agreement) | At Amazon's request, to c/o Amazon, P.O. Box 81226, Seattle, WA 98108-1226, Attention: Risk Management | BSA §9 (redlined copy) | Verified with limitation — the account's current submission route may differ; see the clock section below |
Two fields deserve attention because they are the most common reasons a certificate gets rejected after the policy is already bound. The insurer rating floor means the cheapest quote is not automatically an acceptable one — ask any option whether its issuing carrier meets an A− rating from AM Best or S&P before you pay. And the named-insured match is a paperwork trap: if your policy is issued to "Jane Smith" and your Amazon Account Info says "Smith Goods LLC," the document will not be accepted even though the coverage is real.
Where the two published versions of the trigger disagree
The two Amazon-published sources state the trigger differently, and both are currently in circulation across the market.
| Version | Trigger as written | Where it appears | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seller-facing | Exceeding the threshold in one month | Amazon Seller Forums staff post; Amazon's notice emails to sellers | Verified with limitation — first-party and consistent with current seller communications, but the post is approximately two years old |
| Agreement text | Exceeding the threshold during each month over any period of three consecutive months | Amazon BSA General Terms §9, as published in the Amazon-hosted redlined PDF retrieved Aug 6, 2026 | Superseded (probable) — the document is a redlined comparison version; Amazon's seller-facing communications have used the one-month trigger since a change effective September 1, 2021 |
What to do with this. Treat the one-month trigger as the operative one — it is what Amazon's own seller communications and enforcement notices use, and it is the more conservative reading, because it attaches sooner. Do not rely on the three-month version to delay buying. The wording inside your authenticated account is the version that governs your account, so read it, and record the version or effective date you relied on in case the requirement is later disputed.
This conflict is worth knowing about for a second reason: some published guidance still states the three-consecutive-months rule. If you find a source telling you that, it is describing a formulation Amazon appears to have moved away from years ago.
The clock, the proof, and what happens if you miss it
Requirement mechanics as published August 6, 2026. Enforcement outcomes are Amazon's to apply and are not promised or predicted here.
- The clock is 30 days from exceeding the threshold or from Amazon's request, whichever applies to you. It starts on the triggering event, not on the day you get around to shopping.
- Binding takes time, and the certificate comes after. Complete quote inputs, underwriting review, payment or deposit, and processing of any additional-insured endorsement all sit between you and an acceptable document. Start earlier than 30 days if you can.
- Proof is submitted through Amazon's current official route, which for most sellers is the Business Insurance page inside Seller Central. The BSA also names a Risk Management mailing address for certificates requested under the agreement. Use whichever route your notice or account specifies — do not improvise a submission channel.
- The requirement does not switch itself off when sales fall. Section 9 obliges you to maintain coverage "throughout the remainder of the Term" once it attaches. Sellers who cross the threshold in one strong month and then decline should assume the obligation continues and confirm in their account before cancelling anything.
- Non-compliance is a breach of the selling agreement. Amazon's stated remedies for material breach include suspension or termination of your use of the services. Treat an unanswered insurance request as an account risk, not a paperwork nuisance.
- If you are already past the deadline, the route does not change and is still worth taking. Bind valid coverage, then submit proof through the official route and note the date coverage was bound. Amazon's enforcement is its own to apply and nothing here predicts it, but late compliance is the only legitimate path — there is no version of this in which submitting proof without a bound policy is an option, and a policy bound today cannot reach backwards to a loss that has already happened.
- Your insurer owes Amazon 30 days' notice of cancellation, modification, or nonrenewal. That means a lapse is visible to Amazon whether or not you report it.
If a category, jurisdiction, or account-type question is unclear for your situation, confirm it with Amazon and, where a contract term is at stake, with an attorney. Do not guess at a compliance question.
What to capture from your own account wording
The values above are what Amazon publishes to the public. Your account is the governing copy. When you open it, capture every field below verbatim before you shop — these are the fields insurers and your certificate will need to match:
| Field to capture from the current official wording | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Who is subject — seller plan, account type, marketplace, region | Applicability is defined by Amazon's wording, not by seller folklore. Non-US marketplaces use different threshold and limit amounts |
| Trigger and measurement — threshold, period, notice timing | Interpret conservatively; the measurement basis matters, and "gross proceeds" is broader than item revenue |
| Required policy type and limits — per-occurrence, aggregate, deductible cap | Your quote request should mirror these exactly |
| Insurer eligibility — financial-strength rating, licensing, territory, claim-handling | An otherwise good quote from a carrier below the rating floor will not be accepted |
| Named insured — the exact entity, name, and address that must appear | Mismatched legal names are a common rejection cause |
| Additional insured — the exact Amazon entities and any endorsement requirement | Naming on a certificate is not the same as an endorsement on the policy |
| Excepted product categories and any account-level overlays | Some categories are handled differently; the exceptions live in the account FAQ |
| Proof and submission — document, format, destination, deadline, renewal cadence | The proof workflow is part of the requirement |
| Cancellation and notice provisions | Determines what your insurer must send Amazon and when |
| Source location, version or effective date, and the date you read it | Platform wording changes; your record shows which version you relied on |
The full current rule, its exceptions, and the proof-submission process in detail belong to our dedicated page on Amazon seller insurance requirements; this page carries the decision gate and the coverage decision that follows it.
Decision rule worth keeping: quote to the platform's stated fields and to your actual exposures. They are different lists, and a policy that satisfies one can fail the other.
Start here: six questions that set your coverage
Your answers to six questions determine which parts of this page apply to you, what insurers will ask, and how the Amazon rule lands on your account. Work through them in order.
| # | Question | Why it matters | Where it leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which Amazon account, marketplace, and region do you sell in — and have you received an insurance notice? | The requirement is account- and marketplace-specific, and non-US marketplaces use different amounts. A notice, not a blog post, is your governing signal. | Does Amazon require insurance for you? |
| 2 | What is your seller role — manufacturer, importer, private-label brand, or reseller — and what do you sell? | Role and product category drive the product-liability question and underwriting appetite. | Coverage matrix |
| 3 | Where does inventory sit — home, leased space, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) warehouses, in transit? | Damage to your own stock is a property question, separate from liability, and location changes the terms to verify. | Operations scenarios |
| 4 | Do you have employees, temporary labor, or regular subcontractors? | Workers' compensation is decided by your state, and unpaid-for helpers surface as premium at audit. | Workers' compensation by state |
| 5 | Do you run your own website or directly handle customer or payment data? | Determines whether first- and third-party cyber coverage is a real question for you or someone else's exposure. | Operations scenarios |
| 6 | Do you or your workers use vehicles for pickups or deliveries? | Business use of owned, hired, or personal vehicles raises a commercial auto or hired/non-owned auto (HNOA) question. | Coverage matrix |
First action. Open your current Amazon notice or the Seller Central insurance page, note exactly what it asks for, then gather the inputs in the quote-preparation checklist before requesting quotes. If your risks extend beyond selling online, start with what insurance your small business needs.
Which insurance coverage fits your seller model?
Coverage rows reviewed August 6, 2026; policy-form review pending.
There is no single policy called "Amazon seller insurance." What sellers buy is a combination of coverages matched to how they actually operate, and the mix depends on your seller role (maker, importer, private-label brand, or reseller), what you sell, where inventory sits, what data you handle, who works for you, and how goods move. Choose coverage by exposure, not by platform label. The matrix maps common seller situations to the coverage or document to test, what that coverage does not answer, how the "requirement" is actually classified, and what to verify before relying on it. A policy name is never proof that the policy responds — in every row, the actual form, endorsements, and exclusions control.
| Scenario and trigger | Coverage or document to test | What it does not cover | Classification | Status and how to verify |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon seller — the platform requirement: your account, region, and a current notice or the sales trigger | Commercial general, umbrella, or excess liability at the published limits, with the additional-insured endorsement | Anything outside the liability form: your own inventory, employee injury, professional advice, data breach. Meeting the rule does not mean your real risks are covered | Platform (contract) requirement — as verified for your account | Verified with limitation — published values above; your authenticated account wording governs |
| Amazon seller — product and third-party claims: you sell physical goods | Commercial general liability (CGL) and its products/completed operations treatment | Damage to your own product; recall and withdrawal costs unless separately endorsed; employee injury; professional advice; claims outside the policy territory | Commonly requested; often the starting point — not a guarantee of response | Partial — policy-form review pending. Ask whether product liability is included, limited, endorsed, or excluded for your products and role. See the general liability hub |
| Amazon seller — private label or importing: you influence design, labels, manufacturing, or the import chain | Product-liability terms; recall, territory, and supplier provisions | Design defects and known problems where excluded; recall costs unless endorsed; goods sold or made outside the stated territory | Conditional / underwriting | Partial — qualified insurance review pending. Disclose products and sourcing; ask the insurer to show the form's treatment in writing |
| Amazon seller — reselling branded goods: you distribute products made by others | Product-liability defense; authenticity and sourcing records | Counterfeit or authenticity disputes as a coverage matter; intellectual-property claims unless endorsed; your own inventory | Conditional / common | Partial — policy-form review pending. Ask how sourcing records affect underwriting and defense |
| Amazon seller — FBA inventory: stock stored in third-party facilities and moving between locations | Property/inventory, off-premises, transit, and business-interruption terms | Third-party bodily injury; unlisted storage locations; goods in transit unless endorsed; loss of income beyond the stated basis and period | Conditional | Partial — form and terms review pending. Verify locations, valuation, custody, and transit terms |
| Amazon seller — FBM, warehouse, or home storage: you control storage, premises, fulfillment | Property or business owner's policy (BOP); premises liability; lease requirements | Business property beyond a homeowners policy's business-property sublimit; flood and earth movement unless endorsed; anything the lease requires that you did not buy | Conditional / contract (lease) | Partial — location-specific. Read your policy and your lease; for home stock, see home-based business insurance |
| Amazon seller — own website or customer data: you directly handle personal or payment data | First- and third-party cyber; crime/fraud provisions | Data or systems you do not control — your vendors' breaches are covered only if the form says so; bodily injury and property damage | Conditional | Partial — form review pending. Map what you collect, store, and process before treating cyber as a fit |
| Amazon seller — employees or temporary labor: payroll or worker status | Workers' compensation, per your state | Third-party liability; employer's liability in the monopolistic states, which state funds do not provide; workers you misclassify and never report | Legal requirement — set by your state and facts | Routed — see workers' compensation by state and the workers' comp hub |
| Amazon seller — business vehicle use: deliveries, pickups, or employee driving | Commercial auto, or hired/non-owned auto (HNOA) | Business use under a personal auto policy — personal auto forms commonly exclude it; vehicles and drivers you never scheduled | Legal / underwriting / conditional by state and use | Routed — state law and the auto policy's business-use terms |
Liability coverage answers claims against you; property and inventory coverage answers damage to what you own. No amount of one substitutes for the other. Two adjacent questions ride with the property branch rather than earning their own rows. Business-interruption terms decide whether lost income after a covered property loss is addressed, on what basis, and for how long. Umbrella or excess liability becomes live when a contract, the platform rule, or your own risk tolerance asks for limits above what a primary policy provides — and whether an umbrella actually sits over a given policy is a form question, so ask it explicitly.
How to read the classifications: "Required" appears on this site only for a verified law, contract, or current platform rule. Everything else is labeled commonly requested, often considered, or conditional — because that is what it is. Missing data is treated the same way: a blank cell or an unverified rule is never read as "not required." The status column uses this page's verification vocabulary: Verified means a current primary source directly supports the field; Verified with limitation means the source supports it but a material scope or underwriting limit remains; Partial means at least one required field or source is incomplete; Blocked means the governing source is currently inaccessible or insufficient to publish; Superseded means a newer governing source has replaced the one previously used; Routed means the governing authority is named and linked because the answer is set jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
For general coverage-category education, the U.S. Small Business Administration's business insurance guide (accessed August 6, 2026) is a useful neutral orientation, and it recommends reassessing coverage annually as operations change — good practice for a growing seller.
Workers' compensation: what your state decides
Authority routing verified August 6, 2026 against the U.S. Department of Labor's State Workers' Compensation Officials directory · territorial authorities verified against each territory's own commission · state-fund status verified against each state's own agency · recheck semiannually and immediately on a known change.
The moment you pay someone to pack, photograph, ship, or handle returns, workers' compensation becomes a question your state answers — not Amazon, and not a national rule of thumb. Employee-count thresholds, owner and officer elections, exemptions, and penalties all differ by jurisdiction. This page routes you to the governing authority and covers the one structural fact that changes what you can even buy. Thresholds and exemption rules by state belong to our workers' comp hub.
Operating without required coverage is not a paperwork risk. Depending on the jurisdiction, an employer who should have carried workers' compensation and did not can face stop-work orders, civil penalties assessed per day, personal liability for the full cost of an injury, and in some places criminal charges. Two Tier-1 examples of how differently this is written: Ohio's Bureau of Workers' Compensation warns on its own employer application that failing to secure or maintain coverage "may be subject to civil, criminal and/or administrative penalties" (BWC form U-3S, accessed Aug 6, 2026), while the Northern Mariana Islands assesses a flat civil penalty of $100 per day for failure to secure coverage (CNMI Workers' Compensation Commission, Form WCC-101, accessed Aug 6, 2026). The exposure also attaches to the period you were uninsured, so buying coverage later does not retire it. Penalties are set jurisdiction by jurisdiction — confirm yours with the authority below before you hire.
The four monopolistic states and the employer's liability gap
In four states, workers' compensation cannot be bought from a private insurer at all. Coverage comes from the state fund, and the private market — including whatever carrier writes your liability policy — cannot write it.
| State | Sole source of coverage | Verified from | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI) — state law does not allow private insurers to underwrite workers' compensation in North Dakota | WSI coverage-requirements page (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified |
| Ohio | Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) — all employers with one or more employees must carry coverage, obtained through BWC or approved self-insurance | BWC "Getting coverage" employer page and BWC employer application (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified with limitation — BWC's own materials state the coverage duty; confirm self-insurance eligibility directly with BWC |
| Washington | Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) — the state does not allow private workers' compensation coverage; you buy from L&I or become a certified self-insured employer | L&I "Do I Need a Workers' Comp Account?" (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified |
| Wyoming | Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division — most employers must obtain coverage through the state fund | Wyoming Department of Insurance, workers' comp consumer page (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified with limitation — the Wyoming Department of Insurance states that certain exempt employers and employee groups may buy workers' compensation from private insurers on the open market. Confirm which category you fall into before assuming either way |
| Puerto Rico | Industrial Commission — exclusive government fund structure | Routed via DOL directory (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified with limitation — exclusive-fund status corroborated across market sources; confirm current mechanics with the Commission |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Administration — exclusive government fund structure. Contact details in the DOL directory | Routed via DOL directory (Aug 6, 2026) | Verified with limitation — the DOL directory's link for this jurisdiction is a URL shortener, so the agency page is named here rather than linked directly |
The consequence almost nobody tells you about. A standard workers' compensation policy has two parts: Part One pays statutory benefits to injured workers, and Part Two — employer's liability — responds when an employee sues the employer over the injury. Monopolistic state funds provide Part One only. If you have employees in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, or Wyoming and you buy nothing else, you have no employer's liability protection at all.
The fix is a stop-gap employer's liability endorsement, attached to your general liability or package policy from a private insurer. It is not automatic, it is not included by default, and not every liability carrier offers it. The standard forms have names you can ask for: ISO publishes a per-state Stop Gap – Employers Liability Coverage endorsement series for attachment to a general liability policy (the Ohio version is CG 04 41), and where you already hold a workers' compensation policy covering non-monopolistic states, the WC 00 03 03 Employers Liability Coverage Endorsement is used to extend employer's liability into North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming, with WC 34 03 01 used for Ohio (Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau, stop-gap reference, accessed Aug 6, 2026; IRMI definition, accessed Aug 6, 2026). Two further consequences follow: an "all states" endorsement on a private workers' compensation policy does not extend into these four states, and a multi-state seller must carry a separate state-fund account for each monopolistic state where work is performed, in addition to any private policy covering the rest.
If you are hiring in one of these states, put two questions to your liability quote in writing: Does this policy offer a stop-gap employer's liability endorsement for [state]? and What does it cost?
Workers' compensation authority by state and territory
Every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and all five inhabited U.S. territories appear below, with the governing authority and where coverage comes from. This table routes you to the authority; it does not state thresholds, exemptions, or owner-election rules, which each jurisdiction sets for itself and which our workers' comp hub covers. Most jurisdictions attach the duty at the first employee, and a minority set it higher or exempt specific worker categories regardless of headcount — because the number and the exemptions differ, confirm your obligation with the authority before you hire.
| Jurisdiction | Governing authority | Workers' compensation coverage source |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Alabama Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Alaska | Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| American Samoa | American Samoa Workmen's Compensation Commission | Carriers authorized by the Commission write workers' compensation; a Certificate of Compliance must be filed — confirm your obligation with the Commission |
| Arizona | Industrial Commission of Arizona, Claims Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Arkansas | Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| California | California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Colorado | Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Delaware | Delaware Department of Labor, Office of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| District of Columbia | DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Florida | Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Georgia | Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Guam | Guam Workers' Compensation Commission | Confirm your workers' compensation obligation and coverage source with the Commission |
| Hawaii | Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Disability Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Idaho | Idaho Industrial Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Illinois | Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Indiana | Workers' Compensation Board of Indiana | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Iowa | Iowa Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Kansas | Kansas Department of Labor, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Labor Cabinet, Department of Workers' Claims | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Louisiana | Louisiana Workforce Commission, Office of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Maine | Maine Workers' Compensation Board | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Maryland | Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Michigan | Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Workers' Compensation Agency | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Mississippi | Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Missouri | Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Montana | Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Workers' Compensation Claims Assistance Bureau | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Nebraska | Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Nevada | Nevada Department of Business & Industry, Division of Industrial Relations | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| New Mexico | New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| New York | New York Workers' Compensation Board | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| North Carolina | North Carolina Industrial Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| North Dakota | North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance | State fund only — private workers' compensation coverage unavailable. Stop-gap employer's liability needed separately |
| Northern Mariana Islands | CNMI Workers' Compensation Commission, Department of Commerce | Private carriers write workers' compensation; a Certificate of Compliance must be filed within 30 days — confirm your obligation with the Commission |
| Ohio | Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation | State fund only — private workers' compensation coverage unavailable. Stop-gap employer's liability needed separately |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Oregon | Oregon Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Puerto Rico | Puerto Rico Industrial Commission | Government fund — confirm current mechanics with the Commission |
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island Department of Labor & Training, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| South Carolina | South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| South Dakota | South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Division of Labor & Management | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Tennessee | Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Texas | Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Utah | Utah Labor Commission, Division of Industrial Accidents | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Vermont | Vermont Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Virginia | Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Administration — contact details in the DOL directory | Government fund — confirm current mechanics with the Administration |
| Washington | Washington Department of Labor and Industries | State fund only — private workers' compensation coverage unavailable. Stop-gap employer's liability needed separately |
| West Virginia | West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Workers' Compensation Division | Private carriers write workers' compensation — confirm your obligation with the authority |
| Wyoming | Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division | State fund for most employers. Certain exempt employers and employee groups may buy privately — confirm your category |
"Private carriers write workers' compensation" means private insurers may write coverage in that jurisdiction; several of these states also operate a competitive state fund that sells alongside private carriers. It does not mean coverage is optional, and it does not tell you your threshold. Only the authority does. Router links resolve to each authority's own site as published in the federal directory; where an agency publishes a coverage-requirement page directly, the deeper link is used.
How your operations change the decision
Scenario guidance reviewed August 6, 2026; policy response always depends on the actual form and facts.
Private label or importing. If you influence design, labeling, manufacturing, or the import chain, insurers treat you closer to a manufacturer than a shelf-stocker. Expect questions about who designed and made the product, supplier locations and contracts, labeling and instructions, quality controls, and recall history. Do not assume any policy covers recall costs, design defects, or known problems — those are exactly the areas where forms diverge, so ask the insurer to show you, in writing, how the form treats your products.
Reselling and arbitrage. Reselling branded goods made by others does not eliminate the product-liability question; injured claimants often name everyone in the chain. What changes is the underwriting and defense picture: authenticity, sourcing, and vendor records can matter to both. Never rely on "the manufacturer alone is liable" — that is a litigation outcome, not a coverage plan.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Using FBA changes custody and logistics, not your insurance obligations. Your stock may sit in third-party facilities and move between locations, which raises property questions your liability policy does not answer: which locations are covered, at what valuation, under what off-premises and transit terms, and what happens to income if stock is lost. Amazon's own agreement is explicit on this point — under FBA Service Terms §F-4, if units are lost or damaged in storage, reimbursement in accordance with the FBA Guidelines is your sole remedy and Amazon's total liability, and §F-12 disclaims the duties of a bailee or warehouseman. This language is quoted from the redlined BSA copy described above and matched other current Amazon-published copies of the FBA Service Terms when checked on August 6, 2026. Verify your own property terms; do not assume Amazon's services insure your inventory or your business.
FBM, a warehouse, or your home. When you control storage and fulfillment, premises liability, property limits, customer or courier visits, and lease insurance requirements enter the picture. A lease is a contract requirement in its own right — it can dictate coverage types, limits, certificate-holder details, and additional-insured wording stricter than any law, so read it before you quote. If inventory lives where you live, homeowners policies commonly limit or exclude business property; the boundary belongs to our home-based business insurance guide.
Your own website and customer data. Cyber coverage is a real question only for the data and systems you actually control. A seller trading solely on Amazon's checkout handles less payment data than one running their own storefront; identify what you collect, store, and process — and what your vendors do — before treating first- and third-party cyber coverage as a fit.
Hiring and driving. The first employee, regular temporary labor, or routine deliveries are growth triggers that move you into state-governed territory: workers' compensation by your state's rules, and commercial auto or HNOA where business vehicle use begins. Both belong on your next quote request the moment they become true.
One obligation that no policy erases. Under BSA §6 — again the redlined copy described above, whose §6 matched other current Amazon-published copies when checked on August 6, 2026 — you agree to defend and indemnify Amazon against third-party claims arising from your products, including personal injury and property damage. An indemnity obligation is a contract promise, and it can be broader than the insurance standing behind it — your policy limit caps what the insurer pays, not what you owe. This is the point at which a seller with meaningful revenue should be talking to an attorney rather than only to an agent.
What may affect your cost?
Provider figures below accessed July 20, 2026 and rechecked August 6, 2026 · next provider/premium recheck by October 20, 2026. No figure here is an average or a quote.
Price follows risk inputs, and for e-commerce sellers the heavy inputs are: product category and hazard level; your role in the product chain (importer and private-label roles generally price above pure resale of low-hazard goods); annual revenue and its split by product; chosen limits and deductible; claims history; inventory values and locations; payroll and employee count if workers' comp is in play; vehicles and mileage if auto is in play; and, for cyber, what data and controls you actually have. That is why two sellers with the same "policy" can pay very differently, and why any single figure needs its method attached.
You control two levers directly. Limits and deductible trade against each other: higher limits raise premium, a higher deductible or retention lowers it while raising what you absorb per claim. If a platform rule or contract dictates minimum limits — and Amazon's does, along with a deductible ceiling of $10,000 — price the mandated configuration rather than a cheaper one that fails the requirement. Endorsements can carry their own charges: an additional-insured endorsement, waiver of subrogation, or added coverage requested to satisfy a platform or contract is part of your real cost, so ask each option to quote those endorsements explicitly instead of discovering the fee at binding.
Which cost drivers move your price most
No Cover My Trade–controlled premium sample is currently published for this page — status: Blocked as of August 6, 2026, because a sample only publishes with a complete, reproducible quote profile under our data standard. What we can publish honestly is the shape of the pricing: which inputs move your number, in which direction, and how hard.
| Driver | Direction | Relative influence | Why it moves the price | What you control |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product category and hazard level | Higher hazard raises it | High | The category sets the loss expectation the entire rating starts from. A housewares reseller and a supplement or juvenile-product seller are not the same risk to an underwriter, and some categories are declined outright | What you list — and describing it accurately, never narrowly |
| Your role in the product chain | Manufacturer, importer, and private label price above pure resale | High | Influencing design, labeling, or the import chain moves you closer to the party a claimant names first, and to the party a defense has to answer for | Your sourcing model, and disclosing it accurately |
| Annual revenue | Rises with revenue | High | Revenue is the usual rating base for products liability, and it is the figure the audit reconciles your estimate against | The accuracy of your estimate, not its size |
| Chosen limits and deductible | Higher limits raise it; a higher deductible lowers it | Moderate | The only lever you set directly rather than describe. Amazon floors the limits at $1M per occurrence and in aggregate and caps the deductible at $10,000, so your room to move sits inside those bounds | Fully, within the platform's caps |
| Claims and loss history | Prior losses raise it; a clean record lowers it | Moderate | Loss history is the most specific signal an underwriter has about your operation rather than your category | Not retrospectively — only what you do from here |
| Payroll and headcount | Rises with payroll | Situational — only where workers' compensation is in play | Workers' compensation rates apply to payroll by class code, and helpers who cannot produce their own coverage are added to your payroll at audit | Classification accuracy and sub certificates |
| Inventory values and locations | Rises with value, and with the number of locations | Situational — property and transit only | Property and transit terms are priced on what is at risk and where it sits | Which locations you schedule, and how you value stock |
How to read this: the influence ranking is Cover My Trade's editorial reading of standard commercial rating logic, not a carrier rate table, a rating factor, or a prediction about your quote. Underwriters weight these differently, and a single declined category outranks every other row on this list.
A worked illustration, without a price. Take three Ohio sellers with the same $180,000 in annual revenue, the same $1M/$1M limits, the same $10,000 deductible, the same clean loss history, and no employees. Seller A resells branded housewares. Seller B private-labels the same housewares from an overseas supplier. Seller C private-labels a children's product. Nothing separates these three but the first two rows of the table above — and those two rows are what open the spread between them, category first and role second. Revenue, limits, deductible, and loss history are identical across all three, so none of those can explain any difference in what they are quoted. We do not publish what each would pay, because we have not captured those quotes under our data standard.
Dated provider figures, and what they are not
The figures below are dated provider evidence — published by the named providers about their own channels, shown with method and gaps. They are not Cover My Trade samples, not market averages, and not comparable to each other, because they measure different populations by different methods.
| Source | What the figure is | Displayed figure | Method / population | Missing comparability fields | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simply Business — e-commerce insurance (accessed Jul 20, 2026; rechecked Aug 6, 2026) | Displayed starting figure for its entry tier | Simply Business e-commerce displayed starting price, not a quote: $21.58/month | 10th percentile of general liability policies sold to customers in this line of work Jan–Jun 2025, divided across a 12-month term; actual payment terms may differ | State, full risk profile, and fees not shown; limits displayed as $100K–$2M | Verified with limitation |
| Insureon — Amazon seller insurance costs (accessed Jul 20, 2026; rechecked Aug 6, 2026) | Median monthly premiums among Amazon/retail buyers in its channel | Insureon channel medians for Amazon/retail buyers, not market averages: BOP $95 · GL $42 · workers' comp $86 · umbrella $59 · commercial auto $171 · cyber $57 | Medians of policies purchased through Insureon. Published profile for two of the six: BOP at $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate with a $500 deductible; GL at $1M/$2M | State, product mix, revenue/payroll, sample period, and fees not normalized. Profile not published for the workers' comp, umbrella, auto, or cyber figures | Verified with limitation |
Two labeling notes on the sources above. First, Insureon's page describes these figures as an "average" in its display copy while its methodology note states they are drawn from the median cost of policies purchased through its channel. We have adopted "median" here because that is the method the provider states. Second, Simply Business displays the same $21.58 figure on two of its own e-commerce pages with two different stated sample periods — January to June 2025 on the page cited above, and July to December 2025 on its companion online-retailers page, both read August 6, 2026. We cite the page and the period we actually read; the discrepancy is the provider's, and it is a further reason to treat a displayed starting figure as an advertising anchor rather than a measurement.
Neither figure predicts your quote. A low displayed "starting" figure and a channel median answer different questions: a 10th-percentile figure by definition describes a price point that roughly nine in ten of the relevant policies sold in that period exceeded. Dividing an annual premium by twelve is a planning convenience, not an installment quote — real payment plans can add down payments, taxes, and fees. Compare total annual cost for identical limits and deductibles, never headline monthly figures.
Why your final premium may not match your quote: the audit
Most commercial policies are priced on estimated exposure — projected revenue for a liability policy, projected payroll for workers' compensation — and then reconciled at an audit after the term. If your actual figures came in higher than your estimate, you get a bill. Understating the estimate does not save money; it defers the cost and adds a surprise.
For sellers, one audit mechanic causes more bad surprises than any other: payments to workers who cannot produce their own coverage are commonly charged to you as payroll. If you paid a packer, a photographer, a prep-center helper, or a seasonal fulfillment hand as a contractor, and that person cannot show their own workers' compensation and general liability coverage for the period they worked, an auditor can treat what you paid them as your payroll and rate it accordingly. The people most often missed are exactly the ones sellers think of as informal help.
Collect this from anyone you pay to do work for your business, before they start:
- A certificate of insurance showing their own general liability and, where they have employees, their own workers' compensation.
- Policy effective and expiration dates that cover the whole period they work for you — a certificate that lapsed mid-project is a gap the auditor will find.
- A renewal certificate before the old one expires, diarised, not remembered.
- Their legal entity name, matching how you pay them.
Keep these with your accounting records, not in an inbox. At audit you will be asked to produce them, and "I know they were insured" is not evidence.
A related warning: treating someone as a contractor when the facts make them an employee is a classification problem, not a savings strategy. It surfaces at audit, it can void the coverage you thought you had, and worker classification is separately governed by state and federal law. Where the answer is genuinely unclear, ask your state's workers' compensation authority and, where money is material, an employment attorney.
How to compare your insurance options
Route and provider observations current as of August 6, 2026; state and product appetite for any named provider not verified.
Before comparing companies, compare routes, because the route determines who quotes you, who issues the policy, and who you call later. Who issues and bears the policy in each route is set out in provider roles, defined below. No route is best for everyone, and no ranking appears here: options below are unranked, and inclusion reflects current first-party evidence only.
| Route | Typically fits | Watch for | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct carrier | Straightforward operations inside the carrier's published appetite | Appetite limits: one carrier's answer, one set of forms | No named direct carrier verified for e-commerce appetite in this research pass — options left unnamed |
| Online agency / multi-carrier marketplace | Sellers who want quick comparison of several carriers with online workflow | Which carrier and form you actually get depends on your application; fees and servicing vary | Two candidates verified with limitation (below) |
| Independent licensed agent or broker | Importers, private-label brands, higher-hazard categories, multiple locations, prior losses | Availability, compensation, and service vary; verify the license | Route described neutrally; no named endorsement |
| Platform-sponsored network — Amazon Insurance Accelerator | Sellers who want a route already shaped to Amazon's proof fields and rating floor | Participation is not an appetite guarantee for your category, and Amazon's involvement does not make Amazon an insurer or make coverage guaranteed | Program existence verified from Amazon's own Seller Forums post (Aug 6, 2026); current participant roster, pricing, and appetite not verified |
The Amazon Insurance Accelerator deserves a plain description because it is the route most sellers hitting the threshold will be shown first. Amazon states it worked with an insurance broker to create a network of providers who will evaluate and, if appropriate, offer liability insurance to qualifying sellers. That is useful — a network built around this requirement is less likely to hand you a policy that fails the naming or rating criteria. It is still a route to quote, not a guarantee: eligibility, price, and appetite for your specific product category remain underwriting decisions, and Amazon's own wording says providers will offer coverage only "if appropriate." Nothing obliges you to use it, and comparing it against an independent quote costs you one application.
The two agency options this page could evidence
Two agency/marketplace candidates were verified against their own current pages, with limitations. Both are shown on the same fields, from the same evidence standard. Neither is a partner, sponsor, or endorsement of this site; neither has paid for inclusion or position. Fewer than three options currently pass the full same-field evidence gate, which is why this page compares routes rather than publishing a shortlist.
| Field | Insureon | Simply Business |
|---|---|---|
| Role, per its own documentation | Broker/agency marketplace — agent-assisted, multiple carriers | Licensed producer/agency — its own site states it is a licensed insurance producer in all U.S. states and DC |
| What it publishes for this requirement | Dedicated Amazon-seller and e-commerce pages describing an agent-assisted multi-carrier workflow, a coverage menu, and certificate access | An e-commerce insurance page with a coverage menu, quote-input workflow, a named carrier panel, and a displayed starting price |
| Premium evidence published | Channel medians with a published profile for two of six coverages — see the provider table above | A displayed 10th-percentile starting figure with a stated period — see the provider table above, including the period discrepancy noted there |
| Evidence status and as-of date | Verified with limitation — own pages read Jul 20, 2026, rechecked Aug 6, 2026. Category-level appetite, state availability, and issuing carrier not published | Verified with limitation — own pages read Jul 20, 2026, rechecked Aug 6, 2026. Category-level appetite and the issuing carrier for any given applicant not published |
| Platform-network relationship | Not stated on the pages reviewed — not verified | Announced participation in the Amazon Insurance Accelerator in a company press release dated August 11, 2021. Current participation not verified as of Aug 6, 2026 — ask directly if it matters to you |
| Not ideal for | A seller who wants to buy with no agent conversation — the published workflow is agent-assisted, which adds a step to a 30-day clock | A seller who needs to know the issuing carrier and form before applying — the published workflow presents a panel of quotes after the application, so the carrier and form are not known up front |
| Confirm in the quote | Current appetite for your products and state; the actual carrier and form; the carrier's AM Best or S&P rating against Amazon's A− floor; all fees; the certificate and endorsement workflow | Eligibility for your products and state; the issuing carrier and form; the carrier's rating against the A− floor; payment structure and fees; proof handling and certificate timing |
Whichever routes you use, run the comparison with the same discipline: give every option the same inputs on the same day, ask for the same fields back in writing, and verify that any agent, broker, or online producer is currently licensed for your state — your state insurance department publishes a license lookup for exactly this purpose. An option that will not put its answers in writing has answered your question.
Who actually issues your policy: provider roles defined
| Role | Who issues and bears the policy | What the role changes for you |
|---|---|---|
| Direct carrier | The carrier itself | One appetite and form set; pricing, quoting, COI issuance, claims, and your data stay with one company |
| MGA / program administrator | An insurer the MGA underwrites for under delegated authority | Program-specific appetite and forms; servicing and COI issuance often via the MGA; claims sit with the insurer |
| Broker / agency | An underlying carrier; the licensed producer advises and places | Advice and market access; quoting and endorsements run through the producer; your data goes to the markets they approach |
| Comparison marketplace | An underlying carrier reached through the platform | Fast multi-quote workflow; the platform may route your data as leads; confirm who services the policy and issues certificates |
| Platform-sponsored network | An underlying carrier in a network the platform assembled with a broker | Route pre-shaped to the platform's proof fields; the platform is not the insurer and does not guarantee eligibility or price |
A provider's role is stated on this page only when its own current documentation supports it; otherwise it is labeled "Role not verified" under our verification vocabulary.
What to prepare before quotes and proof
Checklist current as of August 6, 2026.
Accurate inputs are the difference between a quote you can rely on and one that collapses at binding or at a claim. Gather these before you request anything:
| Input group | What to have ready |
|---|---|
| Business identity | Legal entity and name exactly as it appears in your Amazon Account Info, DBA, address, states, years in business, prior coverage |
| Sales and operations | Annual revenue; Amazon and other channels; sales by product category; FBA vs. FBM; seasonality; your highest single month |
| Product chain | Manufacturer, importer, private-label role; supplier locations and contracts; labels and instructions; quality controls; recall history |
| Inventory and property | Peak and average values; storage locations; transit; owned or rented equipment; lease requirements |
| Workforce | Employees and payroll by class and state; temporary labor; subcontractors and their certificates; owner participation |
| Data and cyber | Own website; payment and data handling; vendors; access controls; backups; prior incidents |
| Vehicles | Owned, hired, or personal vehicles used for business; drivers and mileage |
| Losses and compliance | Claims, notices, cancellations or non-renewals, product complaints, regulatory actions |
| Coverage and proof targets | Requested policies, limits, deductible; the exact wording from your Amazon notice; certificate-holder and additional-insured/endorsement fields; the insurer rating floor; deadline |
| Price normalization | Annual premium, installment amount, down payment, taxes and fees, policy term, optional coverages |
Then run the workflow in order:
- Open the current Amazon notice or authenticated official rule and copy the exact required fields — policy type, limits, deductible cap, insured naming, insurer rating, proof format, deadline.
- Describe the business accurately using the checklist. Disclose products, sourcing, revenue, storage, workers, vehicles, and prior losses; misstatements can void the coverage you are buying.
- Compare written quotes — forms, endorsements, limits, deductibles, fees, carrier rating, and exclusions, not just the monthly payment.
- Bind valid coverage through the insurer or authorized producer. Binding timelines vary; no timing is promised here.
- Request the correct certificate and any endorsements, verify the document against the requirement field by field, and submit through Amazon's current official route. Additional-insured status comes from an endorsement or policy provision, not from a name typed on a certificate of insurance.
Why certificates get rejected, and who fixes each one
Most rejections are document problems, not coverage problems — the policy is real and the paperwork does not match the requirement. Check each row against your certificate before you submit it.
| Rejection cause | What the document shows | Who fixes it | What the fix involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insured name does not match Account Info | Policy issued to a person, an old entity, or a DBA where the account names an LLC | Your insurer or producer | Reissue in the correct legal entity name, or correct the Amazon Account Info so the two agree — decide which one is actually right first |
| Deductible above the stated cap | A deductible over $10,000 | You, at the quote stage | Re-rate at or below the cap; a lower deductible raises premium, which is the trade the requirement forces |
| Deductible not shown on the certificate | Certificate face omits the deductible amount | Your producer | Reissue with the deductible stated — the requirement asks for the amount on the document, not just in the policy |
| Claims-made rather than occurrence form | Form marked claims-made | You, at the quote stage | Occurrence-based cover is what the published criteria call for in most categories; a claims-made form is a re-quote, not an amendment |
| Carrier below the rating floor | Issuing carrier without an AM Best or S&P rating of A− or better | You, at the quote stage | Different carrier. Ask for the rating in writing before you pay, not after the certificate bounces |
| Products/completed operations not evidenced | Certificate shows general liability but the products/completed operations aggregate is blank or excluded | Your insurer or producer | Confirm the coverage is actually on the policy, then reissue showing it. If it was excluded, this is a coverage problem, not a paperwork one |
| Additional-insured wording does not match | Amazon named as certificate holder only, or named with different entity wording | Your insurer or producer | Request the additional-insured endorsement with the exact entities your account wording specifies, then reissue the certificate to reflect it |
| Policy dates do not cover the period | Expired policy, or effective date after the deadline | Your insurer or producer | Only a bound, in-force policy produces an acceptable document. Nothing here works backwards from a date that has passed |
Exclusions and gaps to test before you buy
Gap list reviewed August 6, 2026; qualified insurance review of specific forms pending.
The most expensive coverage problems are found after a loss. Test these against the actual quoted form before you pay:
- Product-category exclusions — some forms exclude or restrict the exact categories you sell.
- Imported and private-label treatment — how the form handles goods you brand, import, or influence.
- Damage to your own product (the "your work" and "your product" exclusions) — general liability forms commonly exclude the cost of the defective product itself, even while covering the injury it causes.
- Recall and withdrawal costs — frequently excluded or separately endorsed; do not assume.
- Territory — where products were made, sold, and where suits can be brought.
- Inventory locations and transit — unlisted locations, off-premises limits, and goods in transit.
- Cyber scope — whose systems and whose data are actually covered.
- Auto gaps — personal auto policies commonly exclude business use, so driving to the post office with orders in the back may not be covered by the policy on your own car; check whether HNOA is present.
- Occurrence versus claims-made — Amazon's stated criteria call for an occurrence-based policy for most categories; a claims-made form may not qualify.
- Endorsement availability and cost — whether the additional-insured or other endorsements a requirement asks for are actually available on the quoted form, and at what charge.
- Carrier rating — whether the issuing carrier meets the A− floor Amazon states, before you pay.
- Employer's liability — whether you have it at all, and whether you need stop-gap cover because you employ people in a monopolistic state.
Consider how the wording plays out in practice. A customer alleges a private-label kitchen product caused an injury: whether any policy responds depends on the product, the allegations, the policy form, endorsements, exclusions, and facts — not on the phrase "product liability" appearing in a marketing menu. A pallet of your FBA-bound inventory is destroyed in transit between warehouses: whether that loss is covered depends on your property terms for transit and off-premises stock, the valuation basis, and custody — questions a liability policy never answers. If an insurer or producer cannot show you where the form addresses your scenario, treat that as your answer and keep shopping.
Contract and certificate terms, defined
These are the terms you will meet in an Amazon notice, a lease, or a wholesale contract. You cannot read the document in front of you without them. Where a standard industry form carries the wording, it is named — but your policy may use a non-standard or carrier-proprietary form, and the form actually attached to your quote is what controls.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Certificate holder | The party that receives a copy of the certificate. Being a certificate holder confers no rights under the policy — it is a mailing designation |
| Additional insured | A party given actual rights under the policy by endorsement or policy provision. This is what Amazon's naming requirement is asking for, and it is not the same as being a certificate holder. For a product seller, the standard ISO endorsements are the vendors series — CG 20 15 for a scheduled vendor, or CG 20 44 where an agreement requires it automatically |
| Per occurrence vs. aggregate | Per occurrence is the most the policy pays for a single incident; aggregate is the most it pays across the whole policy period. Amazon's stated floor is $1 million for both, which means a single large claim can exhaust your annual limit |
| Occurrence vs. claims-made | An occurrence form responds to events that happened during the policy period, whenever the claim arrives. A claims-made form responds only to claims made during the period. In the ISO standard series these are two different base forms — CG 00 01 is the occurrence version and CG 00 02 the claims-made version — so this is a form question, not an endorsement question |
| Products/completed operations | The part of a general liability form that answers claims arising from products you have sold and work you have finished. It usually carries its own aggregate limit, and it can be removed entirely by exclusion — ISO publishes CG 21 04 to do exactly that, so confirm it is present rather than assumed |
| Waiver of subrogation | Your insurer gives up its right to recover from a named party after paying a claim. Contracts request it; it usually costs something. On an ISO general liability policy it is added by endorsement, CG 24 04 |
| Primary and non-contributory | Your policy pays first and does not ask the other party's insurer to share. Also usually an endorsement — CG 20 01 in the ISO series — and also usually a charge |
| Employer's liability | Part Two of a workers' compensation policy, covering suits by employees over injuries. Not provided by monopolistic state funds — that is what stop-gap coverage replaces, using the CG 04 41 series on a general liability policy or WC 00 03 03 and WC 34 03 01 on a workers' compensation policy |
| Commercial auto vs. hired and non-owned auto (HNOA) | Commercial auto covers vehicles the business owns and schedules. HNOA covers liability arising from vehicles you rent or borrow, and from employees' own cars used for business — it is liability only, and it does not repair the vehicle |
| Business interruption | Coverage for income lost after a covered property loss, paid on a stated basis for a stated period. It follows the property policy, so if the property loss is not covered, neither is the income |
| Premium audit | The post-term reconciliation of estimated exposure against actual. Where uninsured helpers become your payroll |
| Umbrella / excess liability | A policy sitting above a primary policy's limit. Whether a given umbrella actually sits over a given primary is a form question — ask it explicitly rather than assuming |
| Inland marine | Coverage for movable property — equipment, tools, and goods in transit — that a fixed-location property policy often will not follow off the premises |
| Class code | The classification an insurer assigns to your operations, which drives the rate applied to your payroll or revenue. An inaccurate code affects both price and whether the policy responds to what you actually do |
| Experience modification | A factor above or below 1.0 that adjusts workers' compensation premium up or down based on your own claims history relative to businesses in the same classification |
| Admitted vs. surplus lines | An admitted insurer is licensed by your state and backed by the state guaranty fund if it fails. A surplus-lines insurer is not licensed in the state and carries no guaranty-fund protection — it is often the only market for a harder-to-place product category |
Form designations above are the ISO standard series, named from published form text and professional form references accessed August 6, 2026 (CG 20 15 form text; ISO general liability endorsement index; Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau stop-gap reference). Status: Verified with limitation — the series and their function are documented, but no specific carrier's use of them has been confirmed for this page, and non-standard forms are common.
If a lease, wholesale agreement, or platform notice asks you to accept indemnity language or coverage terms you do not understand, take it to an attorney before you sign. An indemnity obligation can be broader than the insurance backing it, and no policy makes a contract term go away.
Choosing a provider at a glance
Guidance current as of August 6, 2026. Every pick is an option to quote — never a promise of coverage, eligibility, or price.
Because no named set of providers currently passes our full same-field evidence gate, the picks below describe the profile to shortlist for each situation rather than naming vendors:
- Best for a solo, low-hazard reseller: an online quote route that publishes a current e-commerce appetite and will show its product-liability treatment in writing.
- Best for a private-label brand or importer: an assisted route through a licensed agent or broker who works product-liability and import-chain risks and will walk the form's exclusions with you.
- Best for a seller holding significant inventory: a package (BOP-style) quote path that documents location, off-premises, and transit property terms rather than gesturing at them.
- Best for a seller facing a platform proof deadline: a route that shows you, in writing, its certificate and additional-insured endorsement workflow and confirms its carrier meets the stated rating floor.
- Best for a seller making a first hire: a workers' compensation route that files in your state — or, in a monopolistic state, a state-fund account plus a liability carrier that will write stop-gap employer's liability.
| Your situation | Shortlist move | Confirm in the quote |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon notice in hand, deadline approaching | Quote to the published fields, and read your account wording to confirm them for your marketplace | Limits and deductible against the stated caps; exact additional-insured naming; endorsement availability and cost; carrier rating; certificate workflow and format |
| Private-label or importing, growing revenue | Assisted route (licensed agent/broker) alongside one online comparison for reference | Product-category treatment and exclusions; recall/territory handling; supplier and sourcing questions; total annual cost with fees |
| Home-based solo seller with rising inventory | Package-style quote path plus a read of your homeowners policy's business-property limits | Location and off-premises limits; transit terms; valuation basis; any lease or platform proof fields |
| First hire made, or regular deliveries starting | Confirm your obligation with your state's authority first; then add workers' comp and auto/HNOA to your existing quote routes | Whether your state is monopolistic; stop-gap employer's liability availability and cost; class codes; payroll-audit terms; business-use treatment of the vehicles actually driven |
| No insurer will write your product category | Ask a broker with surplus-lines access; the admitted market is not the only market | Whether the placement is admitted or surplus lines, and what that means for state guaranty-fund protection if the insurer fails; whether the carrier still meets the platform's rating floor |
| Over the threshold and currently uninsured | Bind valid coverage first, then request proof. Nothing on this page or anywhere else produces acceptable proof without a bound policy | That coverage begins when it is bound — it cannot be backdated to pick up a loss that already happened. Report any known incident to your insurer as soon as you have one |
| A carrier will not issue the additional-insured endorsement the platform requires | Treat this as a disqualifier for that quote, not a negotiation. Go back to market | Whether the endorsement is unavailable on that form generally, or only for your category — the answer changes which markets are worth trying |
| The mandated limits cost more than you can carry | Price the required configuration anyway, then look at where the cost actually sits — deductible, payment plan, or a primary-plus-excess structure reaching the same limit | Whether a higher deductible (up to the $10,000 platform cap) closes the gap; whether excess or umbrella layered over a smaller primary is cheaper than one policy at the full limit and still satisfies the naming and rating criteria |
| Non-renewed, or a claim has changed your picture | Assisted route only; disclose the history up front | How the loss history is being rated; whether any market declines outright; what documentation improves the answer next renewal |
One scorecard for every candidate: reuse the quote-preparation checklist as your per-provider comparison card — put the same inputs to every option and compare the written answers on the same fields, rather than inventing a new list per provider.
Keeping coverage after you are covered
Maintenance guidance current as of August 6, 2026.
Buying the policy is the middle of the job, not the end. Four things need a calendar entry.
Renewal and continuous proof. Your obligation under the platform rule does not end when the certificate is accepted, and it does not switch off when sales fall below the threshold. Diarise your renewal at least 45 days out so a new certificate exists before the old one expires — your insurer must give Amazon 30 days' notice of cancellation, modification, or nonrenewal, which means a lapse is visible whether or not you report it.
When your business changes, tell your insurer before the renewal. A new product category, a first employee, a leased unit, a second marketplace, a delivery vehicle, or a large jump in revenue can all change eligibility, price, or whether the form still responds. Waiting until the audit or the claim to mention it is the expensive path.
Sub and helper certificates. Re-collect them every time a policy period ends, not every time you remember. Keep them filed with your accounting records for the audit.
Audit preparation. Before the auditor asks, assemble: actual revenue for the term by category; payroll by class and state; every certificate from everyone you paid to do work, with dates covering their work period; your subcontractor and contractor payment ledger; and vehicle and driver records if auto is on the policy. Sellers who keep these current rarely get a surprise bill; sellers who reconstruct them afterwards usually do.
Frequently asked questions
Does every Amazon seller need business insurance?
No. Amazon's requirement attaches when your gross proceeds exceed USD 10,000 in a month on Amazon.com, or whenever Amazon requests proof — and it applies to defined accounts, so your marketplace and account type matter. Below that, no platform rule compels you, though coverage may still be worth carrying: a product-injury claim does not check your sales volume first. Read your authenticated account wording for the version that governs you, and see our Amazon seller insurance requirements page for the rule in full.
How much liability insurance does Amazon require?
At least USD 1 million per occurrence and USD 1 million in aggregate. Two fields at that limit cause most rejections: the deductible must be no greater than $10,000 and must appear on the certificate, and the issuing insurer must carry an AM Best or S&P rating of A− or better. The full field set — policy type, scope of cover, insured naming, and the exact additional insureds — is in the requirement table. Verified against Amazon-published sources August 6, 2026; non-US marketplaces use different amounts.
Does FBA include insurance for my business or inventory?
Do not assume it does. Fulfillment by Amazon is a logistics and custody service, not a policy protecting your business or your liability. On stock specifically, Amazon's FBA Service Terms — the redlined BSA copy used throughout this page, whose FBA language matched other current Amazon-published copies on August 6, 2026 — are explicit: if units are lost or damaged in storage, reimbursement under the FBA Guidelines is your sole remedy and Amazon's total liability (§F-4), and Amazon disclaims the duties of a bailee or warehouseman (§F-12). Treat your own property and liability coverage as separate questions answered by your own policy's wording.
Does general liability automatically cover product claims?
No policy name guarantees a response. Product claims may be within, endorsed onto, limited by, or excluded from a general liability form depending on the form, your products, your role in the product chain, and the facts of the claim. Separately, general liability forms commonly exclude the cost of your own defective product even where they cover the injury it caused. Ask the insurer to show how the quoted form treats your specific products, and confirm the products/completed operations coverage is actually on the policy rather than excluded.
Do I need workers' comp for my online store?
Your state decides, and the answer changes with employee count, worker status, and owner elections — there is no national rule. Start with your state's authority. One structural point applies before any threshold question: in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming you cannot buy workers' compensation from a private insurer at all, and those state funds do not provide employer's liability, so you need a separate stop-gap endorsement on your liability policy.
Can I keep inventory at home under my homeowners policy?
Often not safely: homeowners policies commonly cap or exclude business property, and coverage varies by policy and insurer. Review your actual homeowners wording and the business-property options before assuming stock at home is covered. Our home-based business insurance guide covers the boundary in detail.
Can a COI make Amazon an additional insured?
No. A certificate of insurance summarizes information about a policy; it does not create, extend, or amend coverage. Additional-insured status comes from an endorsement or policy provision, and the exact entities to name are set by the current requirement's wording. Request the endorsement from your insurer or producer, then have the certificate reflect what the policy actually provides. A certificate holder, by contrast, merely receives the document and gains no rights under the policy.
How fast can I get a certificate of insurance?
Conditionally: certificates are commonly issued anywhere from the same day to a few business days after a policy binds — never before. The real clock is the slowest dependency: complete quote inputs, underwriting review, payment or deposit, processing of any additional-insured, waiver-of-subrogation, or primary/non-contributory endorsements, and the certificate-holder details from the requesting party. A COI is evidence of a bound policy, never a substitute for one, and no legitimate route provides proof without valid coverage.
How much does Amazon seller insurance cost?
No verified Cover My Trade premium sample is currently published for this trade; a dated sample with its full documented profile (state, operations, limits, deductible, as-of date) will appear once captured. Until then, the honest answer is the drivers, ranked: your product category and your role in the product chain move the price hardest, revenue sets the rating base, and limits, deductible, and loss history do the rest — see which cost drivers move your price most. The dated provider figures on this page are channel-specific evidence with stated methods — samples of their populations, never averages or guaranteed quotes.
Why did I get an audit bill?
Because your policy was priced on estimated revenue or payroll and reconciled against your actual figures after the term. The most common driver for sellers is people: anyone you paid to pack, photograph, prep, or ship who cannot produce their own insurance certificate for the period they worked can be charged to you as payroll. See the audit section for what to collect and when.
Amazon rejected my certificate — what now?
Almost always a document problem rather than a coverage problem, and almost always fixable without changing policies. Work through why certificates get rejected row by row: name match, deductible amount and whether it appears on the face, occurrence versus claims-made, carrier rating, products/completed operations, additional-insured wording, and policy dates. Fix the document with your producer and resubmit through the official route. If the problem turns out to be that the coverage genuinely is not there, that is a re-quote, not a reissue.
Your next step
Open your current Amazon notice or the Seller Central insurance page and copy its exact fields — policy type, limits, deductible cap, insured naming, insurer rating, proof format, and deadline — then compare them against the published values on this page and record which version your account states. Complete the quote-preparation checklist, request written quotes through the route that fits your profile, and compare forms, endorsements, limits, deductibles, carrier ratings, and total annual cost — not headline monthly prices. Bind valid coverage first; only then request the certificate and any endorsements the requirement actually asks for, and submit through the official route. Requirement status and figures on this page carry their as-of dates — recheck the platform rule on the day you act.
How this page is maintained. Every dated claim above carries its source and the date it was checked. The Amazon requirement fields are scheduled for recheck by September 6, 2026 and again on the day this page is published; provider figures by October 20, 2026; state and territorial workers' compensation routing semiannually and immediately on any known change. Where a governing source becomes inaccessible or two current sources conflict, the affected field is labeled with its status rather than smoothed into a confident sentence — the trigger conflict and the two provider labeling notes above are examples. If a figure here no longer matches the governing source when you check it, the governing source is right and this page is stale: report it to hello@covermytrade.com, and we will correct the page and restamp its check date.
This page is written and maintained by the Cover My Trade editorial team against our published editorial and data standards. Our basis for what appears here is documentary: every consequential claim is traced to a governing or first-party source, dated, and given a verification status. This page has not yet had review by a licensed commercial-lines producer or an attorney; when that review is completed, it will be credited here by name, role, and date. That is why coverage questions on this page route you to one rather than resolving in our voice, and why several coverage rows carry a "policy-form review pending" status.
Cover My Trade is an independent editorial resource, written and maintained by the Cover My Trade editorial team. We are not an insurer, agency, broker, advisor, or certificate issuer, we hold no insurance producer license, and we do not place, bind, or sell coverage. No provider named on this page is a partner, sponsor, or client, and no provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion. How this page is funded: Cover My Trade is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links; compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked, and if a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. Nothing on this page is insurance, legal, or tax advice.
Sources and last verified date
Last verified: August 6, 2026
Next review: September 6, 2026
- Commercial liability insurance requirements — Amazon Seller Central — the governing statement of Amazon's insurance requirement for US sellers.
- Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement (redlined) — Amazon — BSA §9 insurance terms and FBA Service Terms provisions.
- Seller Forums staff post on insurance naming — Amazon — the exact additional-insured naming Amazon staff publish.
- Amazon seller insurance costs — Insureon — dated marketplace cost evidence for sellers.
- Amazon seller insurance — Insureon — marketplace coverage detail for the seller profile.
- E-commerce insurance — Simply Business — a second marketplace's published e-commerce program evidence.
- Get business insurance — U.S. Small Business Administration — category framing for small-business coverage types.
- Additional insured — vendors endorsement CG 20 15 — IIAT specimen — the vendor endorsement form discussed for seller naming.
- ISO general liability endorsement index — Rough Notes — form-family reference for additional-insured endorsements.
- Employers liability — stop gap — Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau — the monopolistic-state employers-liability gap for sellers with staff.
- Directory of state workers' compensation officials — U.S. Department of Labor — routing for state workers-comp rules.
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