Amazon are writing to sellers to inform them that under section 8 of the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement, you must obtain and maintain commercial liability insurance within 30 days after your gross proceeds from your transactions exceed the following applicable insurance threshold during any month (or if otherwise requested by Amazon) and add Amazon as additional insured:
- £4,000 if the Amazon Site is the UK Amazon Site
- €5,000 if the Amazon Site is the DE Amazon Site, the FR Amazon Site, the IT Amazon Site, the ES Amazon Site, the BE Amazon Site or the NL Amazon Site
- kr 50,000 if the Amazon Site is the SE Amazon Site
- PLN 22,500 if the Amazon Site is the PL Amazon Site
This appears to be a recent change – previously it was if your products sold through FBA exceeded Amazon’s insurance threshold, now it applies to all products including Merchant fulfilled orders. This change means that sellers who fulfil orders outside of FBA will only now start to receive demands to put insurance in place.
Effective May 29, 2024, we are updating the Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement. We are updating Clause 8 (Insurance) so that any sales made through Amazon EU stores in any one-month period will be taken into consideration when determining if the Insurance Threshold has been met.
– Changes to the Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement
It’s going to be tricky to shop around due to the stipulation that you add Amazon as additional insured. Plus there’s a requirement for your insurance provider to give Amazon at least 30 days’ notice of cancellation, modification or non-renewal. If you (in all likelihood) do need a new commercial liability insurance policy, Amazon have helpfully identified a choice of one insurance broker that can help you secure liability insurance, called Simply Business.
For US sellers, Amazon say that if you already have a valid commercial liability insurance policy that you bought in the US and you sell in the EU or UK stores, be sure to check with your insurance provider to verify that your policy covers claims made in the EU and the UK.
When you obtain coverage for the products you sell, make sure that your policy fulfills Amazon’s insurance policy requirements. For more information, go to Commercial Liability Insurance Policy.
5 Responses
Cant wait to see what happens when amazon chases Chinese insurers and sellers!
If you look on Simply Business you will see it is actually a trading name for Xbridge Ltd No: 03967717. If you check this out on Companies house, and check the Persons with Significant Control you will see the sole control being under a Minnesota company The Travellers Companies Inc. I wonder if I start checking out The Travellers Company whether I will come across Amazon or Jeff Bazos’ name?
I can’t see any ownership connection between Travellers and Amazon (Travellers acquired Simply Business about 7 years ago)
If you look up the Major Shareholders of Travellers you get a list that starts with Vanguard, Blackrock Inc, State Street Corporation etc.
Obviously Jeff owns most of Amazon, but if you start drilling down other shareholders you get: Vanguard, Blackrock Inc, State Street Corporation etc.
I haven’t time to drill down all of them, I’m just saying that I’m sure there are links.
So how will Amazon check this?