Updated: Amazon Suspension Risk For The Uninsured

UPDATE 08/02/22: A win for sellers! Amazon has reversed its recent policy change requiring sellers earning under $1M in sales to obtain a $0 deductible insurance plan citing the challenges they face in procuring zero-deductible policies as the primary reason for the reversal.

Less than 2 months ago, we told you about changes to the A-to-Z Guarantee. Well, a lot has changed in that short time.

This is important, so pay close attention. Amazon may restrict you from certain selling categories or even suspend your account for non-compliance of this policy.

You can read the full policy on Seller Central, but the cliff’s notes are this: if you’ve sold $10,000 or more in any one month, you need business insurance of at least $1 million in aggregate. Previously this was set as any seller who hit $10,000 for any 3 consecutive months.

Further, it is not enough just to have it. (I’ve had this insurance since I started selling in 2014.) You now need to ensure Amazon is named as an additional insured by way of a certificate of insurance.

I’m not done yet. You also need to provide Amazon with proof of this insurance by uploading the certificate into your Seller Central account.

Do this by going to Settings > Account Info > Business Insurance and then following the steps to submit your proof of insurance.

Now, if you’ve already had a certificate of insurance created for Amazon in the past, that likely will not be valid as Amazon has changed it’s requirements for what may be listed on the additional insured certificate. If you do not have the name listed correctly, your proof of insurance will be rejected.

The name to be listed on the certificate is:

“Amazon.com Services LLC., and its affiliates and assignees”

Anything else will be rejected. You also need to meet the minimum requirements for coverage. For full details on exactly what you need, check out Amazon’s insurance requirements page.

You can usually just send this list of requirements to your insurance provider and they can provide you with what you need. But move quickly as, since this policy took effect on September 1st, 2021, so you technically have until September 30th to submit your insurance before your account or selling privileges are at risk.

For most sellers who already have this insurance, getting a certificate is usually quite easy, taking only a matter of hours to receive from your provider via email.

But for those who need a new policy, this may prove challenging, especially as all other sellers on Amazon are likely attempting the same just now.

You may, however, try using the new Amazon Insurance Accelerator program where Amazon has teamed up with insurance providers to make the process of acquiring insurance smooth and easy for sellers.

It has always been good business for any company to be properly insured, now Amazon makes it a verifiable requirement. For more on what types of insurances might be valuable to eCommerce sellers, check out our blog post on Amazon Seller Insurance Tips.