Amazon Seller Insurance for Canadian Sellers
Canadian sellers often list on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com from one account. Each store sets its own insurance rule, and the Amazon.com rule decides what your US policy needs.
Two stores, two insurance rules
Amazon’s North America unified account lets a Canadian business list on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com, plus Mexico and Brazil, from one login. The insurance rules do not merge the same way. Amazon.ca asks for coverage once monthly sales on the Canadian store reach the 10,000 mark, or when Amazon requests it, with limits of at least CAD 1 million. Amazon.com asks for coverage within 30 days of passing $10,000 in gross proceeds in a month, with at least $1 million per occurrence and in aggregate.
A policy built for Amazon.ca does not automatically satisfy Amazon.com. The Canadian programs sold to Amazon.ca sellers speak to the Canadian store, while Amazon.com reads its own list: Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees as additional insured, an insurer rated A- or better, and cover for every product on the US store. Our Amazon seller insurance requirements page walks through each line.
Keep the two certificates apart in your records. When Amazon.com flags a policy, the fastest fix starts with knowing which document went to which store. The renewal dates drift apart too, since the two policies rarely start on the same day, so diary both expiry dates with a month’s warning.
What a Canadian CGL leaves open
Most Canadian businesses already carry commercial general liability, and that is a sound starting point rather than the finish line. Three parts of the wording matter for Amazon.com: the coverage territory, any exclusion for products exported to the United States, and whether your US sales appeared on the application when the policy was priced.
Undeclared US revenue is the gap to close first. A policy rated on Canadian sales alone and then asked to answer a lawsuit over a product sold on Amazon.com starts a difficult conversation at exactly the wrong moment. Declaring Amazon.com sales at the outset keeps the policy and the business in step.
Some Canadian sellers keep their home CGL for local operations and add a US product liability policy written for the Amazon.com account. Others extend one program across both stores. Either approach works, as long as each certificate meets the store it is sent to.
Moving stock across the border
Most Canadian sellers truck inventory into US FBA warehouses across the land border, a far shorter trip than sellers overseas face. CUSMA, the agreement that replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, governs how qualifying goods cross, and your customs broker applies its rules of origin to each shipment.
Amazon does not act as importer of record, so someone else must. Many Canadian companies register with US Customs as non-resident importers, which puts the Canadian company’s name on the entry. Underwriters want that name, because the importer is usually the first US-facing party a plaintiff’s lawyer finds.
On the Canadian side, a CRA business number with an import-export account anchors your export paperwork. Keep it with your quote file; underwriters tie the policy to the Amazon account through the same legal name.
Canadian categories and the November change
Canadian brands on Amazon.com often sell home and kitchen goods, outdoor and winter gear, pet products, personal care and natural health products. Several of those meet the November 2, 2026 change. Cosmetics, ingestibles such as supplements, children’s products and anything with a lithium battery need Amazon’s $1 million policy from that date, whatever your sales.
Meeting Health Canada’s rules at home does not settle the US side. A product sold on Amazon.com answers to US expectations on testing and warnings, and US juries decide US claims. Underwriters ask which US standards your testing lab applied, and whether the US packaging carries the warnings American buyers expect, since bilingual Canadian packaging is designed for a different rulebook.
Winter goods raise their own questions. Heated apparel, battery warmers and space heaters combine lithium cells or heating elements with close contact, so expect the underwriter to ask for battery test reports and the product’s instructions. Heated mittens and other warm gear made for children sit in two enhanced-safety groups at once.
Recalls on both sides of the border
A product liability policy answers lawsuits over injury and property damage. It is not built to pay for pulling stock off shelves, refunding buyers or destroying inventory. When a safety problem surfaces, a Canadian seller can face recall expectations from Health Canada and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission at the same time, while Amazon suspends the affected listings in both stores.
Underwriters ask about recalls in either country, and a past recall is not the end of a quote. Explain what happened, what changed in the product or the factory afterwards, and how many units were affected. A clear account carries more weight than a blank answer.
If your category has a recall history, such as children’s products, heaters or battery goods, ask about product recall cover as a separate line. It sits alongside the Amazon policy rather than replacing any part of it.
Quoting on the same clock
Canadian sellers enjoy one advantage over sellers farther away: the time zones line up. Toronto and Montreal share Eastern time with New York, and Vancouver shares Pacific time with Seattle, so a question asked in the morning can be settled the same afternoon. Phone calls fit inside normal business hours on both sides, which helps when a certificate needs a correction close to an Amazon deadline.
For a quote, send the legal name and address exactly as Seller Central shows them, your split between Amazon.com and Amazon.ca sales, the product list, and the importer of record’s name. If Amazon has already asked for proof, include the date of the request so we can work back from the 30-day deadline.
We work with hundreds of Amazon sellers, and for Canadian businesses the work usually comes down to one question: which policy answers for which store. Our guide for international sellers covers the points every seller outside the US shares.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Does my Amazon.ca insurance satisfy Amazon.com?
Not automatically. Amazon.com has its own checklist, including USD limits, Amazon.com Services LLC as additional insured and cover for every product on the US store, so check the policy against that list before uploading it to the US account.
Can a Canadian company buy US product liability through Mithril1?
Yes. We place US product liability for Canadian sellers whether the Amazon account belongs to the Canadian company or to a US subsidiary.
Should my limits be in Canadian or US dollars?
Amazon.com states its minimum as $1 million per occurrence and in aggregate. A certificate for the US store should show at least that amount in US dollars, whatever currency the policy uses.
What if Amazon.com asks for proof before I have a US policy?
Send us Amazon’s request, its date and your product list straight away. Amazon can deactivate listings or restrict the account when proof is missing, so we start from the deadline and work back.
Do I need a US company to sell on Amazon.com from Canada?
No. A Canadian company can sell on Amazon.com through the unified account and buy US product liability in its own name. Some sellers form a US company for banking or importing, and then the policy follows whichever company holds the account.