Private Label and Importer Liability
Put your brand on a product made overseas and the law starts treating you much like the factory that made it. Here is what private label sellers and importers take on, and how to insure it properly.
When your brand is on the box
A reseller who buys a known brand and lists it on Amazon is a link in someone else’s supply chain. A private label seller is the brand. The factory overseas makes the product to your order, your logo goes on the packaging, and to a customer, a court and a regulator, the product is yours.
Federal safety law says so in plain terms. The Consumer Product Safety Act defines a manufacturer as any person who manufactures or imports a consumer product, and it defines a private labeler as the owner of the brand on a product’s label when the actual maker’s brand does not appear. Both carry duties: reporting hazards to the CPSC, standing behind recalls, and making sure the product meets the safety rules for its category.
State product liability law points the same way. California’s Supreme Court held as far back as 1964, in Vandermark v. Ford Motor Co., that businesses in the chain that brings a product to market can be held strictly liable for injuries from a defect, without proof of carelessness. An injured buyer looks for a defendant within reach of an American court, and an overseas factory rarely is. The US brand owner and importer usually are.
What importing adds to your responsibilities
Customs law gives the importer of record its own set of duties. Under the Tariff Act, the importer of record must use reasonable care to enter, classify and value the goods, and a lapse can delay release of the shipment or bring penalties. A customs broker can file the paperwork, but the responsibility stays with the importer. Records generally have to be kept for five years.
Safety paperwork travels with the goods too. Children’s products need a Children’s Product Certificate backed by testing at a CPSC-accepted third-party lab, issued by the US importer or domestic manufacturer. Many general-use products covered by a CPSC rule need a General Certificate of Conformity. From July 8, 2026, importers, domestic manufacturers and private labelers must file certificate data electronically with US Customs and Border Protection for most regulated products, with goods entering from a foreign trade zone following on January 8, 2027.
Underwriters read this paperwork as evidence of how a brand is run. A seller who can hand over current test reports and certificates for every product presents a far clearer risk than one who relies on the factory’s word.
Why the factory’s insurance is not enough
Many overseas factories carry product liability insurance, and sellers often ask for a copy. Read it closely. A policy bought in the factory’s home country is usually written for claims brought there, and many exclude suits filed in the United States and Canada or set limits that are small beside a US injury claim. A certificate in a language you cannot read, from an insurer you cannot check, tells you very little.
Where the factory does carry cover that responds in the US, ask to be added as an additional insured through a vendors endorsement, the standard form of which is ISO’s CG 20 15. It extends the factory’s policy to the businesses that sell its products, for injury or damage arising from those products. Our guide to additional insured endorsements explains how these endorsements work and what they leave out.
Put the same expectations in your supply agreement: an indemnity clause, a duty to carry product liability cover that responds in the US at stated limits, notice of cancellation, and cooperation in a recall. None of that replaces your own policy. It gives you a second source of money when a claim arrives.
Product liability written for a brand owner
Your own commercial general liability policy, with products and completed operations cover, is the policy that answers when one of your products injures someone. For a private label seller it has to describe the business accurately. Insurers rate an importer or brand owner differently from a retailer who resells finished goods, and a policy written as a simple retailer can leave an uncomfortable gap between what you told the insurer and what you actually do.
List every product category you sell or plan to launch, the countries of manufacture and your sales by channel. Amazon’s own requirements, which we walk through on our Amazon seller insurance requirements page, set the minimum limits and the additional insured wording Amazon expects on the certificate. Brands selling into retail chains or larger wholesale accounts often need higher limits or an umbrella above the primary policy.
Amazon also stands between some claims and the seller. In 2021 Amazon announced that it would pay customers directly for product-related property damage and personal injury claims below $1,000, and step in on larger ones when a seller does not respond. That process settles small claims quickly, but serious injuries still become lawsuits, and those are what your policy limits are for.
Practical steps that protect a private label brand
The same habits that keep a brand out of trouble also make it easier to insure. Test each product against the rules for its category, and retest when the factory changes a material, a component or a sub-supplier. Print lot or batch codes on the packaging so a problem can be traced to one run. Keep warnings and instructions in clear English, and check that your listing claims match what the product actually does, because a listing promise can become the basis of a claim.
Know your factory. Visit or arrange an inspection before a first large order, keep copies of material declarations, and get written notice before any change to the product. If something goes wrong in the market, a clean file shortens every conversation that follows, with Amazon, the CPSC and your insurer. Our guide to product recall insurance covers the separate question of who pays to pull a product back.
What to bring for a quote
We work with private label brands at every stage, from a first product to a full catalog sourced from several countries. For a quote, gather your product list with annual sales by product, the factories and countries of manufacture, current test reports and certificates, any vendors endorsement or factory insurance you hold, your sales by channel, and any past claims or complaints about injury or damage.
If you also sell on Walmart, your own store or wholesale, tell us at the start so one policy can be shaped around the whole business. Our Amazon seller insurance hub links the related guides on certificates, FBA inventory and individual product categories.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Am I the manufacturer if a factory overseas makes my product?
For US safety law, often yes. The Consumer Product Safety Act counts an importer as a manufacturer, and a private labeler whose brand is on the label carries duties of its own. In a lawsuit, the US brand owner is usually the most reachable defendant.
Can I rely on my supplier’s product liability insurance?
Use it as a second layer, not as your main protection. Check that it responds to claims brought in the United States, ask for a vendors endorsement naming your business, and keep your own product liability policy in force.
Who is the importer of record when I ship to Amazon from overseas?
Whoever is named on the customs entry: you, your freight forwarder or a third party. The importer of record carries the customs duties of reasonable care, so agree that role in writing with your forwarder before goods ship.
Does the eFiling rule change my insurance?
The rule itself does not change your policy, but it creates a record of the certificate data filed for each shipment. Underwriters ask about testing and certificates, and having that file ready makes a quote faster.