Amazon Seller Insurance for Australian Sellers
Australian brands selling on Amazon.com face a long sea route, a wide time gap and a home policy that usually stops short of North America. Here is how to close that gap.
The North America exclusion in Australian policies
Most Australian public and products liability policies exclude products sold or supplied to the United States or Canada. Insurers write that exclusion in because the US legal environment is harder on sellers than Australia’s, with larger verdicts and more frequent suits.
Some schedules soften the exclusion for goods that reach North America without your knowledge, and often only while you have no legal presence there. Listing on Amazon.com is a deliberate export, so that carve-back does nothing for an Amazon seller, and forming a US company takes it off the table entirely.
Before your first US listing, tell your Australian insurer. Some add North American products cover by endorsement with a higher excess; many decline. Either way, the policy Amazon reviews has to meet Amazon.com’s own checklist, not the Australian one. Ask for the insurer’s answer in writing and keep it with your schedule.
Amazon.com’s checklist, read from Australia
The US store asks for commercial liability insurance within 30 days of passing $10,000 in gross proceeds in a month, or sooner if Amazon asks. Limits must reach at least $1 million per occurrence and in aggregate, Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees go on by endorsement as additional insured, and the insurer needs an A- rating or better from S&P or AM Best.
Ask which rating an Australian insurer holds before you buy, because Amazon checks it against the certificate. Our Amazon seller insurance requirements page covers the remaining items, from the name match to the notice of cancellation.
The enhanced-safety rule that starts on November 2, 2026 matters for Australian skincare, wellness and baby-product brands, since those lines sit inside Amazon’s list. Brands selling supplements or sunscreen on Amazon.com need the policy at any sales level from that date.
The long route to an FBA warehouse
Most Australian sellers ship by sea to a US West Coast port, then truck stock to FBA or a prep center. The long lead time shapes insurance planning: if earlier stock is already selling, the next container can push you past $10,000 in a month, and Amazon’s 30-day clock starts from there. Arrange cover before the container sails, not after it clears customs.
Amazon does not act as importer of record. Australian sellers either register as a non-resident importer through a US customs broker, hire an importer-of-record service, or form a US company. That choice decides whose name sits on the customs entry and which company the policy has to protect.
The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, in force from 1 January 2005, governs how your broker enters qualifying Australian-made goods. The same origin paperwork tells an underwriter where each product was actually made, so keep commercial invoices and packing lists with your quote papers.
Questions underwriters ask Australian brands
Underwriters start with the product: what it is, who makes it, and where. Many Australian brands design at home and manufacture in Asia, which makes the Australian company the brand owner, and often the importer, in a US lawsuit. Brand owners answer for product claims in US courts even when a contract factory caused the defect. Name the factory and its country on your quote, along with any quality checks you run before goods ship.
The Australian Consumer Law sets the rules at home, and US expectations differ on ingredient disclosure, warnings and testing. Underwriters ask whether the US packaging was reviewed for the US market, and for test reports from labs that work to US standards.
Sunscreen shows the gap clearly. Australia regulates it as a therapeutic good, while the United States treats it as an over-the-counter drug, so an Australian formula still needs US labeling and testing reviewed before it lists on Amazon.com.
Excess, deductible and the words that differ
Australian and US insurance use different words for the same parts of a policy, and the difference shows up on certificates. Your excess is a deductible to Amazon. Public and products liability is commercial general liability in US terms, and a Pty Ltd is the legal entity Amazon matches against the policy.
Amazon caps the deductible it accepts and expects it printed on the certificate. Australian products policies often carry an excess sized for local claims, and an endorsement for North American products often raises it. Check the current deductible rule in Seller Central before you bind, so the excess on your schedule and the deductible Amazon reads are the same figure.
Sales on Amazon.com.au do not count toward the US trigger. Amazon measures the $10,000 threshold on Amazon.com alone, so a brand selling strongly at home can still be under the line in the US, and the reverse.
Quoting across the date line
Sydney sits 14 to 16 hours ahead of New York and 17 to 19 ahead of California, depending on daylight saving at each end. Your Monday morning is our Sunday afternoon, which leaves a short window of shared working hours late in the US day.
With sellers this far ahead, one complete batch of questions works better than a long thread. Send your ABN and the legal name and address as they appear in Seller Central, US sales so far and forecast, the product list with where each item is made, the importer of record, and your current Australian schedule.
We work with hundreds of Amazon sellers, and we place US product liability for Australian companies whether the Amazon account sits with the Pty Ltd or a US entity. Our international sellers guide and the Amazon seller insurance hub cover the questions every seller abroad shares.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Does my Australian products liability policy cover sales on Amazon.com?
Usually not. Most Australian policies exclude products sold or supplied to the United States or Canada, and the carve-back for unknowing exports does not apply to deliberate Amazon.com listings.
Can an Australian company get US product liability through Mithril1?
Yes. We place US product liability for Australian sellers, written for whichever company holds the Amazon.com account, whether that is the Pty Ltd or a US entity.
Do I need to form a US company?
No. An Australian company can sell on Amazon.com and buy US product liability in its own name. Some sellers form a US company to import or bank in the US, and then the policy follows whichever entity holds the account.
Are skincare and sunscreen brands affected by the November 2026 change?
Yes. Skincare falls under cosmetics, one of Amazon’s enhanced-safety categories, so from November 2, 2026 the $1 million policy applies at any sales level. Sunscreen is an over-the-counter drug in the US, so review its US labeling as well.
When should an Australian seller arrange US cover?
Before the stock that will take you past $10,000 a month leaves port, and before your first listing if you sell skincare, supplements, children’s products or lithium-battery goods after November 2, 2026.