Amazon Seller Insurance for UK Sellers
UK sellers reach Amazon.com through Amazon’s global selling tools, but a UK liability policy is rarely built for American lawsuits. Here is what changes when your products cross the Atlantic.
Why UK cover stops at the Atlantic
UK business insurance is written mainly for UK risks. Most policies limit cover to the United Kingdom, sometimes the EU as well, and many exclude North America outright because US legal costs and jury verdicts run so high. On older schedules you will find products knowingly exported to the USA and Canada listed as a separate item, switched on only when declared.
Selling on Amazon.com is knowingly exporting. If your schedule does not extend to US and Canadian claims, a lawsuit from an American buyer falls outside it, however clean your UK claims record. The EU extensions many sellers added for European trade do not help here either; they widen the map eastward, not westward.
The UK market has noticed the gap. At least one major insurer now lists a product built only for small UK online sellers shipping to the United States and Canada through Amazon, sold through select brokers. Specialist products like that exist because standard UK cover does not reach those sales.
Meeting Amazon.com’s terms from Britain
Amazon.com reviews every certificate against one checklist, wherever the seller is based: at least $1 million per occurrence and in aggregate, Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees as additional insured, cover for every product on the US store, and an insurer rated A- or better by S&P or AM Best. Our requirements page has the full list, including the 30-day deadline after you pass $10,000 in a month.
Two UK habits trip up certificates. The first is limits in sterling: Amazon’s minimum is in US dollars, so ask how the certificate will show the limit and make sure it reads at least $1 million. The second is the company name. A limited company trading under a brand has to appear on the policy exactly as its registered name appears in Seller Central.
From November 2, 2026, Amazon also drops the sales trigger for enhanced-safety categories. A UK beauty brand with a small US launch needs the policy from its first listing.
Post-Brexit paperwork on the way out
A UK business exporting goods needs a UK EORI number, which starts with GB, to make customs declarations. HMRC issues it free, and most sellers who already ship to the EU have one. Keep the number with your quote file, since it ties the exporter on your shipping papers to the company named on the policy.
On the US side, Amazon will not act as importer of record. UK sellers usually register as a non-resident importer through a US customs broker, use a forwarder’s importer service, or set up a US company to import. Each choice puts a different name on the customs entry, and that name is the first one a US plaintiff finds.
Tell us which route you use. A UK company acting as its own importer carries the importer’s share of product liability itself; when a US company imports, the policy has to answer for that company too.
What UK brands send to the US
UK sellers on Amazon.com commonly list beauty and skincare, home and garden, pet products, gifts and apparel accessories. Beauty and skincare join Amazon’s enhanced-safety group on November 2, 2026, so for those brands the insurance question arrives with the first sale rather than at $10,000 a month. Our cosmetics and beauty guide covers that category in detail.
Underwriters ask how a UK product was tested and labeled. UK and US rules differ on cosmetic ingredient listing, warnings and small-parts labeling for children’s goods, so a product that sells well at home still needs its US labeling reviewed before it lists on Amazon.com.
Electricals deserve a note. UKCA and CE marks carry little weight with a US jury, and goods with plugs or lithium batteries draw the closest questions from underwriters, starting with which US standards the test lab applied.
When Amazon flags a UK certificate
First certificates from UK sellers often come back from Amazon, and the reasons repeat. The company name on the policy differs from the registered name in Seller Central. The limit appears in sterling. The additional insured wording names Amazon EU or Amazon UK instead of Amazon.com Services LLC. Or the certificate lists the endorsement without the endorsement itself attached.
Deductibles cause the next most trouble. UK schedules often carry a products excess sized for UK claims, and Amazon caps the deductible it accepts and wants it printed on the certificate. Check the current deductible rule in Seller Central before you bind, and ask your insurer to state the deductible plainly.
Fix every item in one upload rather than one at a time, keep the rejection email, and send it to us with the certificate so we can see exactly which line Amazon queried.
Working five to eight hours apart
London runs five hours ahead of New York and eight ahead of California for most of the year. A request that lands late in the US day is waiting for you the next morning, and a reply sent before lunch in London reaches us as our day begins.
To quote, we need your registered company name and number, the address in Seller Central, US sales to date and projected, the product list, and who imports. If you already hold a UK policy with a US extension, send the schedule too; sometimes the cleanest answer is a separate US policy that leaves your UK cover untouched.
We work with hundreds of Amazon sellers, and we place US product liability for UK sellers whether the Amazon account belongs to the UK company or a US subsidiary. Our international sellers guide and the Amazon seller insurance hub cover the rest.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Will my UK public and products liability policy satisfy Amazon.com?
Rarely as it stands. Most UK schedules exclude or limit US and Canadian claims, and Amazon.com also needs its additional insured wording, a $1 million limit and an insurer rated A- or better.
Can a UK limited company buy US product liability through Mithril1?
Yes. We place US product liability for UK sellers in the UK company’s own name, or for a US subsidiary if that company holds the Amazon account.
My policy limit is in pounds. Is that a problem for Amazon?
Amazon states its minimum in US dollars. Ask your insurer how the certificate will show the limit, and make sure it reads at least $1 million per occurrence and in aggregate.
Do I need an EORI number to sell on Amazon.com?
If you ship goods out of the UK yourself, yes. Export declarations need a UK EORI number starting with GB. Stock that ships to the US straight from a factory elsewhere follows that country’s export paperwork instead.
Does a UK beauty brand need insurance before reaching $10,000 a month?
From November 2, 2026, yes. Cosmetics are an enhanced-safety category on Amazon.com, so the $1 million policy applies at any sales level, for new and existing listings.