How Much Does Insurance for Amazon Sellers Cost?
Published 2026 premium figures for every policy an Amazon seller carries, from product liability to workers’ comp and recall, and how the total grows with the business.
What a seller’s insurance budget covers
Most cost pages for Amazon sellers stop at the liability policy Amazon asks for. A seller’s real insurance budget is wider: that liability policy, stock wherever it sits, freight from the factory, the Seller Central login, the people who pack boxes and, for larger brands, an umbrella and recall cover. This guide adds those lines up by stage of business.
Every figure below is published industry data: national small-business insurers’ and marketplaces’ cost pages, their median or average premiums, and the rates California’s workers’ comp rating bureau sets. None of it is a Mithril1 quote. The low ends describe solo and very small businesses at standard limits, and established sellers pay well above them.
Liability: the policy Amazon asks for
Amazon requires commercial liability carrying $1,000,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 in the aggregate once monthly gross proceeds top $10,000, and starting November 2, 2026 sellers in its enhanced safety categories need it at any sales level. In practice it is a general liability policy that includes products-completed operations, with Amazon added as additional insured. Each condition, with the endorsement wording, is in Amazon’s insurance requirements in full.
Across online stores in general, the published liability figures sit low. Simply Business reports a median of $325 a year from policies sold in late 2024, Insureon about $500 a year at $1 million/$2 million limits, and The Hartford an average of $810 a year for general liability that includes product cover. Amazon-specific sources run higher, around $500 to $1,500 a year for a basic $1 million policy and $2,000 to $3,000 and up in higher-risk categories, because they price physical goods shipped to buyers nationwide. Our product liability cost guide breaks this line down by category, sales and deductible.
Inventory, freight and cyber
Stock sitting in your garage, a storage unit or a 3PL’s racks is protected by commercial property or an inventory floater, not by the liability policy. Insureon puts the average business owner’s policy for e-commerce at $1,136 a year with $1 million/$2 million limits and a $500 deductible, a bundle of liability and property. MoneyGeek’s October 2026 figures put standalone commercial property at about $3,148 a year for businesses with one to four employees. The property limit, which should track your peak inventory value, is the main lever; our e-commerce inventory insurance guide explains how reporting forms handle seasonal peaks.
Cargo cover is priced per shipment or on an annual open policy. One large freight forwarder publishes a premium of 0.40% of the shipment’s value, counting the commercial invoice plus freight and duty, so a container worth $60,000 on that basis costs about $240 to cover. Cyber for a small online store is published at a median of about $250 a year by Simply Business, an average of $683 by Insureon and about $1,657 at a $1 million limit by MoneyGeek.
Workers’ comp for a California seller
Workers’ comp follows payroll rather than sales, so it starts the day you hire your first packer. Under the WCIRB’s advisory pure premium rates for policies from September 1, 2026, class 8018, Stores — wholesale, whose description names goods such as cosmetics, toys and food supplements, carries $5.927 per $100 of payroll, and class 8810, clerical office employees, carries $0.214. A third-party warehouse that stores goods for others on a fee basis sits in class 8292 at $7.971.
Pure premium excludes the insurer’s expenses and profit, so the price on a quote sits above it, and an experience modifier adjusts it once your payroll is large enough to qualify. National e-commerce figures sit at a median of $516 a year from Simply Business and an average of $1,036 from Insureon, both reflecting very small payrolls. Our workers’ compensation page covers what the policy pays.
Umbrella and recall for larger brands
When a retailer, a distributor or Walmart asks for higher limits, an umbrella sits over the liability policy. Insureon reports a median umbrella premium of $86 a month for small businesses, $67 for retailers and $109 for manufacturers, with roughly $40 a month added for each further $1 million, and annual premiums on its platform running from about $400 to over $7,000. An importer whose product liability is rated high sits toward the top of that spread, since the umbrella carrier prices the same products.
Product recall is a separate policy for the cost of pulling, shipping back and destroying goods, which product liability leaves out. Published pricing is thin: one specialist underwriter launched small-business recall policies in 2023 starting at $300 a year, with limits up to $5 million. Real recall quotes are built on sales, category and the recall limit a retailer sets, so a children’s or ingestible brand sees far more than that starting figure. Our product recall guide covers what underwriters ask.
Three seller stages, three budgets
A new private-label seller just past the $10,000 trigger, shipping through FBA from home with no employees, usually needs the liability policy, property for any stock at home and cargo on imports. Built from the published figures above, that program runs roughly $800 to $2,500 a year, most of it liability.
A growing brand with a small warehouse or a 3PL, a few employees and $1 million to $2 million in sales adds workers’ comp, a real property limit and usually cyber, and its program moves into five figures with workers’ comp and product liability as the largest lines. An established importer selling on Amazon, Walmart and wholesale accounts adds the $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate Walmart asks for past $100,000 in sales over 12 months, an umbrella for retail buyers and recall cover, each on top of a bill that already scales with sales and payroll.
A worked example: a growing California brand
Take a brand selling $1.5 million a year with $150,000 of warehouse payroll in class 8018 and $60,000 of office payroll in class 8810. At the September 1, 2026 advisory rates, workers’ comp starts from about $8,891 for the warehouse staff and $128 for the office, roughly $9,019 in pure premium before insurer expenses. Product liability at the 0.25% to 1% of revenue rule of thumb one seller education site uses lands between $3,750 and $15,000. Importing $400,000 of goods a year, counting invoice, freight and duty, adds about $1,600 of cargo premium at 0.40%.
Those three lines alone come to about $14,369 at their low ends. Add property for peak stock, cyber and the taxes on any surplus lines policy, and the published data puts this seller past $15,000 a year before a single claim. A brand selling simple kitchen storage lands near the bottom of each range; one selling lithium battery products or supplements lands near the top.
Costs beyond the premium
Deductibles come first. Trade press reports that Amazon caps the liability deductible at $10,000 and wants it shown on the certificate, so confirm today’s deductible limit in Seller Central when you choose yours. On property and cargo the deductible comes out of your cash on each claim, so set it at a figure one bad month can absorb.
Certificates and endorsements take time and sometimes fees. Amazon wants itself named as additional insured by endorsement, Walmart wants Walmart Inc. named, and each retail account brings its own wording, while every change of legal name or address means a fresh certificate. Then comes the audit: liability rated on sales and workers’ comp rated on payroll are estimated up front and trued up after the term, so a year of strong growth brings an extra premium bill months later. Set money aside for it rather than treating the deposit as the full price.
What moves your total up or down
Your total runs higher with enhanced safety categories such as children’s products, ingestibles and lithium battery goods; with sales growing faster than your declared estimate; with prior claims or recalls; with goods made by an overseas factory that has no US presence; with the higher limits retailers demand; and with payroll in warehouse classes rather than office ones.
It runs lower with simple, low-hazard goods, accurate sales and payroll estimates, lab reports and supplier contracts that make the factory answerable for defects, a clean loss history and a property limit matched to real peak stock. We work with hundreds of Amazon sellers; between two similar ones, the budgets most often split over category and over how well their paperwork shows the risk. Send us your product list, sales by channel and payroll by job, and we will show where your program sits against these published ranges. Our Amazon seller insurance hub links each coverage guide.
A few useful answers
Common questions
What is the total insurance cost for a new Amazon seller?
Built from published 2026 figures, a solo seller just past Amazon’s $10,000 trigger pays roughly $800 to $2,500 a year in total, most of it for the $1 million liability policy. Higher-risk categories land above that.
Does Amazon require workers’ comp or cyber insurance?
No. Amazon’s rule asks for commercial liability only. California requires workers’ comp once you have employees, and cyber, cargo and property are choices you make for your own risk.
How is workers’ comp priced for a seller’s warehouse staff in California?
Per $100 of payroll by class. Class 8018 carries a WCIRB advisory pure premium rate of $5.927 from September 1, 2026, and clerical class 8810 carries $0.214, both before the insurer adds its expenses.
Why did I get an insurance bill after my policy term ended?
That is the premium audit. Liability rated on sales and workers’ comp rated on payroll are trued up to your actual figures, so growth during the year adds premium.
Does selling on Walmart as well as Amazon raise the cost?
A little. Walmart asks for a $2,000,000 aggregate once you pass $100,000 in sales over 12 months, and the higher aggregate adds premium. One policy can name both marketplaces as additional insured.