Target Plus Seller Insurance
Target Plus invites a select group of brands to sell on Target.com, and its insurance terms arrive with the invitation. Here is how to have a policy ready before the agreement lands on your desk.
How Target Plus works
Target opened Target Plus, its third-party marketplace on Target.com, in February 2019 as a curated program. Rather than letting any seller sign up, Target reached out to the brands it wanted, starting with categories that already sold well on its site, such as sporting goods, toys and home goods. Seller guides still describe it as invite-only, with an application form that starts a review rather than opening an account.
The operating rules those guides report are strict. Partners need a business and a bank account in the United States, price their items at parity with their other online channels, ship each order no later than one day after it arrives, with no more than five days in transit, and ship only to US addresses. Every category needs Target’s sign-off before a listing goes live, and Target can pull a product at any time over a recall, a defect or a safety concern.
For insurance that means two things. You stay the seller of the product, so the product liability is yours, and the limits come from Target’s agreement rather than from a public help page.
What sources say about the limits
Target does not publish its Target Plus insurance terms, and the third-party guides that describe them disagree. One marketplace software help center says partners are expected to carry $5,000,000 of commercial general liability, built either from a single policy or from a primary policy plus excess or umbrella layers. Another seller guide gives a range of $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 by category.
Use those figures for planning, and take the actual number from your Target Plus agreement. When the agreement arrives, read the insurance clause, note the per-occurrence and aggregate limits, the products-completed operations wording and the additional insured language, and send the clause to us before you bind anything.
The gap from Amazon is real either way. Amazon asks for $1,000,000 per occurrence and in the aggregate, as our Amazon seller insurance requirements page explains. A brand that bought a policy only for Amazon should expect Target’s terms to ask for more.
Building the higher limit with an umbrella
Few small brands buy a $5,000,000 primary general liability policy. The common structure is a primary policy at $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 with products-completed operations included, and a commercial umbrella or excess policy above it that follows the primary terms. The help center that reports the $5,000,000 figure says a mix of underlying and excess policies works, and your agreement is where to confirm it.
Check three things on the umbrella. It should sit over the general liability, products included, without its own product exclusion for your categories. It should extend additional insured status to Target the way the primary policy does. And its dates should line up with the primary, so the two certificates expire and renew together.
Price the layer early. An invitation that comes with a 120-day onboarding window, which is what seller guides describe, leaves enough time to market an umbrella properly, as long as the request goes out in the first weeks.
Naming Target and proving coverage
Amazon and Walmart both have sellers name them as additional insured parties, and a guide to Target’s wholesale vendor agreements reports that Target asks the same of its store suppliers. Plan for Target Plus to ask it too. The exact entity, the certificate holder and the way to deliver the certificate are set in the agreement and the onboarding materials, so copy them from there instead of reusing your Amazon or Walmart wording. An endorsement that names the wrong Target company is the kind of error that stalls onboarding.
Ask for the endorsement page along with the certificate. A vendors endorsement or a blanket additional insured endorsement can extend the policy to Target for claims arising from your products, and Target’s terms decide which form it takes. If the agreement asks for primary and non-contributory wording or a waiver of subrogation, those are separate endorsements to request by name.
Recalls, removals and returns
Target’s right to remove a product over a recall, defect or safety issue means a quality problem shows up fast on a Target Plus account. A general liability policy answers claims for injury and damage, and it excludes the cost of recalling or withdrawing products. If a lot has to come down from Target.com and every other channel, the shipping, disposal and replacement costs fall outside the liability policy.
Product recall insurance is written separately for those costs. Brands invited to Target Plus tend to have established catalogs and steady volume, which is the profile where a recall policy deserves a serious look alongside the liability program.
Seller guides also report that Target handles customer returns on Target Plus orders while partners ship them. Returned goods that point to a defect reach Target before they reach you, so watch return reasons in your partner reports and tell your insurer promptly about any injury complaint.
Selling on Target Plus, Amazon and elsewhere
Most Target Plus partners already sell on Amazon, Walmart or their own site. One policy can serve all of them when its limits meet the highest requirement, it names each platform as additional insured in the form each one asks for, and the application reports sales from every channel.
Report Target Plus sales from the first order. Product liability is rated on product sales, and a channel missing from the application invites a coverage argument after a claim. If you also sell to Target’s stores as a wholesale vendor, that relationship runs on a separate vendor agreement, and our page on retailer vendor insurance requirements explains how those terms differ.
What to send for a Target Plus quote
Send the insurance section of your Target Plus agreement or invitation, your product list by category with countries of manufacture, and the past 12 months of sales by channel with a forecast for Target Plus. Add test reports and certificates for regulated products, your warnings and instructions, your current policy with its endorsements, and any claims or injury complaints from the past five years.
Tell us whether you import the goods yourself and who fulfills Target Plus orders. With that we can quote a primary policy and umbrella sized to Target’s limits, list Target the way its agreement asks, and keep your Amazon certificate in line. Our product liability insurance page explains the core coverage, and the Amazon seller insurance hub links the rest of our marketplace guides.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Can I apply to sell on Target Plus?
Target Plus works by invitation. Seller guides describe an application form that starts a review, and Target decides which brands to invite.
How much liability insurance does Target Plus require?
Target sets the limit in its agreement. Third-party guides report figures from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, so read the insurance clause of your own agreement and build the policy to that number.
Can an umbrella policy meet the Target Plus limit?
One marketplace help center reports that a primary policy combined with excess or umbrella layers works for Target Plus. Confirm it in your agreement, and make sure the umbrella follows the primary terms and names Target too.
Will my Amazon seller policy work for Target Plus?
It is the base to build on. Expect to raise the limits, add Target as an additional insured and report Target Plus sales on the application.
Who handles returns on Target Plus orders?
Seller guides report that Target handles customer returns while partners ship the orders. Watch the return reasons for defect patterns and report injury complaints to your insurer.