Shopify Sellers Insurance
Insurance for shopify e-commerce sellers
So, you have finally done it, your store is set up, it’s ready to go, your products loaded, payment gateways sorted, all seems very straightforward and to be honest it is, but that’s the easy bit out of the way. With the months of planning products for your website, the excitement of seeing your hard work come to fruition there is just one thing that is essential and that is Shopify Sellers Insurance.
Do I need Shopify Sellers Insurance?
Being blunt.. yes!
Shopify Sellers Insurance isn’t something you just buy off the shelf, if it was it probably wouldn’t have that name in any case. However, do you really need cover if you have a Shopify site?
Do you need cover, well there is nothing that says you must, should you?? Well of course yes!
As a responsible online seller whether it’s your website, or you use one of the many platforms available today, the owners or operators of these sites are not going to protect you should something go wrong, and something going wrong could be if the user of your product was injured or the product caused a loss then, unfortunately, you will be the first in line, not Shopify, not any other third party platform.
When you sell a product your customer quite rightly will come back to you, and in a world where taking legal action is increasingly easy and in many cases free, what have your customers got to lose?
Let’s turn this around a little, if you bought a product from a website and that product either broke and caused injury or it was from a website that sold the latest drinks that made you very ill what would you do, you would firstly complain to the supplier and then perhaps take legal action against them.
Selling your products is no different so with Shopify insurance is essential as it is on or any other platform, it is you that would be on the receiving end of that complaint.
Selling other peoples products, do I need Shopify Sellers Insurance?
As a retailer whether online or not, selling on an e-commerce platform or your own website you are selling other people’s products that have been manufactured elsewhere. You have legitimately bought that product to sell and quite rightly any issues with that product then you are going to just go back to your supplier, and in most instances, the chain should go back through lines of responsibility.
However, this is not always the case.
1. What if the supplier you purchased from has ceased trading?
2. What if the manufacturer of one of your lines has ceased manufacturing?
3. Importing products from the Far east, how reliable is that supplier, and how easy would it be to pass the responsibility back to them?
4. What if you have repackaged the product or branded it as your own label?
Whether you as the retailer or site owner are not responsible or have been negligent in any way there are many instances where you could find you have to defend yourself, without insurance protection behind you this could prove very expensive.
I have my own Shopify website and manufacture my own products
Where you manufacture the buck usually does stop with you, depending on what the product is, if it’s wholely your product made from scratch such as something made from wood, you can’t really blame the supplier of the timber or indeed the tree. Sometimes though depending on which country you are exportingto can have different laws and it always makes sense to arrange your insurance so it covers that country or states requirements.
Do I need insurance if I dropship products from China
Shopify Dropshipping is a great form of business, you just sell the product from your Shopify Website and the dropshipping company delivers your product direct to your customer. Great in theory but how much control do you have over that product and its quality control. Sometimes the relationship with your supplier has been long term, you are happy with the product or you may even have your own private label goods. Just because they are distributed by someone else doesn’t mean that they are responsible for the product. Speak to us about your product, what is it, where is it going.
What should shopify sellers insurance cover?
Product Liability Insurance for anyone selling on Shopify should be the most important cover, Product Liability cover for a Shopify Store will protect you against allegations of loss, damage or injury against a third party, such as a member of the public for instance.
It will pay for the cost of defense and where you as the seller have been found negligent will also pay for any compensation to the limit of the policy.
Do I need Public Liability as a business selling on a Shopify website?
Public Liability and Product Liability will usually come together as one insurance policy, very similar to Product Liability insurance it will protect you and your business against allegations that you have caused loss damage or injury, and will provide defense costs and compensation where you have been found to have been negligent. As an example this might be someone coming to your business premises, falling over boxes, or a badly placed pallet.
Do I need Employers Liability if I am selling on my Shopify Store?
Employers Liability will provide your business with protection should one of your workers or employees become injured whilst carrying out their duty or roll for the business. If they are injured whilst in your employment, even if they work for you voluntarily means that they could take legal action, and that is costly should they be seriously injured.
The fact that you have a Shopify store really is irrelelvent, Employers Liability insurance is a statutory requirement meaning that you must have the cover by law where you employ someone or have someone carry out work for you whether they are paid or not. There are exceptions but to complex to cover here.
My Store only has a few products do I need Insurance
What if you had sold just one product and it went wrong causing injury to your customer? All of the above applies, that one product could cause damage or injury just like the many thousands of products that you will sell in the future. Whilst of course the higher the number of products sold increases the risk, the fact remains that that one product can still be a problem, that’s why having robust insurance for your Shopify e-commerce store should be considered essential.
I only operate my Shopify Store as a side job, do I still need insurance?
Whether you operate your store in your spare time or you sell just a few products on your site then the same applies, even the first product you sell could cause that damage or injury to your customer
What other types of insurance do I need for my business?
As your business grows, moving out that spare room into a purpose-built unit to manage all your stock distribution then cover for the contents, fittings, and fittings, etc.
Paying for insurance each time you send a parcel out, depending on what your business does purchasing additional insurance cover particularly for valuable or large items can become quite expensive over a period, using a carrier or parcel service doesn’t always provide full coverage and therefore a Goods in Transit policy can easily protect your products.
Sending your products WorldWide, Marine Insurance policy can be far more cost-effective than purchasing the carriers’ insurance.
Selling online or just using email or the internet in your business can leave you open to a cyber attack bringing your business to a grinding halt very quickly. These days it’s not a case of if you are hacked its more likely to be when having Cyber Insurance in place can quickly get you back online with the use of experts working on your behalf.
Why use Real Insurance Group for your Shopify Business Insurance?
At Real we have several specialist eCommerce areas, these are specifically around Amazon Sellers Insurance covering all the different types of sellers from small independents to large multinational sellers where their business supplies Amazon who then distribute on their behalf.
For worldwide sales we are specialist brokers supplying all types of businesses in the UK that export their goods to the USA and Canada where specialist USA products liability insurance is required. In fact, we have partners in the USA that can help UK businesses that have a presence their find insurance.
Being specialists we have experienced team members that deal with eCommerce businesses, we are not a call center and we can certainly give advice.
Speak with one of the team members today about obtaining Shopify Sellers Insurance.
Shopify is a great place to set up and run your own website to sell your products, take a look at Shopify now at Shopify.co.uk
Call us today on 0330 058 0260
