Scale Your Brand Series: Are All Your Bases Covered?
April 7, 2022
When it comes to insurance-- do you have all your bases covered? In this part of the Scale Your Brand Series we talk with our Seller Velocity sponsor, Well Insurance, about the importance of protecting your brand from liability nightmares that could put your Amazon business at risk and other policies that guarantee your cargo is protected from manufacturing to the warehouse.
[00:00:07] Chris: Hi, everybody. Thanks again for tuning in I'm Chris McCabe of ecommerceChris I'm here with Leah McHugh also of ecommerceChris and co-founder of the Seller Velocity Conference that we're talking about today. We're talking with Matt Lovell of Well Insurance, one of our sponsors. First of all, Matt, thanks for your support for Seller Velocity in Bend, Oregon this April 28th, 29th. Thanks for helping us.
[00:00:30] Matt: You're welcome. I appreciate you asking us and we're proud to be a sponsor. You guys are some of the best in the business, so we're proud to be partners with you.
[00:00:38] Chris: Thanks so much. Yeah. One of the things we're asking our sponsors since this year, the theme is kind of responsible growth of your brand and business. Whether it's on Amazon or, you know, multichannel, what's your top tip that you give sellers that come to you, business owners that ask you, you know, this year, what should I be focusing on in terms of insurance?
[00:00:58] Matt: Probably the first thing as far as from an insurance standpoint is the product's liability. An insured needs to be sure that their assets of business are protected in the event that one of their products causes bodily injury or property damage and they're sued. It's easy to write a, you know, a $15, $2500, $5,000 check to make a lawsuit go away but if you could sue for, you know, for a million dollars, that's a different story. That's bankruptcy for lots of companies. So, it's easier to pay, you know, 500 or a thousand dollars a year for an insurance policy as far as that goes.
[00:01:34] Leah: And on Amazon, it's also a requirement if you're selling over a certain amount.
[00:01:39] Matt: Yes, if you're a professional seller selling over $10,000 on Amazon, you're required to have the certificate of insurance , million dollars in coverage as additional insured and it must include that products liability coverage as well.
[00:01:51] Chris: That's what I was just about to say. We get a lot of queries through our website. I'm sure there'll be people at our conference asking us through, you know, other groups and such saying, where's the cutoff. Am I obligated? Am I not? We answer those questions a lot and we're referring them to Well Insurance because we know you guys deal with this all the time.
[00:02:08] Matt: We appreciate that. We've become the experts in the field. We've been in the e-commerce place for about five years now. And that's equivalent to about 20 years in the brick and mortar space with as quickly, as things change in the e-commerce space, it's very rapidly businesses go from being a small seller to a large seller overnight in a lot of cases. And so insurance is one of those important pieces.
[00:02:15] Leah: Yeah. Other than the liability insurance, is there a policy that you think is often overlooked by e-commerce sellers?
[00:02:08] Matt: I would say that the ocean Marine cargo is probably our next most popular policy that we sell. That basically covers the seller from their manufacturing until, you know, when the products are loaded in the shipping container while they're inbound to the US, while they're at port, we can include the domestic cargo here in the US as well as warehouse coverage for that inventory while it's in a US warehouse.
[00:02:08] Matt: Wow. Yeah. That's you, especially the last couple of years with cargo and shipping, just being a little bit crazy in general logistics. It's definitely worth covering.
[00:03:13] Chris: Are people so consumed with the day to day logistics and supply chain problems that they miss this? They don't know about it. They forget about it?
[00:03:23] Matt: Probably a lot of sellers just don't realize that this type of policies available, most of them will buy it on a per shipment basis from their logistics coming here from the shipping company direct. But if they get to have about a 10 plus shipments per year, it becomes cost-effective to look at an annual policy, that will cover all of the shipments, versus paying on a per shipment basis.
[00:03:46] Leah: Yeah, that makes sense. And then that way, you know, the more shipments you have the more of you're saving on your insurance.
[00:03:51] Matt: Absolutely. And these can be written on a 12 or 24 months of policy. So that's one thing that, you know, the seller can take off their plate for a couple of years. To just know that they've got the coverage, should something happen in that event.
[00:04:03] Leah: Yeah. Awesome.
[00:04:05] Chris: Yeah. Hopefully you're getting a lot of queries about this because as you know, we're constantly preaching compliance and being prepared and staying on top of things so that you don't get the lightning strike type email from Amazon saying, by the way, where's this, you never submitted it. Or we asked you for this, oh, you know, didn't read the message. Didn't read the notification. I assume this isn't something a seller would kind of blow off or delay, but I could be wrong.
[00:04:29] Matt: You would be surprised and it's something that can generally be taken care of in a matter of hours. It's not a couple day, a week process. Generally we can get these things turned around in no time at all, you know, depending on the product, it's pretty quick process.
[00:04:48] Chris: Anything else you'd like to share in terms of things that are going on that you're talking to Amazon businesses about things that you think are overlooked or, you know, just times are crazy, kind of lost in the confusion of selling on Amazon?
[00:05:02] Matt: Just be sure that you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's, be sure you have the correct kind of coverage. A lot of companies are selling e-commerce insurance that will satisfy Amazon. Just because it satisfies Amazon doesn't mean that it will protect you in the event of a lawsuit. If you're importing products, you need to be considered as the manufacturer of those products instead of a retailer. You're not selling someone else's brand you're selling your brand. So you need to be classified correctly if a lawsuit were to pop up. That the company is going to protect you and they're going to take care of defending you in court and then paying that judgment. So that should be found in the package. So just be sure that you're dealing with someone that works with this on a day to day basis. It's important to deal with someone that knows, that speaks e-commerce as well as insurance.
[00:05:51] Leah: Yeah. Definitely.
[00:05:53] Chris: Here Here. Well, thanks for joining us again today. Please join us in Bend, Oregon, April 28th, 29th. And tell your friends to join us as well if they are interested in great content, great speakers in 2022, Amazon's always tricky. We are encouraging every brand to attend that can. So thanks again. Talk to you soon.
[00:06:13] Matt: Thank you.
[00:00:30] Matt: You're welcome. I appreciate you asking us and we're proud to be a sponsor. You guys are some of the best in the business, so we're proud to be partners with you.
[00:00:38] Chris: Thanks so much. Yeah. One of the things we're asking our sponsors since this year, the theme is kind of responsible growth of your brand and business. Whether it's on Amazon or, you know, multichannel, what's your top tip that you give sellers that come to you, business owners that ask you, you know, this year, what should I be focusing on in terms of insurance?
[00:00:58] Matt: Probably the first thing as far as from an insurance standpoint is the product's liability. An insured needs to be sure that their assets of business are protected in the event that one of their products causes bodily injury or property damage and they're sued. It's easy to write a, you know, a $15, $2500, $5,000 check to make a lawsuit go away but if you could sue for, you know, for a million dollars, that's a different story. That's bankruptcy for lots of companies. So, it's easier to pay, you know, 500 or a thousand dollars a year for an insurance policy as far as that goes.
[00:01:34] Leah: And on Amazon, it's also a requirement if you're selling over a certain amount.
[00:01:39] Matt: Yes, if you're a professional seller selling over $10,000 on Amazon, you're required to have the certificate of insurance , million dollars in coverage as additional insured and it must include that products liability coverage as well.
[00:01:51] Chris: That's what I was just about to say. We get a lot of queries through our website. I'm sure there'll be people at our conference asking us through, you know, other groups and such saying, where's the cutoff. Am I obligated? Am I not? We answer those questions a lot and we're referring them to Well Insurance because we know you guys deal with this all the time.
[00:02:08] Matt: We appreciate that. We've become the experts in the field. We've been in the e-commerce place for about five years now. And that's equivalent to about 20 years in the brick and mortar space with as quickly, as things change in the e-commerce space, it's very rapidly businesses go from being a small seller to a large seller overnight in a lot of cases. And so insurance is one of those important pieces.
[00:02:15] Leah: Yeah. Other than the liability insurance, is there a policy that you think is often overlooked by e-commerce sellers?
[00:02:08] Matt: I would say that the ocean Marine cargo is probably our next most popular policy that we sell. That basically covers the seller from their manufacturing until, you know, when the products are loaded in the shipping container while they're inbound to the US, while they're at port, we can include the domestic cargo here in the US as well as warehouse coverage for that inventory while it's in a US warehouse.
[00:02:08] Matt: Wow. Yeah. That's you, especially the last couple of years with cargo and shipping, just being a little bit crazy in general logistics. It's definitely worth covering.
[00:03:13] Chris: Are people so consumed with the day to day logistics and supply chain problems that they miss this? They don't know about it. They forget about it?
[00:03:23] Matt: Probably a lot of sellers just don't realize that this type of policies available, most of them will buy it on a per shipment basis from their logistics coming here from the shipping company direct. But if they get to have about a 10 plus shipments per year, it becomes cost-effective to look at an annual policy, that will cover all of the shipments, versus paying on a per shipment basis.
[00:03:46] Leah: Yeah, that makes sense. And then that way, you know, the more shipments you have the more of you're saving on your insurance.
[00:03:51] Matt: Absolutely. And these can be written on a 12 or 24 months of policy. So that's one thing that, you know, the seller can take off their plate for a couple of years. To just know that they've got the coverage, should something happen in that event.
[00:04:03] Leah: Yeah. Awesome.
[00:04:05] Chris: Yeah. Hopefully you're getting a lot of queries about this because as you know, we're constantly preaching compliance and being prepared and staying on top of things so that you don't get the lightning strike type email from Amazon saying, by the way, where's this, you never submitted it. Or we asked you for this, oh, you know, didn't read the message. Didn't read the notification. I assume this isn't something a seller would kind of blow off or delay, but I could be wrong.
[00:04:29] Matt: You would be surprised and it's something that can generally be taken care of in a matter of hours. It's not a couple day, a week process. Generally we can get these things turned around in no time at all, you know, depending on the product, it's pretty quick process.
[00:04:48] Chris: Anything else you'd like to share in terms of things that are going on that you're talking to Amazon businesses about things that you think are overlooked or, you know, just times are crazy, kind of lost in the confusion of selling on Amazon?
[00:05:02] Matt: Just be sure that you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's, be sure you have the correct kind of coverage. A lot of companies are selling e-commerce insurance that will satisfy Amazon. Just because it satisfies Amazon doesn't mean that it will protect you in the event of a lawsuit. If you're importing products, you need to be considered as the manufacturer of those products instead of a retailer. You're not selling someone else's brand you're selling your brand. So you need to be classified correctly if a lawsuit were to pop up. That the company is going to protect you and they're going to take care of defending you in court and then paying that judgment. So that should be found in the package. So just be sure that you're dealing with someone that works with this on a day to day basis. It's important to deal with someone that knows, that speaks e-commerce as well as insurance.
[00:05:51] Leah: Yeah. Definitely.
[00:05:53] Chris: Here Here. Well, thanks for joining us again today. Please join us in Bend, Oregon, April 28th, 29th. And tell your friends to join us as well if they are interested in great content, great speakers in 2022, Amazon's always tricky. We are encouraging every brand to attend that can. So thanks again. Talk to you soon.
[00:06:13] Matt: Thank you.