Expanding A-to-z Guarantee to protect customers and sellers (US)
Over the years, we have worked together to earn customers’ trust by providing them with a great experience – offering the products they want, ensuring great prices, and providing fast and convenient delivery. The A-to-z Guarantee, which covers the timely delivery and condition of products sold in our store, has also been important to our mutual growth by providing customers with peace of mind when purchasing from sellers.
Today, we are expanding our A-to-z Guarantee to protect both customers and sellers in the unlikely event a defective product sold through Amazon.com causes property damage or personal injury. Beginning September 1, 2021, we will:
- Offer an efficient process for both parties to resolve such claims.
- Pay valid claims less than $1,000 and not seek reimbursement from sellers who have valid insurance.
- Make it easier for sellers to buy insurance at competitive rates through Amazon Insurance Accelerator.
With these innovations, we are enabling customers to shop even more confidently in our store, driving more opportunity for you to continue to grow your business.
Amazon expands A-to-z Guarantee to efficiently resolve defective product claims for customers and sellers
Previously, in the rare case that a customer believed a defective product caused property damage or personal injury, customers approached sellers directly to try to resolve their claim. We have heard from both sellers and customers that the experience can sometimes be frustrating. We have consulted with insurance experts and built a new process to facilitate resolution in a more efficient manner for all parties involved.
Beginning September 1, 2021, for products sold through Amazon.com, Amazon will facilitate resolution of property damage and personal injury claims between the customer, the seller, and their insurance provider. Customers can contact Amazon Customer Service and we will notify the seller and help them address the claim. If a seller does not respond to a claim, Amazon will step in to directly address the immediate customer concern, bear the cost ourselves, and separately pursue the seller. If a seller rejects a claim we believe is valid, Amazon may also step in to address the customer concern; in these cases, sellers will continue to have the opportunity to defend their product against the claim. This streamlined process will save time, money, and effort for both customers and sellers. By standing behind customers and the products in our store, regardless of who sells them, we will help customers feel more confident shopping at Amazon and from sellers like you.
When a customer files a claim, Amazon will combine our advanced fraud and abuse detection systems with external, independent insurance fraud experts to analyze the claim. We will present valid claims to sellers and deny unsubstantiated, frivolous, or abusive claims. By doing this work on behalf of sellers, we save you from having to investigate these claims on your own.
You can read about the process in full here.
Amazon pays for claims under $1,000, saving sellers time and money
Amazon will resolve and pay for valid property damage and personal injury claims against sellers under $1,000 as a concession to customers. Claims under $1,000 account for more than 80% of cases in our store, and Amazon will bear these costs and not seek reimbursement from sellers who abide by our policies and hold valid insurance. These concessions will not affect your order defect rate, and you will be kept informed at every step so you can continue to ensure your products are safe.
Amazon updates seller insurance requirements and launches Insurance Accelerator, making it easier and more affordable for sellers to protect their businesses
Amazon has a long-standing requirement that sellers obtain product liability insurance and name Amazon as an additional insured once they reach $10,000 in sales for three consecutive months on Amazon. We are updating this requirement and effective September 1, 2021, our Business Solutions Agreement will require sellers to obtain product liability insurance and name Amazon as an additional insured once you reach $10,000 in sales in one month on Amazon.com.
If you are a new seller or are an existing seller looking for a new policy, we have worked with an insurance broker to create Amazon Insurance Accelerator, a network of vetted insurance providers to help you easily and affordably secure liability insurance. These insurers can evaluate and if appropriate, offer liability insurance at competitive rates to qualifying sellers. We will continue to expand Amazon Insurance Accelerator to include more providers over time. You can learn more and contact the providers here. If you already have insurance, please confirm it is up-to-date and saved on the Business Insurance page in Seller Central.
Amazon stands behind you and the hundreds of millions of products our sellers offer customers. With the expanded A-to-z Guarantee, we’re proud to continue to partner with you to provide customers with peace of mind every time they shop in our store and to help you increase sales and grow your businesses.
Note:
We opened a topic here to collect questions related to the insurance requirement. Please go there and post queries about commercial liability insurance and the insurance accelerator.
SEAmod
Hello Sellers,
A lot of you have posted here asking questions about this launch. We want to emphasize these points:
- Can I bring my own insurance? Definitely, as long as it meets our insurance requirements. The Amazon Insurance Accelerator panel is there to help you easily find insurance, but you can bring your own insurance.
- Is Amazon taking a cut from the Insurance Accelerator insurers? Not a penny. The transaction is between you and the insurance provider you choose to go with; we do not receive any commission or referral fees from Amazon Insurance Accelerator.
- Is Amazon going to charge me for claims under $1K? No. As long as you have insurance, we will handle and pay valid claims under $1K, which we know from past data make up 80% of claims filed. We’re trying to make these claims stress-free for you.
- What types of claims are eligible for this process? Only valid property damage or personal injury claims that can be proven to have been caused by a defective product are eligible for this process. This will not cover any property damage or personal injury resulting from the use of a product that is not defective.
Thanks,
Susan
Seller_KDApSiPpJnKh7
“our advanced fraud and abuse detection systems”
Eh? …I’m lost for words.
Seller_U3288bpDyMtbp
Hmmm…
I agree that the seller should respond, but doesn’t Amazon already ‘pursue’ the seller by approving A-Z claims without actually taking the seller’s evidence into account?
I’ve been fairly lucky so far in that I haven’t been abused by the A-Z process, but I lost all ability to report buyers who abuse sellers or the returns systems. Literally, ‘Contact Us’ isn’t even an option now.
No, account health -> Report Abuse -> Customer hasn’t been an option for me since about a year now.
Seller_wCrolqQoxohjR
who scams us ? Buyers or Amazon ?
i can defeat Buyers but lately Amazon scams are getting more complicated …and this is one of them
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When a customer files a claim, Amazon will combine our advanced fraud and abuse detection systems with external, independent insurance fraud experts to analyze the claim. We will present valid claims to sellers and deny unsubstantiated, frivolous, or abusive claims. By doing this work on behalf of sellers, we save you from having to investigate these claims on your own.
I just get such a warm and fuzzy feeling inside reading this, knowing that Amazon is doing this work on my behalf. I can feel my insomnia going away and will sleep like a baby the rest of the night (what night is left, that is) with the news of this policy.
I wonder how long it will be until I receive a valid personal injury claim from Amazon of someone getting a papercut from a book I sold them. It had too much paper, of an especially papery kind of paper, which increased the risk to the consumer of being papercut, which means the book was defective and a personal injury risk, which means the customer deserves a big pile o’ money. Given the nonsense I have dealt with in my A-to-z claims (which have thankfully been relatively few), I guess I should feel lucky this has not happened, yet.
And, the Chinese scam sellers will still get around this policy.
Seller_Wun3v7a8dXJDQ
If it is going to be the same people who review A to Z claims then we are all in trouble. This is the first announcement Amazon has made that truly scares me as a seller because from what I’ve read, they will be the ones who determine if a Product Liability Claim is valid (not a court of law) and will then payout to the customer and come after the seller?
My concerns are as follows:
- How easy will it be for customers to file and win such claims?
- Will Amazon be contacting our Liability Insurance Carrier every time there’s a claim? This could cause a carrier to drop a business if they start receiving multiple claims.
- How will the dispute process work and who will be making these decisions of what is or is not a valid claim?
- Will they hold funds from our account if a customer files a complaint? Or if they find in favor of the customer?
- Will this cause a dramatic increase in claims filed? I’ve been selling here for 11 years and never had a product liability issue? (Knock on wood)
- I see no benefits to sellers from this policy. Other than under $1k claims, how does this benefit us?
- What are the limits to what Amazon will decide is just an okay amount to payout to a customer? If there’s a $100,000 claim, they can just pay it out and then come after us for reimbursement? That’s scary stuff IMO.
I don’t like this one bit. Many policies are bad for sellers but this is the first one that I’ve seen which could potentially be a business killer. I think they need to really expand on this more and explain how this whole process is going to work.
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
Do I see it right? I’m going to get forced to get some kind of insurance, or I’ll get in trouble?
It totally sounds like what the mafia did, they just called it “protection money”. They forced mom and pop stores/business to pay that money, so their buildings didn’t “accidentally” burn down.
How is that good for sellers? It just sounds like not only scammers are going to steal us, but Amazon is forcing us to pay extra…
Selling on Amazon is so stressful…
Seller_gRqkURGXViRYG
Oh Lord
Seller_GE7JBIeurjU72
Surely some categories don’t need product liability insurance?
Books, Cds?
For those categories that do require insurance, say toys, the Manufacturer has provided compliance information for the product then the responsibility lies with the manufacturer. Who will have insurance and also the ability to fight a case in a court.
Sorry but Mom and Pop stores are no longer wanted on Amazon. That much is clear.
A much better solution would be for Amazon to check compliance information as they are doing and charge an extra fee on sales (it should be small) across all ASINS to cover Product liability. The seller could opt out if they have their own insurance. The best insurance is where the risk is shared across a large number of people.
Seller_bnRioQKaPDDyH
Well…you know when Amazon announces such great new “features” in the middle of the night it must be good news…
Seller_FwpA1naSVnywt
OMG, where is the exit?
