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Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok Shop all require a certificate of insurance before you can sell. Your broker generates it from your existing GL policy, usually same-day, at no extra cost. Each platform requires a specific legal entity name as the additional insured on the certificate, though, and automated systems reject anything that doesn't match character for character.
This guide has the exact wording, coverage limits, and upload paths for six marketplaces, plus field-level fixes for the most common rejections.
A certificate of insurance proves you carry the product liability insurance for online sellers that a marketplace demands. Your broker generates the one-page document from your existing policy. You review it and upload it to each platform.
Two labels on the certificate cause most of the confusion: "Certificate Holder" and "Additional Insured." A certificate holder only gets proof you carry insurance. An additional insured is named on your policy through an endorsement (a formal change to the policy contract) and gets real legal rights under it. If a customer sues Amazon over something you sold, Amazon can file against your policy, but only if they're listed as additional insured.
Marketplaces want both: a contractual promise to cover their losses (indemnification) and named status on your policy (additional insured). As Bill Wilson, CPCU, writes in Insurance Journal, "Having status under both [indemnitee and additional insured] categories provides a 'belt and suspenders' risk management approach."
One home goods seller on Amazon assumed their COI alone meant the platform was covered. A customer filed a claim, and the seller discovered no endorsement had been added. Amazon had no rights under the policy at all.
Amazon requires naming "Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees" as additional insured on your COI, with at least $1M per occurrence and $1M aggregate. Your broker generates the certificate and you upload the PDF through Settings > Account Info > Business Insurance in Seller Central.
The insurance requirement kicks in once you cross $10,000 in gross sales in any single month. Amazon sends a notification email and gives you 30 days to upload a valid certificate. That window shrinks fast once you account for broker turnaround, the endorsement, and Amazon's multi-day review queue. For a full breakdown of who qualifies, see Amazon's $10K seller insurance threshold.
The additional insured wording must be an exact match. Amazon's system runs a literal string comparison, so even small differences like "Amazon.com Inc." or "Amazon Services LLC" (missing the ".com") trigger automatic rejection. Copy this wording verbatim: Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees.
Three field-level errors cause most Amazon rejections beyond the additional insured wording. Each review cycle takes several business days, so a single rejection can cost you close to a week.
The certificate holder address must include the full ZIP+4 (the nine-digit postal code): P.O. Box 81226, Seattle, WA 98108-1226. A lot of COIs get rejected because the broker typed 98108 without the -1226 suffix. Amazon's rejection email doesn't say which field failed, so sellers burn a full cycle before they realize it was four missing digits.
Your policy must also be on an occurrence basis (coverage applies to incidents during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is filed). Amazon rejects claims-made forms for most product categories.
Three more requirements that trip up sellers: the deductible (your out-of-pocket per claim) can't exceed $10,000, the carrier needs an AM Best rating of A- or better, and the policy must include 30 days' cancellation notice to Amazon.
One more trap: the insurer name field. A kitchenware seller kept getting rejections despite correct wording everywhere else. The "Insurance Provider" field listed the broker's name instead of the actual underwriting carrier. Amazon needs the carrier that backs the policy, not the agency that sold it.
Walmart requires higher limits than Amazon: $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate, naming "Walmart Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliates" as additional insured. If you already carry a $1M aggregate policy for Amazon, your broker needs to bump it to $2M. Walmart won't approve the COI until the aggregate meets their minimum.
The insurance trigger is $100,000 in gross merchandise volume (GMV, total sales before returns and cancellations) over any 12-month period. Walmart can also require it by direct notification at any time. Sellers who scaled on Amazon with a $1M aggregate hit this wall the moment they expand to Walmart.
Upload the COI as a PDF (max 10MB) through Walmart Seller Center > Seller Liability Insurance. The named insured must match your Marketplace Partner ID exactly, not your DBA or trade name. Certificate holder address: Walmart Inc., 702 SW 8th Street, Bentonville, AR 72716-3570, Attn: Insurance Compliance.
Walmart doesn't send warning emails. If your COI lapses, they inactivate your account and hold orders and payments immediately. Amazon at least gives you warnings first. This is the single biggest reason to set renewal reminders early for Walmart.
Contact your broker 30 days before the COI expiration date on each marketplace portal. If your underlying policy is renewing at the same time, the broker issues updated certificates once the new policy binds. If the policy auto-renews, you still need fresh certificates with current dates. You have to re-upload them to every platform yourself.
Sellers on two or three platforms should start 60 days out to account for staggered renewal dates. One multi-platform seller's GL policy auto-renewed in March, but they never requested new certificates. Amazon and Walmart still showed the prior year's expiration date, and by June Amazon sent a compliance warning that put their listings at risk.
What happens when a certificate expires depends on the platform. Amazon starts with warning emails, then suppresses your listings, then deactivates your account entirely. Once your account is deactivated, you can't upload a replacement COI through the normal Seller Central path. Walmart skips the warnings and inactivates your account the moment the COI lapses.
You don't need a separate policy for each marketplace. Adding one as additional insured just requires an endorsement to your existing general liability policy. No new application, no underwriting review. Your broker handles the paperwork and issues an updated certificate, typically same-day.
Cost depends on the endorsement type. A per-platform named endorsement runs $25 to $50. A blanket endorsement covering all platforms typically adds $0 to $150 per year to your GL policy.
A named endorsement lists each marketplace individually and requires a new modification each time you add one. A blanket additional insured endorsement covers any party required by written contract automatically, no per-platform updates needed.
For sellers on two or more marketplaces, the blanket version eliminates per-platform modifications entirely. Per IRMI, it covers all contractually required parties without individual scheduling. Coverwatch policies include a blanket additional insured endorsement as standard, so adding a new marketplace means requesting a fresh COI rather than paying for another endorsement.
| Platform | COI Required? | Trigger | Additional Insured Wording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Yes | $10K/month gross sales | Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees |
| Walmart | Yes | $100K GMV / 12 months | Walmart Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliates |
| TikTok Shop | Recommended | Category-specific | BD TikTok USA LLC and its affiliates and assignees |
| Etsy | No | N/A | N/A |
| Faire | Faire+ only | Per retailer | Set by retailer |
| eBay | No | N/A | N/A |
TikTok Shop doesn't require a COI across the board yet, but that's changing. TikTok Seller University says the requirement "may become mandatory in the future" with advance notice. Brokers already recommend it for higher-risk categories like supplements, cosmetics, and ingestibles. The additional insured wording is "BD TikTok USA LLC and its affiliates and assignees."
Most brokers also add Primary & Non-Contributory and Waiver of Subrogation language to a TikTok COI. Primary & Non-Contributory means your policy pays first regardless of any coverage TikTok carries on its own. Waiver of Subrogation prevents your insurer from suing TikTok to recover what it paid on a claim. TikTok doesn't explicitly require either, but both are standard practice.
Faire works differently. Their Faire+ program sets insurance limits per retail partner rather than at the platform level, so the wording depends on which retailer you sell through.
For the cost of the underlying GL policy that makes all of this work, see what GL and product liability actually costs. If you sell on more than one platform, the blanket endorsement pays for itself immediately. One endorsement covers whatever platform comes next, and your ecommerce insurance broker handles the COI paperwork for each one.
The COI document itself is <strong>free</strong>. You pay for the underlying general liability or BOP (business owner's policy), which runs <strong>$400 to $2,000 per year</strong> for ecommerce sellers depending on revenue and product category. Adding a marketplace as additional insured costs <strong>$0 to $50</strong> per platform endorsement, or you can get a blanket additional insured endorsement that covers all platforms at once.
A certificate holder simply receives proof that you carry insurance. An <strong>additional insured</strong> is written onto your policy through an endorsement and gains actual defense and indemnity rights under your coverage. Marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart require additional insured status, which is why their specific entity wording must appear on your COI, not just the certificate holder line.
Yes. One GL or BOP policy covers both platforms, provided your aggregate limit is at least <strong>$2M</strong> (Walmart's minimum). Your broker adds each marketplace as additional insured through endorsements on the single policy, then generates a separate COI with platform-specific wording for each one.
The most common cause is incorrect additional insured wording. It must read exactly <strong>'Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees.'</strong> Other frequent issues: a missing ZIP+4 suffix on the certificate holder address (<strong>-1226</strong> is required), listing your broker's name instead of the actual carrier entity, or a business name mismatch between the COI and your Seller Central account.
Not universally mandatory yet, but TikTok recommends insurance for higher-risk categories including supplements and cosmetics. Their official documentation states the requirement "may become mandatory in the future" with advance notice. If you sell in a category where TikTok enforces it, the additional insured wording is <strong>'BD TikTok USA LLC and its affiliates and assignees.'</strong>
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