Do I need product liability insurance?

[chickenlady]

I sell embroidery kits which include fabric, thread, instructions, chart and a needle (with a blunt tip). These are not my own kits, but branded and cost around £25-30 each.
I had opened an Etsy shop with a few items which I sold to customers in the USA.
I came to renew my insurance - I also sell at fairs - and was told I needed
product liability insurance but because I was selling into the USA it would be £600+ extra per year. Now that is a lot of money for a micro business like mine with just a few bits going to the USA so I closed my Etsy store. No more sales to the USA.
Was I too hasty? Do I really need product liability insurance to sell an item that could not possibly, surely, cause injury, or loss or damage to other people’s property without some serious contributory negligence?
There's an awful lot of micro sellers on Etsy and I'm betting very few of them have that insurance at that sort of price - there doesn't seem to be any advice from Etsy themselves.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Mr D]

Most of us will never claim on it but if by some chance someone does claim product causes a problem then you are covered. Its not a legal requirement to have it in the UK though some sites and events require you to have it to sell using their facilities.

Its the US selling that drives your insurance up. Avoid that and should be OK.

 

[chickenlady]

Thanks Mr D. That's what I'd thought. I reckon if I sold 1000+ units pa to the US it might be worth it but that's never going to happen

 

[14Steve14]

Can you not keep your etsy store open but restrict where you items are delivered. There may be a setting or put up the costs to USA buyers to make the product unaffordable. That way you could keep your other buyers.

 

[chickenlady]

Can you not keep your etsy store open but restrict where you items are delivered. There may be a setting or put up the costs to USA buyers to make the product unaffordable. That way you could keep your other buyers.

Thanks for that suggestion. I will have a look at that.

 

[Socio South West]

Pleased to come across someone else whose US sales suffered the same issue! About eight years my then company changed insurers. There was a question on the proposal about selling to US customers, and , answering in the positive about sales to the US, got the same response as @chickenlady
Further orders from US customers were initially refused, but quite by chance we found a third party with strong US links and a UK address (in the US military actually!) who also had the advantage of being able to send things to the US cheaply. Addresses on the orders were simply substituted for the UK address and business went on fine from there.
The US customers paid us for UK mainland delivery, and our friend in the military made a few quid on getting the stuff over the pond directly from the customers, but he charged far less than the commercial carriers.
When I sold the business I passed the route on to the new Owners and as far as I am aware they still use it.