Thank you. I did contact numerous brokers in the UK, where I am based. All of them had the same problem with finding cover for a typical “ecommerce” package policy. The problem is that Shopify is a US company and the API function for third-party fulfilment means 1) a non-UK company contract with the fulfilment platform; and 2) that there is no product control by the seller. Because of the territorial limits of UK insurance policies, it is clearly a problem for UK sellers to use Shopify, which is made even more difficult when UK sellers try to integrate with print-on-demand fulfilment providers. In my case Lulu (Canadian) and also Gelato (Norwegian). The UK insurance policies all exclude non-UK legal jurisdictions. And the unknown locations of sub-contracted print on demand means product and public liability cover is not available. Likewise cyber cover is not available because of the exclusions contained in the Shopify seller terms & conditions (likewise Lulu and Gelato). Basically, the Shopify system assumes full USA location for the seller and the fulfilment, which makes it insurable by US insurers, but not non-US insurers. If non-US sellers on Shopify with API integrations into third-party fulfilment actually look at the exclusions in their insurance, they will see that they are not covered because of the foreign jurisdictions. That is why Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) was developed, so as to be an insurable structure. Anyway, I continue to look for individual policies that cover my main risks as it seems to be easier to split the cover into individual lines rather than buy a single “ecommerce” insurance policy. One solution would be for Shopify to incorporate a UK company for the purposes of contracting with UK sellers.
Topic summary
A UK-based Shopify seller is struggling to obtain insurance coverage for their print-on-demand (POD) business model. The core issue stems from territorial limitations in UK insurance policies.
Key Challenges:
- UK insurers require knowing exact manufacturing and delivery locations, which varies by customer in POD models
- Shopify’s US-based API integration with third-party fulfillment platforms (like Canadian Lulu and Norwegian Gelato) creates jurisdictional conflicts
- UK insurance policies exclude non-UK legal jurisdictions, making product liability, public liability, and cyber coverage unavailable
- Brokers can find coverage for Amazon FBA but not for Shopify sellers using integrated third-party fulfillment
Resolution:
The original poster ultimately solved the problem by switching to POD platforms based entirely in the UK, ensuring all contracts fall under English law. This made the business insurable under standard UK policies.
Another user reported facing the same challenge, indicating this is a broader issue for non-US Shopify sellers using international POD services. The discussion remains relevant for UK-based e-commerce sellers navigating similar insurance obstacles.