Craft business insurance

One of the things that most crafters ask and are a little bit fearful of is Craft insurance.  Below I will try to simplify why you need insurance when it might be asked for and where to look for it.

What is Craft Insurance

There are a range of plans for craft insurance however the two main areas that most craft insurance plans cover is Liability Insurance and Product

If you make an item and sell it to another person you are responsible for harm that may come to a customer as a direct result of your product.  By having an insurance policy you are covering yourself in case any one looks to take legal action against you for the product that they purchased.  There are different levels of plan available that can cover customers in a range of countries.  So if you sell online to a customer overseas you may want to look into upgrading your insurance to cover more areas.

The other part of the plan that is available is to cover if someone were to trip or fall as a result of your stall or stand.  At an event you are responsible for the safety of customers in and around you pitch.  Therefore there is a part of the policy that covers you for customer injury at events.

When will it be needed

It is likely that you will hold an insurance policy and very rarely if ever have to show proof that you have the policy in place.  However if you are attending a show or event sometimes the organisers will ask to see a copy of your insurance policy so they know that all their vendors are correctly insured for attending the event.  This is more than likely the only time that you will be required to show your documents to anyone.

Where to look for it

As with all insurance there will be a whole range of providers available that will be able to provide a quote.  I would have a look at a few providers to make sure that you are getting the best value for money as many of the policies are completely different and have varying levels of cover for a range of prices.  By shopping around you will be able to choose the best policy for your budget and business.

A simple online search will return a number of insurance providers.  If you are looking for a more specific recommendation.  I personally use Ian Wallace (https://craftinsurance.co.uk/) for my own craft business insurance as they offer a range of levels that I could personalise to suit my business and sales.  However many well known insurance providers like Direct Line (https://www.directlineforbusiness.co.uk/small-business-insurance/craft-insurance) also provide a craft business insurance.

How to work out what cover you need

So the next obstacle for you to scale will be to work out the level of cover that you will need for your business.  There are a range of ways that different insurance providers will look to work this out.  Before you look into a policy there are a few questions that I would ask yourself to get an idea of what you need from your policy.

Where am I selling?  Are you selling online or in person at events?

Where are my customers based?  What countries are your customers based in?

What is my estimated income? This luckily is usually a drop down box with ranges in so if you are just starting out I would select the lowest bracket and adjust when you renew your policy.

Level of cover required?  If you are attending events they may stipulate the amount of cover that you require so maybe do a bit of research to see what the minimum level would be that is needed for your events.

As with all insurance we have policies in place in the hope that the situation will never arise where we actually have to make a claim against it.  However the saying Better safe than sorry stands in this instant a claim could prove very costly.  At the same time if you don’t have an insurance policy in place you may be limiting yourself.  Many events insist on an insurance document before you will be allowed to attend, particularly the larger events.  If you choose not to have insurance you will automatically make yourself unable to attend certain events.

Let me know who you use for your craft insurance and how you worked out what level of cover to take out.  If you are looking for advice on looking for craft fair events please have a look at my post https://www.claireyatfairycrafters.com/find-craft-fairs/

If you are attending your first fair and are looking for a checklist of everything you might need have a look at https://www.claireyatfairycrafters.com/craft-show-checklist-be-prepared/