Big-Box Retailer Insurance Requirements: What Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Costco, and Amazon Require From Suppliers

$1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate is the floor. Every major US retailer requires general liability with products and completed operations, the retailer named as additional insured, and a certificate on file before the first PO ships. Marketplace sellers on Walmart and Amazon meet that floor. First-party (1P) suppliers to Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, and Costco face contractual exhibits of $5M per occurrence and higher, and a mid-size brand typically spends $20K to $30K a year to satisfy them.

We place retailer-compliant liability programs for consumer brands in all 50 states. The error we correct most often: a brand insured to the marketplace number while its supplier exhibit asks for five times more.

$1M per claim and $3M aggregate is the limit most telehealth platforms require, and a nurse practitioner seeing patients by video full time pays about $1,200 to $3,500 a year for it. Telemedicine malpractice insurance is professional liability for diagnosis, treatment, and prescribing over video, phone, or chat. You buy it two ways: an endorsement on your existing malpractice policy, or a standalone telehealth policy. Which fits depends on where your patients sit.

We place malpractice coverage for telehealth clinicians and telehealth companies in all 50 states. Most people who land here suspect their policy stops at the state line, or need a platform certificate by Friday.

Marketplace seller vs 1P supplier: why the insurance requirement depends on how you sell

A marketplace seller (3P) lists on Walmart Marketplace or Amazon, holds title to the goods, and ships to the customer. The platform publishes one insurance rule for every seller and enforces it by sales volume: $1M per occurrence, $2M aggregate, retailer as additional insured.

A 1P supplier sells wholesale to the retailer, which owns and resells the product. The retailer is now the first party sued in a product claim, so it writes the insurance terms into a private exhibit to the supplier agreement. Those exhibits run five to eight times the marketplace figure: $5M per occurrence at Target, an $8M umbrella on Walmart 1P agreements we have placed, $5M excess at Whole Foods.

The trouble starts when a brand reads Walmart’s public $1M/$2M rule, then signs a 1P agreement with an $8M exhibit attached. A generalist broker quotes the published number, the certificate fails review, and the PO waits. Our manufacturing insurance clients hit this wall between winning the listing and the first delivery.

Big-box retailer insurance requirements compared: limits, additional insured wording, and triggers by retailer

Key: (P) = published by the retailer. (O) = observed on agreements Alliance Risk has placed. Last verified: August 2026.

Sources: Walmart Marketplace policy; Target’s vendor insurance requirements; Whole Foods supplier standards; Amazon Business Solutions Agreement.

The Walmart 1P umbrella ($8M) and cyber ($3M) figures come from 1P supplier agreements we have placed, not from anything Walmart publishes; verify both against the current exhibit before publishing.

Walmart vendor insurance requirements: Marketplace sellers vs 1P suppliers

Walmart Marketplace (published policy). Walmart requires general liability and product liability of $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate once gross merchandise value passes $100,000 in any trailing 12 months. The additional insured must read “Walmart Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliates.” The certificate holder is Walmart Inc., 702 SW 8th St, Bentonville, AR 72716-3570, Attn: Insurance Compliance. Upload the COI as a PDF under 10MB. The insured name must match the legal name in Seller Center exactly; Walmart’s stated remedy for a miss is deactivation or withheld payments.

Walmart 1P supplier (contractual). On the 1P supplier agreements we have placed, the insurance exhibit specified an $8M umbrella above a $1M/$2M primary and $3M of cyber liability. Food and consumables suppliers should also expect a contamination and recall condition; our food and beverage insurance programs are built around it.

Target vendor insurance requirements: $5M GL, CG 20 15 / CG 20 26, and A.M. Best A- VII

• General liability: $5M per occurrence including products and completed operations, occurrence form.
• Cyber: $5M per claim where applicable. Claims-made is accepted with a three-year tail if the policy ends.
• Workers compensation: statutory, with $1M employers liability.
• Auto: $1M combined single limit (CSL) on owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles.
• Additional insured: Target Corporation, via ISO form CG 20 15 (Vendors) or CG 20 26 (Designated Person or Organization). CG 20 15 covers Target for injury or damage from your products; CG 20 26 also covers your ongoing operations. Our product liability insurance page covers CG 20 15’s exclusions.
• Primary and non-contributory and waiver of subrogation on GL, auto, and WC.
• Carrier rating: A.M. Best A- VII or better. Self-insurance needs Target’s written approval.
• Duration and notice: GL in force for the life of the goods and three years after the last delivery; 30 days’ notice of cancellation.
• Certificate holder: Target Corporation, 1000 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403.

The $5M cyber line is the one we most often find unmet on a Target exhibit. A standard $1M cyber liability policy covers a fifth of it, so place the excess before signing.

Whole Foods supplier insurance requirements: published standards vs supplier agreement limits

Whole Foods publishes three conditions: liability insurance, production in a certified commercial facility, and compliance with its quality standards. Limits live in the supplier agreement. On Whole Foods programs we have placed, the pattern is $1M/$2M primary GL with products plus $5M excess.

A third-party food safety audit (GFSI-benchmarked) is a condition of listing, and a recall after a failed audit is where the liability tower and product recall insurance meet. GL pays the injured customer; recall coverage pays for pulling product from 500 stores, disposal, and lost margin.

Costco supplier and Amazon seller insurance requirements

Costco. Costco’s terms sit in an unpublished supplier agreement exhibit. On accounts we have placed it asked for $1M/$2M GL with products, a $3M to $5M umbrella, $1M auto CSL, and statutory WC with $1M employers liability. Costco Wholesale Corporation and subsidiaries are additional insured, primary and non-contributory, with waiver of subrogation.

Amazon Pro sellers. Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement requires Professional sellers to hold general liability, umbrella, or excess liability of $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate covering product liability, with Amazon and its assignees as additional insured, from an A.M. Best A- or equivalent carrier. The trigger is gross proceeds above $10,000 in any month (verify at publish). Sellers who also supply a retail or wholesale account should build one policy for both.

How to build a liability tower that satisfies every retailer exhibit at once

One tower, five certificates:

1. Primary GL with products and completed operations at $1M/$2M, occurrence form, with blanket additional insured (CG 20 15 and CG 20 26), primary and non-contributory, and waiver of subrogation endorsements. Blanket means each new retailer costs a certificate, not an endorsement.
2. Follow-form umbrella or excess to $5M, $8M, or $10M, sized to the largest exhibit you hold; follow-form means it adopts the primary’s terms, additional insured status included.
3. Cyber at $3M to $5M, with a retroactive date no later than the first retailer contract.
4. Auto at $1M CSL, hired and non-owned included, and statutory WC with $1M EL.

Why not a $5M primary? Carriers price the first $1M of GL on your class and sales, then charge a premium for each further $1M under the same aggregate. A $1M primary plus a $4M follow-form umbrella or excess layer is usually cheaper because umbrella markets compete for the layer.

What retailer-ready insurance costs by brand profile

The $15K to $30K figure applies to a standard-hazard brand (snacks, beverages, apparel) meeting one Target or Walmart 1P exhibit. Moving cyber from $3M to $5M adds roughly $1,500 to $3,000 a year.

Supplements, baby, and cosmetics cost more because ingestible and topical products draw long-tail injury claims, and several standard carriers exclude them, which pushes the primary into E&S markets. CPG brands raising a seed or Series A round should read our startup insurance guide too.

Get a retailer-ready quote in 5 business days: start here.

Certificate of insurance mistakes that get suppliers deactivated

These lines fail compliance review, in the order we see them on certificates new clients send us.

• Wrong legal entity name. The insured must match the account’s legal name character for character, including “LLC” or “Inc.”
• Certificate holder instead of additional insured. Certificate holder is a mailing address. Additional insured is coverage. Retailers require both.
• Missing products and completed operations. The COI must show it in the limits box.
• Missing primary and non-contributory wording. The description box must say it and the policy must carry it.
• Expired or misaligned dates. A certificate issued in the policy’s last 30 days is bounced for the renewal.
• Umbrella not follow-form. The retailer’s additional insured status stops at the primary limit.
• Cyber claims-made without a retroactive date. A blank retro field reads as no prior-acts coverage.
• Waiver of subrogation shown but not endorsed. The COI is evidence; the endorsement is the contract.

Fix these before upload and approval takes one pass.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Walmart’s published Marketplace policy requires $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate of general and product liability once GMV exceeds $100,000 in any trailing 12 months. Walmart Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliates must be additional insured; a lapse means deactivation.

Target requires $5M per occurrence general liability including products, $5M cyber per claim where applicable, statutory workers compensation with $1M employers liability, $1M auto CSL, additional insured via CG 20 15 or CG 20 26, primary and non-contributory wording, waiver of subrogation, and an A- VII carrier.

A mid-size, standard-hazard CPG brand typically pays $15K to $30K a year all-in for a $1M/$2M primary, a follow-form umbrella to $5M or higher, $3M to $5M cyber, auto, and workers compensation. Supplements and cosmetics cost more.

Yes, and you should. Build one primary GL with blanket additional insured, primary and non-contributory, and waiver of subrogation endorsements, then a follow-form umbrella sized to the largest exhibit. Each retailer gets its own certificate; the policy stays the same.

A certificate holder receives a copy of the certificate and notice of cancellation; it has no coverage. An additional insured is added to the policy by endorsement and can claim defense and indemnity under it. Retailers require both; holder-only certificates fail review.

CG 20 15 (Additional Insured, Vendors) covers a retailer for bodily injury and property damage arising from your products it sells, with exclusions for relabelling and vendor modifications. CG 20 26 (Designated Person or Organization) also covers your ongoing operations. Target accepts either.

It means your policy pays first and leaves the retailer’s own insurance untouched. Without the endorsement, both insurers argue over contribution and the retailer’s carrier can pursue you for its share. Target, Costco, and most 1P exhibits require it on GL, auto, and WC.

Yes, provided the certificate shows a retroactive date and you buy a three-year extended reporting period if the policy is cancelled or lapses. Target accepts claims-made cyber specifically; general liability, by contrast, must stay on an occurrence form for the whole term.

Target requires general liability to stay in force for the life of the goods and three years after the last delivery, because product claims arrive years after sale. If you exit a category, keep products coverage running until that window closes.

Professional sellers do once gross proceeds pass $10,000 in any month (verify the current threshold). Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement requires $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate of liability covering products, Amazon and its assignees as additional insured, and an A- rated carrier.

Get retailer-ready coverage from Alliance Risk

A retailer program is a primary, an umbrella, a cyber policy, and four endorsements that must agree with a document you did not write. It breaks in three places: an umbrella that does not follow form, a certificate whose insured name differs from the account, and a cyber policy bound after the agreement’s retro date.

The certificate is half the work. Underwriters price the other half: your product safety programme, your recall plan, whether you audit or lab-test every lot, and whether your co-packer carries products coverage naming you. Show those four and standard carriers quote you; without them, E&S quotes at two to three times the rate.

What we do: you send the insurance exhibit or the Seller Center notice, and we map every line against your current policies and quote only the gap. On most exhibits we review, the incumbent primary already passes and the gap is the umbrella or cyber layer. When only the certificate wording is wrong, we say so; the fix is an endorsement, not a remarket. A brand with a Target exhibit and a $3M umbrella needs a $2M excess layer and a new certificate, nothing more.

Upload your retailer’s insurance exhibit and get a line-by-line gap report: start here. Send the exhibit, your current certificate, and the product category; we reply within one business day with what passes, what fails, and what the gap costs.