Janet Price on fri 16 jul 04
Well. I'm essentially a hobbyist, but I've been potting for over 10
years now. I sold some pots several years ago through a gallery in the
midwest, but I've moved twice since then, and a couple months ago
happened into an arrangement with a local garden store to buy hanging
planters from me. So far, about $300 worth. I was delighted and
thought, naively, that since I wasn't a business and since I wasn't
selling anything that was used with food, I didn't need to worry about
liability insurance. It's not so much that I actively decided that so
much as just not thinking of myself in that category since I'm so very
small time.
When I renewed my homeowner's insurance and checked to make sure the
pool and the kiln were mentioned in the paperwork and happened to say
that I'd sold a few pots, I was told I now needed liability insurance.
First it was estimated at around $500 a year, then at around $1000 a
year, and now they're telling me it's really around $2500 a year since
I'm a first-timer and have not history with this. At $500 per year, I'd
easily go ahead and get it. At $1000 a year, I'd worry and get it, but
at $2500 a year, I think it means I just can't afford to sell pottery.
But something simply seems off here. Are there other options? And just
what does the insurance cover? Pots made this year? Pots sold this
year? Claims initiated this year? The agent said that work sold
already would not be covered in any case. But if I were to find a less
expensive policy, would I need to maintain it for years AFTER I stopped
selling? If I give pots to a charitable cause and they sell them, do I
still need liabillity insurance? If I barter with my garden store for
plants, do I still need liability insurance?
I'd appreciate your advice. I'm on vacation beginning tomorrow, so will
thank all of you on my return, when I'll have to make a decision about
this. Something just seems wrong about $2500 a year for product
liability insurance on sales that total much less than this. However,
we may have come to this.
Thanks much,
Janet Price
jmkprice@rcn.com
John Rodgers on fri 16 jul 04
Janet,
The cost of liability insurance has no relation to how much you sell or
don't sell, but is related to the damages that the insurance company
thinks that might possibly be awarded in a claim settlement.
That said, I think the $2500 is a bit steep. My liability insurance was
for $1m and it cost $1200 a year. I sold to department stores at one
time and the likes of JC Penny and others required that I carry that
much product liability covrage in order to do business with them. In
todays environment some stores are now requiring two million covererage
with the stored as an additional named insured.
Even so, I think your insurance company is out of line and I would
really shop around. Talk to some of the commercial insurance brokers.
Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
Janet Price wrote:
> Well. I'm essentially a hobbyist, but I've been potting for over 10
> years now. I sold some pots several years ago through a gallery in the
> midwest, but I've moved twice since then, and a couple months ago
> happened into an arrangement with a local garden store to buy hanging
> planters from me. So far, about $300 worth. I was delighted and
> thought, naively, that since I wasn't a business and since I wasn't
> selling anything that was used with food, I didn't need to worry about
> liability insurance. It's not so much that I actively decided that so
> much as just not thinking of myself in that category since I'm so very
> small time.
>
> When I renewed my homeowner's insurance and checked to make sure the
> pool and the kiln were mentioned in the paperwork and happened to say
> that I'd sold a few pots, I was told I now needed liability insurance.
> First it was estimated at around $500 a year, then at around $1000 a
> year, and now they're telling me it's really around $2500 a year since
> I'm a first-timer and have not history with this. At $500 per year, I'd
> easily go ahead and get it. At $1000 a year, I'd worry and get it, but
> at $2500 a year, I think it means I just can't afford to sell pottery.
>
> But something simply seems off here. Are there other options? And just
> what does the insurance cover? Pots made this year? Pots sold this
> year? Claims initiated this year? The agent said that work sold
> already would not be covered in any case. But if I were to find a less
> expensive policy, would I need to maintain it for years AFTER I stopped
> selling? If I give pots to a charitable cause and they sell them, do I
> still need liabillity insurance? If I barter with my garden store for
> plants, do I still need liability insurance?
>
> I'd appreciate your advice. I'm on vacation beginning tomorrow, so will
> thank all of you on my return, when I'll have to make a decision about
> this. Something just seems wrong about $2500 a year for product
> liability insurance on sales that total much less than this. However,
> we may have come to this.
>
> Thanks much,
>
> Janet Price
> jmkprice@rcn.com
>
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Ivor and Olive Lewis on sat 17 jul 04
Dear Janet Price,
Several years ago I was writing for publication. One of the groups
changed the rules. Instead of acting for themselves in relationship to
copyright claims against edited material they published they decided
to place liability onto their authors on an "In Perpetuity" basis.
I consulted an insurance broker.
I was quoted $800 per year, and would have had to maintain that for
ever.
I wrote back to the editor (Who had replaced the one with whom I had
negotiated my original agreement) that they, as publishers, were
liable for what they published, that the work presented was mine and
mine alone and that they owed me a fee. I refused to sign their
contract. They paid up without comment and I never sent them anything
else.
Indemnity is for the life of the pots. The may have a longer life than
words.
If you choose to play the game you play by rules over which you have
no control.
Listen to Mel.
Insurance is a tricky varmint
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
S. Australia.
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