Product Liability Insurance for Makers

What does product liability insurance cover?

Product liability insurance covers claims made against you when a product you have manufactured, sold, or supplied causes:

• Personal injury: a customer is harmed by something they bought from your stall.
• Property damage: your product damages someone's property.
• Legal defence costs: even if a claim is ultimately unsuccessful, the cost of defending it can be substantial.

Examples of product liability claims relevant to craft fair sellers:

• A candle or wax melt bought at a fair causes a fire in the customer's home.
• A cosmetic product (bath bomb, soap, lip balm) triggers a severe allergic reaction.
• A child chokes on a small part of a handmade toy.
• Jewellery causes a skin reaction due to undisclosed nickel or other metals.
• A food product contains an undeclared allergen.

The claim does not need to involve negligence on your part. Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, you can be held strictly liable, meaning the claimant only needs to prove the product was defective and caused the harm, not that you were careless.

How it differs from public liability

Public liability insurance and product liability insurance cover different types of risk:

• Public liability covers incidents that happen at your stall or business premises: someone trips over your display, you spill hot coffee on a customer, your gazebo blows over and hits someone.
• Product liability covers harm caused by your products after the sale: the customer takes the product home and something goes wrong.

Both are important, but they respond to different scenarios. Public liability protects you at the craft fair or market; product liability protects you after the event, for the life of every product you have sold.

Most craft insurance policies bundle both types of cover into a single policy, which is why many stallholders do not realise they are separate. Check your policy documents to confirm your product liability cover is included and note the cover level.

Who needs it most?

All makers selling physical products carry some level of product liability risk, but the risk varies significantly by product type. Many of the most popular items at craft fairs and markets fall into the higher-risk category:

Higher risk products:

• Candles and wax melts: fire risk is real and well-documented. Improperly wicked candles, poorly chosen containers, and incorrect labelling of burn instructions can all lead to fires.
• Cosmetics and bath products: skin reactions, chemical burns, and allergic reactions. These products are in direct contact with the body.
• Food products: allergens, contamination, and foodborne illness.
• Children's products: toys with small parts (choking hazard), children's clothing (fire safety standards), and products that do not meet safety testing requirements.
• Anything with electrical components: fairy lights, heated products, USB-powered items.

Lower risk products:

• Greeting cards, prints, and paper goods.
• Textiles with no safety-critical function (scarves, bags, cushion covers).
• Jewellery made from hypoallergenic materials.

Even if you sell lower-risk products from your market stall, product liability cover is worth having; claims can come from unexpected directions, and the insurance is affordable enough that there is little reason not to have it.

The Consumer Protection Act 1987

The Consumer Protection Act 1987 is the main UK law governing product liability. Under this Act:

• The producer (manufacturer) of a defective product is strictly liable for damage caused by that defect.
• "Strictly liable" means the claimant does not need to prove you were negligent; only that the product was defective and caused the harm.
• For handmade products, the maker IS the manufacturer and carries this liability directly.
• The Act covers death, personal injury, and damage to private property (above a £275 threshold).

This means that even if you took every reasonable precaution, you can still be held liable if a product turns out to be defective, whether it was sold from your stall at a craft fair or through an online shop. Insurance is the safety net that protects your personal finances if this happens.

How to get cover

Product liability insurance for craft makers is widely available and affordable:

• Most specialist craft insurance providers (such as CMTIA, Protectivity, CraftCover, and Ian W Wallace) include product liability alongside public liability as standard in their policies.
• Typical annual premiums start from approximately £69 per year for combined public and product liability cover at £5 million.
• Higher cover levels (£10 million) are available for a modest additional cost.
• Product liability is rarely sold as a standalone policy for craft sellers; it comes bundled with public liability.

When choosing a policy, check:

• The cover level for product liability specifically (it may differ from your public liability cover level).
• Whether your product type is covered: some policies exclude certain product categories (e.g. ingestible products, products for children under 3).
• The policy excess: the amount you pay towards any claim.
• Whether the policy covers products sold online as well as at events.

Keep your certificate of insurance accessible. Many craft fair organisers ask stallholders for proof of insurance at booking, and some specifically ask about product liability cover as well as public liability.