Liability Insurance for IM

No one has tripped over one of my sites yet!


Just make sure if you are selling items you have all the necessary disclaimers in place. If you don't have the cart on your site there souldn't be a problem

I tell you what...the IM world has many more risks than you might think. People think a disclaimer or good INTENT somehow saves them from being liable...they are incredibly mistaken. The fact is, if you are offering products or advice of ANY kind...you can be liable. Please know, I have spent more than 15 years in the world of insurance. The thing is, since we, as IM'ers, don't operate typical bricks and mortar businesses, we feel that we are somehow immune from liability, lawsuits, etc. That is just WRONG!

Here's a scenario: Somehow asks you a question...that person is doing business with you...you offer advice...they take it...they experience negative consequences because of your advice...LAWSUIT.

The bottom line is, speak with a reputable broker...talk to them about your business. You will find that if you are doing business online AT ALL, you should have insurance. Errors and Omissions is a biggie...

Mac

Yes, it's available. I'm not sure about Australia as I'm in the US, but there are various companies that offer "tech" packages. They are pretty comprehensive with their coverages. It depends on what coverage you are looking for and what service/products you deal with. Check out the mainstream companies. Travelers, Ohio Casualty, Zurich, Hartford, etc.

E & O ( Errors & Ommissions ) some call it proffesional liability might be a little more expensive. That would just depend on what you are offering.

Note - I am not a lawyer, but I do deal with business insurance

But think about this. Can you sue anyone you want? Then can anyone sue you if they want to? Doesn't mean you did anything wrong, right? You still need to go prove yourself innocent. That's where insurance comes into place as well.

Just a few articles I found in google.

Online store owner pays $66,000 settlement to Attorney General.

StoresOnline, Inc. to pay $130,000 settlement in websites lawsuit.

Adult website fined $413,000 in explicit e-mail matter.

Priceline, Travelocity, and Cingular Adware Installation Penalty

You don't need liability insurance for selling ebooks for instance. It all depends what it is you are selling but in most cases you don't need liability insurance for a VIRTUAL business.

Any questions let me know

Nick

Oz i am about to undertake a full on business plan (over the coming weeks) and development including insurance as you discuss for an online business in Oz. I will bookmark the thread and come back to you with any information i come across but should be able to answer or at least help in some way with your questions.

The best insurance a small, home-based business owner can have is solid legal terms on their website and making sure their practices comply with various laws.

If you're thinking about an insurance policy, most major insurers will require that you have certain policies and protections in place in any event.

Keep in mind that many insurance policies will have numerous exclusions, such as fraud - which can be a lot broader in application than you may think. Consider any false statement to fit into that category, even if the mistake was innocent.

Also, government fines and FTC actions may not be covered. It's not just a regular liability policy to consider, but also ask about E&O coverage.

who has Liability insurance for their IM activities?

Many internet marketer do, many of then don't have any, there is not such thing as liability insurance when you are a sole-proprietor doing business as such without "updating" your business to some kind of LLC or higher status, only LLC or higher status separates the owner's assets from his business operation.

Is it required?

No it is not required, but if somebody goes after your business and you are not an LLC or higher you will probably lose most of your assets whether they have something to do with your business or not (house gone, car gone, dog gone etc)


Can you be held liable if anything goes wrong in the selling of other people's products?

No, if you just send people to some business (website etc) you are not responsible for what goes wrong with that product (some people goes after those who recommended the website or product, so you can never be too careful)


Also what about those who sell their own products?

They better get themselves some business status like LLC or higher, they can do it as simple sole-proprietors, but if somebody goes after them they will probably lose even their toilet paper.


note: it all comes down to that if you are going to be involved in any kind of selling the safest thing to do is get yourself an LLC or a limited partnership where you can sign a partner agreement to separate your assets from the business.

P.S. This is business 101 stuff, you do not even need to go to business school to know this things

this is a really interesting thread, I had never taken this angle on my IM activities, previously I thought a disclaimer would suffice, thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention.

From early studies as mentioned there is what seems to be a specific package these days for IM related work (IN oz as well), check with alianz , cgu ect and it should contain liability insurance, this will cover you for any people tripping over a laptop bag or silly things like if your out consulting and or people in your office / workspace.

in addition in the im pack would be personal indemnity insurance, to protect yourself as well.

you should probably need some sort of theft insurance / damage as well

I have not priced this yet but my early numbers are around 1200 per year.

? the questions i ask is basically doubt anyone here uses these insurances ? i doubt anyone handing out how to advice in the wso would have indemnity insurance ?

so i will take some examples and do some more follow up, i don't want to be paying insurance if they are just scamming for it, but also need to take it if it should be done

will update more soon

Looking at the whole issue, one of the safest way is to really setup an LLC, or any business model (depending on your country) that separates your personal property from the business.

Think of it, you can never cover every single details of risks in the business and if you do, that's a lot of money involved.

Getting yourself into an LLC (or any limited liability setup) will help you minimize your losses in the event of a lawsuit.