Updated: July 22, 2024
Designing unique works and wares is a skillful dance between imagination and craftsmanship. Yet even the most talented creatives need protection from the unexpected. That’s where we come in!
At ACT Insurance, we specialize in safeguarding the unique needs of artists and crafters. Our policies are crafted with the same care and precision you put into your work. We understand the nuances of your craft and offer the best protection to ensure your work remains your passion and livelihood.
We also understand the nuances of the artist and crafters insurance world and are here to answer the top questions we often hear from people just like you.
Let’s paint a clearer picture of arts and crafts insurance protection!
How Much Does Arts and Crafts Insurance Cost?
What Types of Insurance Do Artists and Crafters Need?
How Does Liability Insurance Protect Me as an Artist?
Do I Need Insurance If I Only Sell Online or at Craft Fairs?
What is a COI and How Do I Add an Additional Insured to It?
How Do I File a Claim if Something Happens to My Artwork or Supplies?
If I Purchase a Policy, When and Where am I Covered?
1. How Much Does Arts and Crafts Insurance Cost?
Arts and crafts insurance starts at $24.25/month for ACT Pro and $49/event for ACT Go.
The price of a policy won’t go up based on where you live or the type of event you are attending, so you can enjoy the same affordable coverage wherever you work. You also have the option to add additional coverage to an ACT Pro policy at a low monthly rate.
The best part? There are no deductibles for liability claims. This means your claims could be covered at little to no extra cost to you!
ACT Pro Pricing
$0 – $50,000 in Annual Sales
$24.25/Month
$50,000 – $100,000 in Annual Sales
$33.42/Month
Optional Tools, Supplies & Inventory Coverage (Inland Marine)
Optional Professional Liability
$10.42/Month
Optional Cyber Liability
$8.25/Month
*Additional Tools, Supplies, & Inventory Coverage limits available up to $10,000/$50,000.
ACT Go Pricing (for consecutive days)
1 – 3 Days
$49
7 Days
$99
Up to 90 Days (EZ Renew Option Available)
$149
2. What Types of Insurance Do Artists and Crafters Need?
Artists and crafters need various types of insurance to protect themselves, their work, and their businesses from costly claims. The most important coverages you should look for are:
- General Liability Insurance: This covers you for third-party accidents resulting from your business operations, like someone tripping in your booth or paint staining someone’s clothes.
- Product Liability Insurance: This covers you for injuries or damages your product may cause others, like an allergic reaction to the materials used in a piece of jewelry.
- Damage to Rented Premises: This covers you for damages you may cause while in a rented space, like a kiln overheating and starting a fire in a shared studio.
- Medical Expense Limit: This covers medical bills for a person injured in an accident related to you or your business, regardless of who is at fault.
- Personal & Advertising Injury: This covers you if another business claims you are infringing on their intellectual property, or accuses you of slander or libel.
- Tools, Supplies, & Inventory Coverage (Inland Marine): This covers the items you use to make your wares and run your business against third-party theft and damages.
- Professional Liability: This covers injuries or damages caused by classes or workshops you run, like someone burning their hand on a hot glue gun.
- Cyber Liability Insurance: This covers the cost to recover from a cyber attack on your business, like a data breach or fraudulent transfer of funds.
You can often find some of these coverages grouped in one policy. Others are offered as optional add-ons for an additional price. It’s important to know what types of coverage are most beneficial to you so you can choose a policy that offers what you need.
3. How Does Liability Insurance Protect Me as an Artist?
Liability insurance protects you against potential financial setbacks to your business, legal battles, and out-of-pocket expenses from injuries or damages. The most common claims we help artists and crafters cover include:
- Unexpected weather at events: Sudden storms can take your once secure tent and send it flying into other booths, crowds, buildings, or cars, causing damages or injuries.
- Slips, trips, and falls: An unmopped puddle in your studio or a loose cord in your booth could lead to customer injuries and pricy medical bills.
- Accidental damages: Your equipment could damage the floors in a customer’s home during a painting party, or accidentally break a window while setting up for an event.
- Product injuries: A sewing pin mistakenly left in some fabric, an unfinished edge on a custom dog collar, or a faulty photo frame could lead to injuries.
- Legal defense costs: Whether an accident was your fault or not, you could be forking over thousands just to defend yourself against a disgruntled customer.
- Reputational harm: It’s frustrating to have your designs copied, and it may be tempting to call the thief out publicly, but this can lead to slander or libel lawsuits against your business
- Theft and damage: Homeowner and renters’ insurance doesn’t typically cover the items you use in a for-profit business, making it costly to have to pay for repairs or replacements for the items you use in your work.
4. Do I Need Insurance If I Only Sell Online or at Craft Fairs?
Yes! Selling your work anywhere can bring new risks to your business, such as:
- Product injuries – your product harming someone else
- Operational damages – your display accidentally damages the venue floors
- Cyber attacks – your online business data is hacked and held for ransom
- Shipping damages – your product is broken in transit and injures the customer
- Accidents at events – your tent blows into the neighboring booth, breaking their items
- Stolen tools and inventory – your expensive craft tools are stolen in a home invasion
Also, more and more events require arts and crafts vendors to show proof of insurance before attending. Having insurance makes it easier to meet event requirements and have peace of mind while attending an event.
If you have a storefront on a site like Amazon or Etsy, you might not be aware of loopholes in seller’s policies — online retail platforms don’t often protect sellers as much as you may think.
You could be exposed to things like indemnification clauses, leaving you to battle claims alone while also paying for any expenses your case may bring to the online platform.
Insurance is a financial safety net for your business, letting you sell your products online and at events with peace of mind!
5. What is a COI and How Do I Add an Additional Insured to It?
A COI is a Certificate of Insurance. This is the official document from an insurance provider that can be used to show proof of insurance. It will include your policy information, coverage details, and dates of coverage. A COI is also known as an ACORD form.
You can add an unlimited number of additional insureds to your COI for free with ACT Insurance! This can be done during the application process when you buy a policy online, or from your customer dashboard after you’ve bought a policy:
- Log in to your customer dashboard
- Click on “Add Additional Insureds”
- Enter the additional insured’s information
Your COI will automatically update with the additional insured information included. You can access this by clicking on “Proof of Insurance” and downloading a copy of your certificate for free. A copy of your COI will also be sent to the email of the additional insured(s) you provided, so you don’t have to worry about manually sending them a copy.
Typically you will be asked by an event, venue, or business to add them as an additional insured. They will request to be added to your COI or policy, usually for an event or partnership. Adding an additional insured extends your coverage to them in the event of an accident you cause that affects them.
For example, if someone slipped in your booth and broke their arm, the injured person could sue you and the venue. Since the venue is added as an additional insured, your insurance policy could protect both you and the venue in the suit.
6. How Do I File a Claim if Something Happens to My Artwork or Supplies?
You can file a claim online with ACT at any time from your online dashboard, even from your phone while at an event.
In order to have coverage for a claim involving your artwork or supplies, you will need to be an ACT Pro policyholder and have Tools, Supplies, & Inventory Coverage added to your plan (this coverage cannot be added to ACT Go policies at this time). Without it, your claim will likely be denied.
Also, for claims involving theft, you will need to provide a copy of a police report before you file a claim. We cannot receive this information from the police department ourselves. It can be very difficult to be approved for coverage without a police report.
To begin the claims filing process:
- Log in to your customer dashboard
- Click on “File A Claim”
- Provide your policy information, the police report, and a description of the event
- Submit your claim
Our team will reach out within 1–2 business days letting you know we received your claim and are sending the information to a claims adjuster. The adjuster will then be in touch within 1–2 business days. They will investigate your claim and answer any questions you may have.
7. If I Purchase a Policy, When and Where am I Covered?
You can enjoy instant coverage with ACT! After buying a policy, you can immediately access, download, and share your Certificate of Insurance.
Need to set a specific start date for your policy? When purchasing a policy, you can choose the day your policy begins. This is known as a policy effective date and is the day your coverage will start.
We allow you to select today’s date as a policy effective date. This gives you same-day coverage, so you’re protected from the minute you pay. Depending on the policy length you choose, your coverage will last 3 days, 7 days, 90 days, or 1 year after the start date.
The last day of coverage is known as the expiration date. This is when your coverage ends. The time you have coverage between the effective and expiration dates is known as the policy period.
Once your coverage kicks in, you’re covered 24/7 in most locations and at most events in the United States. With the ACT Pro policy, you’re even covered for the work you do online!
There are some exclusions and limits to your coverage, like ACT being unable to cover you while at CBD events, political rallies, or martial arts events.
You also cannot be covered while running your own retail store, but your products can be covered while they are being sold in a retail store owned by someone else. Your products could also be covered while in transit across land (either being shipped to a customer or transported to an event).
ACT Insurance — The Best Arts and Crafts Insurance!
Not to pat ourselves on the back, but our customers think ACT is the best in the biz for arts and crafts insurance. In fact, 76% of customers were referred to ACT by friends, events, or other creatives. We’re honored to insure over 50,000 artists and crafters every year!
ACT Insurance crafts coverage just for you — the artisans, creatives, makers, designers, and handcrafters of the world. Our policies offer:
- Liability insurance for artists and crafters
- Event-approved insurance
- Free unlimited additional insureds
- Instant Certificate of Insurance
- Same-day coverage for events
- Fast and easy online purchasing
- Short and long-term policy options
- Protection for theft and damages*
- 24/7 access to online claims filing
- Top-rated customer support
- Coverage for online sales*
- No deductible on liability claims
- Optional add-ons for yearly coverage
- Free online quote in minutes
- Coverage for classes and workshops*
*Only available on the annual ACT Pro policy.
Whether you attend a few events here and there or run a creative business full-time, ACT is here for you. Grab your policy online in 10 minutes or less and start enjoying the protection of the best arts and crafts insurance today!
ACT Pro
Year-round Coverage Selling Online, In Person, And Much More!
More Coverage Year Round
Included:
24/7 Access To Policy Documents
Licensed In All 50 States
Not Premises Specific
$2M General Liability Aggregate
$1M General Liability Per Occurrence
$5K Medical Expenses
$300K Coverage For Damages To Premises Rented To You
$1M Products & Completed Operations Coverage
$1M Personal & Advertising Injury
General Liability For Online Sales
Optional:
Cyber Liability
Professional Liability
$5K or $10K Tools, Supplies, & Inventory Coverage (Inland Marine)
Starts at $24.25/Month
ACT Go
Get a quick and easy short-term policy to cover you at a show or event —or even a whole season of them.
1-90 Day Policies
Included:
24/7 Access To Policy Documents
Licensed In All 50 States
Not Premises Specific
$2M General Liability Aggregate
$1M General Liability Per Occurrence
$5K Medical Expenses
$300K Coverage For Damages To Premises Rented To You
Optional:
EZ Renew (for 90 day policies)
