Policy & Compliance

Weight: 5.6% — Shoppers (and AI agents) want to know the post-purchase details: Can I return it? How does it ship? Is there a warranty? Products with clear policy information build trust and are more likely to be recommended.

What Vantage checks

Vantage evaluates four aspects of policy and compliance information:

Return/refund policy (30 points)

This is driven by the shop-level return-policy setting passed to the scorer.

• Shop confirmed to have a return policy: 30 points
• Shop confirmed to have no return policy: 0 points
• Unknown (the MVP default — shop-level policy is not yet auto-detected): 15 points

In the current MVP, shop-level return policy is not detectable, so most products receive the 15-point partial credit here.

Shipping information (30 points)

Vantage uses variant weight data as the proxy for shipping readiness.

• At least one variant has a weight greater than zero: 20 points
• Plus a weight unit is also set on a weighted variant: +10 points (30 total)
• No weight on any variant: 0 points

Compliance indicators (20 points)

Depending on your product category, there may be relevant compliance or safety information. Vantage looks for compliance-related keywords and certifications in your tags and metafields.

• Compliance keywords/certifications found in tags or metafields: 20 points
• None found: 10 points (partial credit by default — most products don't need safety warnings)

Warranty or guarantee (20 points)

Does the product mention warranty or guarantee terms? Vantage scans the product description for warranty-related keywords (including "warranty," "guarantee," "money back," and "satisfaction guaranteed").

• A warranty/guarantee keyword found in the description: 20 points
• None found: 5 points (minimal partial credit by default)

Tips to improve

1. Add shipping weight to every product. Even if you use flat-rate shipping, the weight field helps AI agents provide accurate information to shoppers.
2. Set up a shop-level return policy. The return-policy component is driven by your shop's return-policy setting rather than text in the product description, so make sure your store has a clear return policy configured.
3. Include warranty details. If the product comes with a manufacturer warranty, mention it. "2-year manufacturer warranty included."
4. Add compliance details for regulated products. Food, cosmetics, electronics, and children's products benefit from compliance mentions (FDA, CE, CPSC, etc.).
5. Use metafields for structured policy data. Structured fields are more reliably parsed than free-text mentions.

Before and after

Poor example:

Description: "Great product, buy it now!" Weight: (empty) No policy mentions anywhere

• No shipping info, no warranty keywords, no compliance keywords
• Score: ~30/100 (15 default return credit + 0 shipping + 10 default compliance + 5 default warranty)

Good example:

Description: "...Ships in eco-friendly packaging. Backed by a 2-year manufacturer warranty." Weight: 1.2 lbs, weight unit set Tags: "fda", "bpa-free"

• Return policy (15pts MVP default) + Shipping info (30pts: weight + unit) + Compliance (20pts: FDA/BPA-free keywords in tags) + Warranty (20pts: warranty keyword in description)
• Score: 85/100

In the MVP, the return-policy component tops out at the 15-point default for most products because shop-level policy isn't auto-detected, so 85 is effectively the product-level ceiling on this dimension.

Common mistakes

• No shop-level return policy configured. The return-policy component reads your shop's return-policy setting. In the current MVP this isn't auto-detected, so products default to the 15-point partial credit regardless of what the description says.
• No shipping weight. This is one of the most commonly skipped fields in Shopify, and it's an easy fix.
• Assuming warranty isn't relevant. Even simple products benefit from a mention like "satisfaction guaranteed" — it's a recognized warranty keyword and earns the full 20 points (versus the 5-point default when nothing is mentioned).