How warranty coverage is decided
SKU.io checks coverage live, as soon as it knows enough about a piece and its issue — nobody has to look anything up. The same check runs whether the claim is started by your team or by a customer, and it always explains its answer in plain language rather than leaving you to guess.
Where you see it
- On the piece card on Create a repair, a Coverage box updates about a third of a second after you choose the product, pick an issue, change the purchase date, or set an override. It shows a chip — In warranty, Out of warranty, Goodwill, or Unknown — with the reasons underneath. Until a product is chosen, it reads Pick a product to check coverage. If the piece is discontinued, it adds a note suggesting store credit instead of a repair.
- On the public claim form, each item gets its own coverage chip as soon as its issue is chosen — Covered, To confirm, or Not covered — and the review step always shows the promise: "For pieces that aren't covered, we'll send you a quote to approve before any work starts. Nothing is charged without your OK." A fee is always shown before the customer can submit.
Neither check saves anything — they're previews. You can also run the same check on a hypothetical purchase, with nothing on file yet, from the Test a purchase tool described in Set up warranty policies.
What decides coverage
SKU.io works through the same questions in the same order for every claim. The first one that settles it wins, and each step that matters adds a reason to the list you see — something like "Lifetime policy 'Leather goods' · Purchased 04/11/2023 on Shopify order #48211 · Zipper slider is a covered defect." Every date in these reasons — purchase, ship, delivery, registration, expiry, and repeat-claim dates — follows the Date Format in Settings → General → Date & Time. Reasons already saved on a repair keep the wording they were saved with.
A few details worth knowing:
- A policy's own term can be overridden piece-by-piece. A policy can give one named component — "the clasp," say — its own, shorter term. The shortest term that applies to the claimed issue wins.
- Coverage starts on whichever event the matched policy names: when the order shipped (the default), when it was delivered, when it was ordered, or when the piece was registered.
- A claim that expired only recently is flagged as a candidate for goodwill rather than a flat decline, so staff can decide case by case.
- A set (several pieces sold together) is checked against the set's own purchase and shipment; an individual piece's own policy applies if it has one, otherwise the set's does.
For how a policy decides which purchases it applies to in the first place — and which one wins when more than one matches — see Set up warranty policies.
Fraud and risk signals
Alongside the coverage decision, SKU.io quietly checks a new claim for things worth a second look. The check reruns whenever a repair is created and whenever photos are added to it. It never blocks or delays a claim — it only adds a note to the piece's Risk signals panel, visible from its card on the repair board and from the unit's own working screen (see Diagnose and work a unit), so a reviewer can use their own judgment.
| Signal | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Already claimed before | The same order line or serial number was already claimed within the repeat-claim window (90 days by default, or the matched policy's own) | "Already claimed on RO-2026-00142 within the 90-day cooldown." |
| Serial doesn't match | The serial number belongs to a different product, or isn't one that order actually shipped | "Serial ABC123 belongs to a different product than the one claimed." |
| Frequent claimant | This customer has claimed more units than the yearly threshold allows | "This customer has claimed 4 other unit(s) in the last 12 months (threshold 3)." |
| Matching photo elsewhere | A submitted photo closely matches one already used on another claim | "A photo closely matches one on RO-2026-00099." |
| Early wear and tear | A wear-and-tear claim was filed unusually soon after the purchase date | "Wear and tear claimed 12 day(s) after purchase (under 30)." |
| Shared address | Several other customers' claims in the last year ship to the same address | "3 other customers' claims in the last 12 months ship to this address." |
| Early claim | The claim came in unusually soon after the order arrived | "Claimed 2 day(s) after the order arrived (under 7)." |
| Unverified receipt | The only proof of purchase is a retailer receipt nobody has checked by hand (lower severity than the others) | "Proof of purchase is a retailer receipt, not one of our orders." |
Next steps
- Set up warranty policies — create the policies this engine matches against, and try one on a hypothetical purchase before relying on it.
- Manage warranty registrations — how a piece gets the purchase record coverage is checked against.