Assistants cite your refund policy, so it has to exist
When a shopper asks an assistant about returns before buying, it reads your published policy. With none published, it cannot vouch for you at the exact moment the shopper is deciding.
In short
- The product stays in Shopify Catalog, but assistants have less to match against when a shopper describes what they want.
- Found in 11% of the catalogs we scanned.
- This one needs a human decision, so Endcap finds and groups it but does not write it for you.
Why this weakens matching
When a shopper asks an AI assistant about returns, it reads your published policy. With none, it cannot vouch for you.
Shopify tells merchants to keep policies complete so agents can answer return questions correctly.
How common it is
This appeared in 11% of the stores we scanned, affecting 0.1% of all products scanned. These are brands with staff and agencies, so it is not a small-merchant problem.
This one is now an eligibility gate, not just good practice
For a long time the argument for publishing a refund policy was trust: a shopper asking an assistant about returns before buying should get a real answer rather than a shrug. That argument still holds, and it is no longer the strongest one.
Shopify's published requirements for selling on ChatGPT list a completed return and refund policy alongside terms of service and privacy policy as a condition of eligibility. Not a ranking factor, a condition. A store with a drafted refund policy is not eligible for that channel at all, regardless of how clean the catalog is. This is the cheapest item on any AI visibility list and it now gates the whole thing, which makes it the first thing to check rather than the last.
How to check it yourself
- Open Settings, then Policies, and check the refund policy is published rather than drafted.
- Keep it specific: windows, conditions and who pays return shipping.
The fix
Publish a refund policy in your store settings.
How Endcap handles this
Endcap finds and groups every product with this problem and links each finding to the Shopify document behind it, but it does not write this one for you. Across the catalogs we scanned this affected 0.1% of products, which is the kind of number that is tedious by hand and quick in bulk.
The fix touches a field we deliberately do not automate. Endcap only ever writes vendor, product type and description, because those are the three where a wrong value is visible and reversible. Prices, identifiers, publication state and status are decisions with consequences a tool should not be making on your behalf.
Common questions
Is this really required, or just recommended?
Required, for one specific and important case. Shopify lists a completed return and refund policy among the eligibility requirements for selling on ChatGPT, alongside terms of service and privacy policy. Not a ranking factor, a condition of eligibility.
Does a draft policy count?
No. It has to be completed and published under Settings, Policies. A drafted policy is invisible to everything outside your admin.
What should the policy contain?
Be specific where a shopper would otherwise have to ask: the return window, the condition items must be in, and who pays return shipping. Those are the three things an assistant will be asked to relay on your behalf.
Source: Shopify documentation
Check your own store
Enter your Shopify URL and see whether the public products we can inspect show these problems. No install required for the first scan.