How MeritSKU Validates Products Before Launch.
From raw supplier quote to human-gated pre-launch decision. Walk through the four deterministic phases that turn unverified product proposals into fully audited financial models.
The 4-Phase MeritSKU Operating Loop
Turn raw supplier quotes into audited pre-launch decisions in under 60 seconds with strict draft-only safeguards.
Multi-Channel Candidate Ingestion with Strict Boundary Guards
Ingest raw candidate URLs from AliExpress, 1688, Taobao, or direct factory quote PDFs. Automatically validate product dimensions, weight, HS customs codes, and quoted factory FOB tiers with zero exposure to private networks.
Architectural Invariants & Proofs
- ✓SSRF Protection: Strict private IP and DNS rebinding filters on all external URL fetches
- ✓Integer Minor-Unit Storage: All FOB cost quotes stored in minor units (cents) to prevent float drift
- ✓Client-Side Sandbox Isolation: Zero persistent database writes during public evaluations
The 4 Validation Gates in Detail
Explore how data flows through each verification stage to produce objective, reproducible decisions.
Candidate Intake & SSRF Guardrails
Accepts live candidate links from AliExpress, 1688, Taobao, or uploaded factory quote PDFs. Our ingestion engine enforces strict boundary isolation to prevent intranet exposure or database poisoning.
URL resolution uses DNS re-check and RFC 1918 private IP address filtering. Zero network access to internal Cloud Run services.
FOB prices, minimum order quantity (MOQ) brackets, and packaging dimensions are stored in integer cents and grams to prevent float drift.
Multi-Source Evidence Extraction
Aggregates evidence across six orthogonal dimensions. Unlike black-box machine learning ratings, every score is explainable down to the source quote and market data point.
Demand Momentum, Landed Economics, Competition Density, Supplier Reliability, Testability & Creative, and Regulatory/FTC Risk.
Reflects evidence completeness and half-life freshness decay. A high score with unobserved supplier metrics is capped at low confidence.
12-Factor Landed Economics & Sensitivity
Calculates true Contribution Margin 2 (CM2) across twelve integer cost factors. Stress-tests margins across a 9-cell matrix simulating retail price shifts and paid media ad auction spikes.
Evaluates unit profit against retail prices (±10%) and paid CAC spikes (up to +20%). Identifies fragile products before ad launch.
Tracks model calibration against realized merchant post-launch actuals. Enforces explicit epistemic modesty notices whenever N < 20.
Governed Draft Action Center
Formulates pre-launch ad test plans with Target CPA benchmarks and protective stop-loss ad ceilings. Enforces strict draft-only staging to Shopify with zero live catalog writes.
Candidate products are staged strictly as unpublished drafts (status: DRAFT). Never alters active catalog items.
Test plans include mathematically enforced stop-loss budgets ($200–$1,000 bounds) to protect testing capital from creative burn.
Frequently Asked Questions
Clear answers on technical boundaries, data privacy, and operational safety.
Does MeritSKU connect directly to my live store?
Yes, via official Shopify OAuth with restricted scopes. MeritSKU only reads historical sales actuals to calibrate unit economics and writes candidate products strictly as unpublished drafts (status: DRAFT).
Can MeritSKU publish products live or start paid ads automatically?
Never. Our architectural boundary strictly forbids autonomous live publishing or automated ad execution. MeritSKU produces strategy blueprints and draft staging that require explicit human approval.
How does MeritSKU calculate landed cost without connecting to my 3PL?
MeritSKU maintains deterministic freight and fulfillment rate benchmarks across 10 e-commerce categories, modeled in integer minor units. You can also input your exact contracted carrier and 3PL pick/pack rate cards.
What happens if supplier data is missing or unverified?
The Orthogonal Confidence metric binds the overall score, alerting you to unobserved risk rather than hallucinating missing inputs. If a supplier quote lacks customs or freight terms, the confidence score drops.
Ready to Audit Your First Candidate Product?
Run a complete pre-launch viability audit in our interactive demo sandbox in under 60 seconds.