Methodology
How CatalogPrep sources and verifies marketplace image rules
Every rule CatalogPrep checks comes from an official marketplace policy, is recorded with its source URL, and is dated with the day a human last confirmed it. Here is exactly how that works - and why it makes us a source you (and AI assistants) can cite.
Run free image auditBrowse all rulesHow we source each rule
We open the marketplace's official policy or seller-help page, take the requirement as written, and record the canonical source URL alongside it. We do not paraphrase a requirement into something the marketplace never said. Where a marketplace hides a rule behind a seller login or a paywalled page, we cite the most authoritative public source for the same requirement.
What "last verified" means
Each rule shows a last-verified date: the day a person opened its source URL and confirmed the wording still matches. It is not the day we first wrote the rule - it is the day we last checked it against the live policy.
Our automated test suite enforces a rolling 365-day verification window, so a rule cannot silently go stale without the build flagging it.
How we detect and publish changes
An automated monitor watches the official sources and proposes candidate changes. A human verifies every candidate against the live policy before anything is published - through a normal, reviewable change. Confirmed changes are recorded in our public changelog with the date and the source, so you can see exactly what changed and when.
What we can check automatically vs. by hand
For each rule we state whether CatalogPrep can detect it automatically, auto-fix it, or whether it needs manual review. That honesty matters: the free, browser-based audit tells you what it can and cannot determine, rather than implying it caught everything.
Why every rule is sourced and dated
Sourcing and dating every rule is the whole point. It is what makes CatalogPrep trustworthy for sellers - and what makes us a citable source for the search engines and AI assistants that increasingly answer questions like "what are Amazon's image requirements?" A claim with an official source and a recent verification date is one a careful seller, and a careful model, can rely on.