The EntryProof readiness checker returns a single number between 0 and 100, a color-coded band, and a list of specific gap findings. This guide walks each of those outputs, explains the math (deterministic, no LLM), and gives you the exact next step per band so you know whether to file today or hold the shipment.
The three score bands
Every scan lands in one of three bands. Below 50 is high-risk (red): the scan surfaced enough gaps that filing today would almost certainly be rejected or trigger a CBP hold. Between 50 and 79 is needs-review (yellow): filing is possible but you have unresolved items that raise your odds of a request-for-correction from CPSC, which adds 24 to 48 hours to your clearance time. 80 or higher is likely-ready (green): our scoped scan surfaced no blocking gaps, but the checker is a preliminary readiness estimate, not a substitute for the real CPSC Product Registry filing itself, whose rule text lives at the CPSC Product Registry final rule on federalregister.gov.
What each gap severity means
Each gap in your report is tagged high, medium, or low. A high-severity gap is one that will get your filing rejected outright: missing Children's Product Certificate for a children's SKU, missing General Certificate of Conformity for a regulated general-use product, or an HTS code that fails basic 4-2-2 dotted-form validation. Fix these before you start the CPSC submission form.
A medium-severity gap is a documentation item the storefront scan cannot verify but that CPSC or CBP will ask about, for example the accreditation status of your test lab or whether you have a CPSC Product Registry account on file. Medium gaps do not block a filing the way high gaps do, but they extend your review window when an inspector asks and you have to scramble to produce the record. The CPSC Regulated Products Handbook on cpsc.gov documents which categories trigger which document requests during a random inspection.
A low-severity gap is a completeness note, for example the platform doc portals (Amazon Seller Central, TikTok Shop, Shein, Temu) that each run separate compliance-doc intake beyond the CPSC filing itself. Low gaps do not affect the federal filing but can still block a specific marketplace listing until you upload the matching document into that platform's own portal. The CBP Informed Compliance Publications library on cbp.gov is the reference we cross-check when the platform's own docs are ambiguous about which certificate they accept.
Action items per band
If your score is high-risk (below 50): do not file today. Resolve every high-severity gap first, then re-run the checker. A single high-severity item, for example a missing CPC on a scanned children's SKU, is enough to sink an otherwise-ready filing.
If your score is needs-review (50 to 79): you can proceed with filing, but treat every medium-severity item as a homework assignment before your shipment departs origin port. Have the missing document, or a defensible written explanation of why it is not required, ready to produce within one business day of any CBP or CPSC request.
If your score is likely-ready (80 or higher): file, save the acceptance record, and keep the filing ID on the shipment paperwork the freight forwarder carries. For the full pre-departure sequence, see our Amazon FBA CPSC eFiling walkthrough, which covers the specific timing constraints for FBA inbound shipments.
Why the checker is deterministic
The M0 checker uses a hash-based scoring engine, not a language model, and it does not fetch your store URL server-side (no SSRF exposure). Two scans of the same URL and HTS code produce the same score, so you can iterate on gap-closure work and re-scan to see the score climb. Once the full India rules engine ships in M1, per-SKU CPSC rule citations replace the current hand-mapped HTS-chapter profile, and the score becomes real classification instead of preliminary estimate.
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FAQ
Does the checker save my scan? Yes, but only the store URL, HTS code, and a hashed IP address, and only for 30 days per the retention policy documented on the EntryProof privacy page. No product-level detail beyond the HTS code is retained.
What happens if my score drops after I add data? The added data surfaced a real gap, for example an HTS code that resolves into a CPSC-regulated category the previous scan did not have visibility into. A dropping score is signal, not a bug.
How close is a likely-ready score to a guaranteed CBP clearance? Not the same thing. Likely-ready means the M0 scan found no blocking gaps, but the actual CBP filing goes through the CPSC Product Registry system where a rejection is still possible for reasons the storefront scan cannot see (mismatched importer of record on the certificate, a test report older than 12 months, a lab whose accreditation lapsed since the last audit).
Can I export the full gap report? Not from the free checker. The report is emailed to you as a static PDF and mirrored on the results page. Paid EntryProof accounts get exportable JSON.
Still stuck? Email hello@citationsafe.com or hello@argushq.ai.