How to Handle Missing Certificates in Your Product Catalog

Missing certificates are the most common blocker when preparing product data for Digital Product Passports. Here's how to handle them without losing momentum.

Why certificates go missing

• Supplier turnover: New factories, new contacts, old documents lost in email threads
• Expiry: Certificates have validity periods — typically 1–3 years — and renewals slip through the cracks
• Scope mismatch: A certificate covers a factory or material, but not the specific product you're shipping
• Format issues: Scanned PDFs with no structured data, making it hard to verify what's covered

A practical workflow

1. Audit your catalog: Start with your top-selling products. For each one, list the required certificates and check what you have on file.
2. Categorize gaps: Is the certificate missing entirely, expired, or just not linked to the right product?
3. Create supplier requests: For each gap, generate a clear request: what document is needed, for which product, by when.
4. Track responses: Set follow-up reminders. Suppliers are busy — a structured request gets faster results than a vague email.
5. Re-check on receipt: When a new document arrives, verify it covers the right scope and dates before marking the gap as closed.

Tips for staying on top of it

• Don't batch everything at once — start with one product category and expand
• Set calendar reminders for certificate expiry dates (6 months before expiry is a good lead time)
• Keep a single source of truth — scattered spreadsheets and email attachments don't scale

SellSafely handles this end to end. Upload your documents, and we'll show you which products are ready, which have gaps, and what to request from suppliers — product by product.