Make the conditions of a free-shipping offer visible
Trace the offer from the first promotion a buyer sees to the conditions that determine eligibility. Compare the advertised threshold, coupon requirement, treatment of discounts and region exclusions with the business’s approved offer and actual settings. Buyers need the qualifying information while evaluating the promise. A shipping-policy link is a place to inspect, not evidence that the promotion itself explains its limits. Separate a missing condition in the copy from a technical failure to offer an eligible shipping method.
For: An owner or content manager of a research-only store advertising free shipping under conditions that buyers may not see.
Inventory the live surfaces carrying the offer: banners, product or collection pages, cart messages and merchant-controlled promotion destinations. Copy the exact claim and the qualification visible beside it. Record where a visitor must go to find further conditions, and whether those conditions describe the same offer. Include mobile presentation when it changes what is visible.
Read each surface independently before following its links. Does it state a threshold but omit a required coupon? Does the first promise sound available to every destination while the policy restricts it? These are concrete representation questions even if the checkout calculates its configured rates correctly. Do not describe an offer as unrestricted just because one page leaves out its limits.
Translate actual eligibility into plain conditions
For WooCommerce’s documented Free Shipping method, eligibility can require no condition, a free-shipping coupon, a minimum amount, or a configured combination. The minimum can be evaluated before or after coupon discounts, and a coupon used to enable free shipping must allow it. Read the selected requirement and discount setting on the actual store. The existence of these options does not establish which one your store uses.
Distinguish a rule requiring both a minimum and a coupon from one allowing either. Also compare the currency and threshold in the advertisement with the approved offer. Where discounts affect eligibility, state the relevant before-or-after basis in the condition record. Record the regions and shipping service actually covered from the merchant’s offer and settings; do not invent exclusions or promise every service is included.
On another platform or a customized shipping implementation, use its actual configuration and documented behavior. WooCommerce’s options are useful only when they describe the method operating this offer.
Classify the mismatch before changing the campaign
If the offer and settings agree but a promotion omits a condition, the content owner has a disclosure correction to approve. If the promotion accurately describes the approved offer but settings impose a different condition, the offer owner and store maintainer need to reconcile that difference. If the offer itself is undecided, neither the advertisement nor a convenient setting settles it.
A real report of shipping being charged does not by itself tell you which of these conflicts exists. Compare the reported destination, relevant cart amount and coupon condition with the approved offer without copying customer records into the worksheet. When those conditions appear satisfied but the shipping option is missing or wrong, pass the technical rate question to the checkout investigation. This page’s decision is what the business promised and where its qualifications appeared.
Publish one consistent offer across its surfaces
The FTC’s truth-in-advertising guidance calls for truthful, nonmisleading and substantiated advertising across media, including websites. It does not approve a particular phrase or disclosure placement. As an editorial correction, put the eligibility conditions where the visitor encounters the offer, and make linked detail consistent with that summary. Record the approved wording and check each affected published surface after the change.
Do not treat a clearer promotion as a legal finding about the offer or permission to ship products to a destination. Keep any jurisdiction-specific advertising question separate for qualified advice. Preserve the old wording and its dates if an existing order raises a question about what was offered at that time.
A Prism website-review consultation can discuss the public promotion and policy conflict within an agreed scope. Provide the URLs, research-only product context and the condition that disagrees. Scope, fees and terms are discussed before work. The public inquiry excludes customer records and payment details and does not purchase a review or submit a processing application.
Free-shipping representation map
Complete this for one real offer across all of its published locations. Use the blank column for the actual wording, setting reference and discrepancy. Classify the result as a copy conflict, a setting conflict or an undecided offer; investigate missing rates separately.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Free-shipping representation map. The last column is for temporary notes.
Condition
Records to compare
Decision the comparison supports
Your offer record
Advertised offer
Records to compareExact live claim, page URL, placement and observation date.
Decision the comparison supportsIdentify the scope a visitor encounters before reading further.
Order threshold
Records to compareAdvertised amount and currency beside the approved and configured minimum.
Decision the comparison supportsResolve a different amount or an omitted threshold before calling the offer consistent.
Discount basis
Records to compareBefore-or-after-discount setting and any corresponding explanation.
Decision the comparison supportsCheck whether the visible threshold describes the basis actually used.
Coupon condition
Records to compareWhether a coupon is required, whether it enables free shipping and whether it combines with a minimum using both or either.
Decision the comparison supportsAn unstated coupon or combination rule is a missing qualification.
Region exclusions
Records to compareApproved eligible regions, excluded destinations and the public conditions.
Decision the comparison supportsDo not turn a regional offer into a universal shipping promise.
Covered shipping service
Records to compareThe service named in the offer and the method to which the condition applies.
Decision the comparison supportsKeep an offer for one service from implying that every delivery option is free.
Disclosure location
Records to compareCondition visible at the offer, linked detail and the relevant mobile view.
Decision the comparison supportsRecord what is discoverable before ordering; link existence alone does not establish clarity.
Owner and published correction
Records to compareApproved wording, responsible owner and affected URLs checked after publication.
Decision the comparison supportsKeep the promotion, conditions and approved offer aligned without inferring legal clearance.
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. Worksheet entries are not sent automatically. If you copy notes into the consultation message and submit the form, Prism receives them as part of your request.
Limits
This is a public-offer comparison, not a shipping-zone or missing-rate diagnosis.
WooCommerce’s free-shipping options apply to that documented method; custom implementations and other platforms need their own evidence.
FTC guidance does not determine the legality of this offer, every applicable jurisdiction or whether a product may ship to a destination.
FTC truth in advertising — checked 2026-09-28. Advertising must be truthful, nonmisleading and substantiated across media including websites. The guidance does not establish that a specific free-shipping phrase or placement is lawful.
WooCommerce free shipping — checked 2026-09-21. Free Shipping can require nothing, a coupon, a minimum amount or a stated combination. The minimum can apply before or after coupon discounts and the coupon must allow free shipping.
Prism solutions — checked 2026-09-21. Prism can review public website content within an agreed scope; scope, fees and terms are discussed before work, and providers decide eligibility and account terms.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. The form asks for the website, products and question and excludes payment-card details, passwords and customer records. A request does not purchase a service or submit a processing application.