# Variants with no price, no SKU or no name are invisible to agents and feeds.

Sphen.ai checks every variant it syncs for a valid price, a SKU and distinguishable options, and flags stale variants on inactive products. These findings are manual: you fix them in Shopify, and the next audit closes them.

Canonical: https://sphen.ai/features/variant-checks/

## Does Sphen.ai check product variants?

Yes. Sphen.ai checks every variant and flags products where no variant has a price above zero, variants without a SKU, several variants that only carry generic names like Default Title, and unavailable variants on draft or archived products. These findings are manual: you fix them in Shopify and the next audit closes them.

## What do you see in the app?

- **Four findings**: Set a valid variant price fires when a product has variants but none with a price above 0. Add variant SKU flags a variant without a SKU. Clarify product variants flags a product whose sellable variants all carry generic option names. Review stale variant flags an unavailable variant on a product that is not active.
- **Where they appear**: Variant findings sit in the All recommendations table under All and in the Manual review segment. There is no separate Variants tab: a finding is listed with its product, so you see the context.
- **Evidence and fix**: Each finding shows the evidence — for example the number of variants and that none is priced — the threshold, and the fix: set a real selling price per sellable variant, take the SKU from your PIM or inventory system, name options by size, colour or material, or remove or reactivate the variant.

## The problem

A product is only as sellable as its variants.

- **Price 0 means unsellable**: A product whose variants all carry 0.00 cannot be quoted or bought by an AI agent, and product feeds reject it.
- **Default Title twice**: Several variants named Title or Default Title give shoppers and assistants no way to tell them apart.
- **Variants nobody maintains**: Variants without a SKU and variants left behind on draft or archived products dilute feeds and structured data.

## How it works

1. **Every synced variant is checked**: The audit looks at price, SKU, option names and whether the variant still belongs to an active product.
2. **Findings appear in Recommendations**: Set a valid variant price, Add variant SKU, Clarify product variants and Review stale variant show up with the product, the evidence and the fix.
3. **You fix it in Shopify**: These fields have no AI draft. Edit in Shopify takes you to the product; the next audit verifies and closes the finding.

## You stay in control

- Variant findings are review-only. Nothing is written to your variants.
- Deleting a variant is irreversible, so Review stale variant always stays a manual step.
- Each finding names the threshold it was checked against, such as at least one variant with a price above 0.

## Questions

### Why does a missing price matter for AI?

AI agents and product feeds need a price to quote or list a product. A product whose variants all carry 0.00 cannot be named or bought by an agent, and feeds drop it. That is why this finding carries a high priority.

### Can Sphen.ai set the price or SKU for me?

No. Prices and SKUs come from your own systems, so these findings are review-only. Edit in Shopify opens the product; the change is yours.

### What counts as a generic variant name?

Options named Title or Default Title. The finding fires only when a product has at least two sellable variants and all of them are generic, so a single-variant product is never flagged.

### What is a stale variant?

A variant that is not available for sale and belongs to a product in draft or archived state. It dilutes feeds and structured data. Because deleting is irreversible, Sphen.ai asks you to check it and remove or reactivate it yourself.

### Do variant checks count against a quota?

No. They are part of the product audit and have no separate allowance.