How to build a COA page shoppers can actually check

What a certificate of analysis is

A certificate of analysis (COA) is a document from a testing laboratory that reports results for one sample from one lot. It is evidence about that lot, on that date, using named methods. It is not a quality badge for a product name, and it should never be presented as one.

Research-peptide COAs commonly include a small set of test types. Which ones appear depends on what was ordered from the lab, so two certificates for the same compound can legitimately look different. This guide explains what the fields are and how to present them; it does not interpret what any result means for how a material might be used.

• Identity and purity by HPLC: high-performance liquid chromatography, usually reported as a percentage with a chromatogram.
• Identity by mass spectrometry (MS or LC-MS): an observed mass compared with the expected molecular weight.
• Additional screens: sometimes endotoxin, heavy metals, residual solvents or water content, when those tests were ordered.
• Administrative fields: lab name, report number, lot, dates, sample description and an authorizing signature.

How a careful shopper reads a COA

Experienced buyers read the administrative fields before the result. A purity number means little if the lot, date or lab cannot be tied back to the vial in their hand. Design your page so each of these checks takes seconds rather than a support email.

Design the page around product and lot

The organizing unit of a COA page is the lot, grouped under its product. A per-product page with one generic PDF forces shoppers to guess, and guessing erodes trust faster than a missing document. For the underlying register and file hygiene, see organizing product COAs.

Verification routes and the missing-document state

Where the testing laboratory offers its own verification, link to it beside the document. Some labs provide a lookup by report number or a QR code on the certificate; others offer nothing public. Describe what the shopper can check and how, and never call a document “verified” unless you performed a check you can explain.

A missing document needs an honest state, not a broken button. Pending is normal when a new lot ships before its report is back. Say so, and give a date or a contact route.

• Current: the lot being sold, with lot number, test date and original PDF.
• Previous lot: kept available, clearly labelled, never presented as current.
• Pending for this lot: testing in progress; show the expected date if you have one.
• Not available: say so plainly and offer a support contact rather than hiding the section.

Red flags buyers look for, and you should catch first

Knowledgeable buyers and competitors look for the same signs of an unreliable certificate. Review every document against this list before publishing, because one bad certificate casts doubt on the rest of the page.

• Edited PDFs: mismatched fonts, blurred or pixelated numbers, or text layered over an image.
• The same report number or identical chromatogram appearing on certificates for different lots.
• No lot number on the vial label, so no certificate can be matched to the product.
• A test date earlier than the lot’s manufacture, or a certificate years older than the stock.
• A purity figure on the product page that differs from the PDF.
• A lab name that cannot be found, or a header cropped out of the document.
• Results given without a method, or the word “passed” with no number.

A COA page checklist

Run this before launch and whenever a new lot arrives. It takes a few minutes per product and prevents most documentation support tickets.

1. Confirm every product for sale has a lot number on its vial label and in the listing.
2. Attach the original PDF for the current lot and record the lot number and test date beside it.
3. Open each document on a phone, signed out, and confirm it loads, is legible and is the expected file.
4. Compare the lot, sample description and dates on the PDF with the listing and label.
5. Check that any purity figure shown on the page matches the PDF exactly.
6. Label older lots as previous and set a pending state for lots awaiting results.
7. Link the lab’s own verification route where one exists, and nowhere else.
8. Remove any wording that describes effects or uses; the page reports results only.

How Torva handles product documentation

Torva attaches product documents per product and per lot, so each certificate is tied to the lot it describes rather than floating in a shared folder. Every storefront includes a customer-facing documentation page as a second route to certificates, alongside the link on each product page. COAs are included on every plan, starting with Core, which will be $99 a month when subscription activation opens.

Torva stores and presents the file you upload; it does not test products or vouch for a laboratory’s results, and the merchant stays responsible for matching each document to the right lot. The steps are in the help article on product documents. To see how a documentation page looks in a theme, start a free preview.