The Trusted Shops Trustmark
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The Trusted Shops Trustmark confirms that the Trusted Shops Quality Criteria are fulfilled. The Trustmark is awarded by Trusted Shops and cannot be purchased. A valid Trustmark indicates that you can shop with confidence in these shops. In shops displaying the Trusted Shops Trustmark, you can make use of the Trusted Shops Buyer Protection. |
Trusted Shops Buyer Protection and the Trusted Shops Guarantee
Trusted Shops Buyer Protection and the Trusted Shops Guarantee – explained briefly
Trusted Shops Buyer Protection protects you when shopping in online shops that display the Trusted Shops Trustmark.
After each purchase in an online shop with the Trusted Shops Trustmark, you can decide after placing your order whether you wish to secure the purchase with Trusted Shops Buyer Protection. If you are already registered with us using your email address, the system recognises this and secures your purchase. You can view your secured purchases in your Consumer Account.
Trusted Shops Buyer Protection supports you in the event of issues with an online shop, for example if goods are not delivered or if there is a dispute regarding a refund. In this context, Trusted Shops provides support and, where applicable, the reimbursement itself.
The Trusted Shops Guarantee is included as an additional safeguard in certain Buyer Protection variants (Classic and PLUS). It ensures that you receive your money back if the retailer does not pay.
Buyer Protection variants
Buyer Protection Basic – free of charge
For buyers in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Support by means of mediation and reimbursement of up to €100 per purchase is possible. There is no entitlement to reimbursement.
Buyer Protection Classic – free of charge
For buyers in other countries of the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
Support by means of mediation. The cover amount is up to €2,500 of the purchase value per order (or deviating amounts for online shops focused on countries with other currencies).
Buyer Protection PLUS – €12 / year
For buyers in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Personal customer service, including telephone support, as well as mediation. In addition, the Trusted Shops Guarantee applies for purchases with a value of up to €20,000 per order.
Individual protection – subject to a fee
Buyer Protection PLUS can also be taken out on a one-off basis for a single purchase. If you were not previously registered for the Basic Services, you will simultaneously become a user of the Basic Services.
Claims – When does the Guarantee or Buyer Protection apply?
- In the event of non-delivery or non-performance
- In the event of no refund after withdrawal, return of goods or loss in transit
Important requirements:
- The order must have been placed in an online shop displaying the Trusted Shops Trustmark
- The Trustmark must be valid at the time the protection is taken out
- The Guarantee must have been taken out in due time and confirmed by email
- The case must be reported within the protection period (generally 30 days)
- Full fulfilment of the payment obligation towards the online shop
- The retailer must previously have been requested to issue a refund
Quality Criteria
Every shop displaying the Trusted Shops Trustmark fulfils the Trusted Shops Quality Criteria:
- Verified identity and creditworthiness
- Active Buyer Protection
- Compliance with consumer protection requirements
- Key aspects are checked by means of test purchases
- At least 4.0 stars in Trusted Shops Reviews
- Excellent service communication
- Low Buyer Protection reimbursement rate
Trusted Shops Reviews
How reviews work at Trusted Shops
Trusted Shops Paid Business Members use the services of Trusted Shops to collect reviews. This enables us to verify that the reviews are based on real purchasing experiences.
The review profiles of Trusted Shops Paid Business Members contain verified and imported (non-verified) reviews. Only verified reviews are included in the calculation of the overall rating of Paid Business Members.
Trusted Shops Basic Business Members and non-members can be reviewed via their profile. These reviews are not verified. In addition, there may be verified reviews from a former Paid Business membership.
All reviews (including non-verified reviews) are included in the calculation of the overall rating of Basic Business Members and non-members.
All information on the measures used to verify reviews can be found below under the respective headings.
Submitting reviews
Any real experience relating to the purchase or use of a company’s services can be reviewed with up to 5 stars. Reviews refer to experiences that are no more than 6 months old at the time the review is submitted.
Rating calculation based on star ratings
5.00 – 4.50 Excellent
4.49 – 3.50 Good
3.49 – 2.50 Fair
2.49 – 1.50 Poor
1.49 – 1.00 Very poor
Calculation of the overall rating
For Paid Business Members, the overall rating is calculated from all verified reviews. Reviews that are older than 12 months are included in the calculation of the overall rating with reduced weighting. This ensures that the overall rating focuses on current experiences.
For Basic Business Members and non-members, the overall rating is calculated from all reviews, which may also include non-verified reviews. Reviews that are older than 12 months are included in the calculation of the overall rating with reduced weighting. This ensures that the overall rating focuses on current experiences.
Authenticity of reviews
Verified reviews
Trusted Shops has implemented various measures within its review system to ensure that reviews published on the review profiles of Trusted Shops Paid Business Members originate only from consumers who have actually used or purchased the goods or services.
These reviews are labelled “verified” or “#trstd” (hereinafter referred to as “verified reviews”).
How does Trusted Shops ensure that reviews are genuine?
Technical measures
Trusted Shops uses various technical measures to ensure that email invitations to submit reviews are only sent to the email addresses through which a purchase was completed or a service was obtained.
Consumer Members who use the Trusted Shops services receive a review invitation from Trusted Shops after completing an order. Via the link contained in the email, a review relating to the actual purchase can be submitted.
In addition, Consumer Members have the option to review their orders in online shops of Paid Business Members by accessing the purchase in their personal Consumer Account. Here too, it is technically ensured that only purchases stored in the Consumer Account can be reviewed.
Paid Business Members can also ask their customers to submit a review via the Trusted Shops system. As part of the automated invitation process, the customer’s email address is transmitted to Trusted Shops via API or via the so‑called Review Collector in order to send an invitation email. This technically ensures that an invitation to submit a review is only sent to the email addresses through which a purchase was made. At the same time, additional reference data relating to the order are also collected in these cases in order to ensure secure allocation of the Trusted Shops services as a whole and of the individual reviews to an actual purchase.
Automated measures to detect fake reviews
In addition, we have implemented measures to detect fake reviews. These measures are based on an analysis of the data provided when reviews are submitted, such as email or IP address. If irregularities are detected during these analyses, the reviews are automatically deleted or forwarded to the Review Service Team for manual review and a decision on deletion.
Manual measures
Further manual measures are also used to verify that only those customers who have actually purchased the product or used the service submit reviews.
In order to verify the authenticity of the review and check its legitimacy, reviews cannot be submitted anonymously. The email address through which the purchase was processed always serves as a verifiable reference for submitting a review.
If irregularities or indications arise suggesting that, despite the technical measures described above, the review is not based on a real experience, evidence of the legitimacy of the submitted review is requested and examined accordingly. If the submitted evidence cannot demonstrate the purchase of the goods or use of the services, the reviews are deleted.
Reviews on the profiles of Basic Business Members and non-members
On the profiles of Basic Business Members and non-members, reviews can be submitted directly. These reviews are not verified.
When submitting reviews, an email address and a reference number must be entered. A double opt-in process is used to confirm the authenticity of the email address.
Active Review Management
Reviews of companies that use Trusted Shops’ Active Review Management are filtered for certain predefined prohibited content prior to publication. A notice about the use of this feature is displayed on the review profiles of these companies. Reviews containing such content are not published. The review is limited exclusively to the content listed under “General” and the content specified for the respective industry. No further review of reviews takes place prior to publication.
General:
- Insults or racist statements
- Personal data, in particular names of employees or the name of the customer
For insurance products:
- Bank details
- Insurance numbers
For e-cigarettes:
- Any specific reference to the products offered (product reviews)
- References to the enjoyment or consumption of tobacco or tobacco products, e-cigarettes
- Reviews in which the product / the goods are mentioned
- Reviews in which the word “product”, “goods”, “item” or “device” is mentioned – (exception: “did not receive any goods”)
For medicinal products:
- Statements regarding the mode of action
- Before / after comparisons
- Any specific reference to the products offered (product reviews)
- Reviews in which the product / the goods are mentioned
For food supplements:
- Statements regarding effects
- Before / after comparisons
For alcoholic beverages:
- Promotion of alcohol consumption