What Makes a Verified Review on The Trust Search?

We’re committed to minimizing unsubstantiated opinions and approving only authentic content. As such, we require that customers back their experiences with evidence when reviewing any brand.

In practice, this means if you want your review to pass through our moderation system on the first try, you need to follow these customer review guidelines:

• Proof of Purchase is Mandatory: You have to attach proof of the transaction for every review that you write. This can include invoices, receipts, order confirmation, or booking proof—in the form of photos, PDFs, images, and screenshots. We do not usually accept pictures or videos of the product or service as proof of the review, though you can add them.
• No Fabricated Experiences: Your review should be based on an actual experience. This means you must have interacted with the business or purchased a product or service from them.
• Only One Review Per Transaction: You can submit only one review for each distinct invoice. This means buying five grocery store items within a single transaction—or paying once for a single instance of a service that takes two days to complete—is considered a single transaction and can only be reviewed once.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Reviews

Learn about the do’s and don’ts of writing reviews on The Trust Search.

Do:

• Attach Clear Invoices: Make sure you attach a clear picture or screenshot of the invoice. Details such as the business name, transaction date, payable balance, discount, and items purchased shouldn’t be unclear or invisible.
• Keep It Relevant: Make sure your review describes the experience it is based on. Avoid describing an irrelevant experience or someone else’s interaction with the business.
• Be Specific and Focused: Use clear language to describe your experience and be specific about the details. Avoid vague phrasing and adding irrelevant details, such as things that didn’t affect your experience, in your description.
• Be Accurate and Constructive: Describe your experience accurately and avoid exaggerations. Mention staff behavior, timings, product quality, and other details with accuracy and fairness.
• Keep It Respectful: Maintain a constructive and respectful tone toward the business.
• Keep It Fair: Evaluate and describe your experience solely based on your personal opinions, and not based on third-party stories, hearsay, news articles, social media posts, or political opinions, even when writing a negative review.
• Update Reviews If a Dispute Is Resolved: Sometimes, businesses try to make up for bad experiences. In case a business rectifies an issue, you may be permitted to update your review.

DON’T:

• Don’t Post Personal Information: Never share full names of non-public employees, personal phone numbers, email addresses, or home addresses.
• Don’t Accept Incentives for Reviews: Do not write reviews in exchange for discounts, gifts, cash compensation, or store credit from any business. Reviews suspected of being incentivized are taken down.
• Don’t Use Abusive Language: Avoid abusive or threatening language. Don’t unnecessarily belittle or mock any business or its staff, even when writing a negative review. Profanity, personal insults, discriminatory remarks, and hate speech will lead to rejection of the review and account flags.
• Don’t Post Conflict-of-Interest Content: Do not review a business that you own, run, work for, or are competing against.

How We Protect Your Invoice Data

We know privacy is a major concern when uploading your receipts online. Here’s how we protect your personal information to ensure a secure experience:

We Auto-Redact Your Personal Info

Our AI system automatically redacts sensitive or personal information on your invoice during verification. The system redacts:

• card numbers,
• phone numbers,
• home addresses, and
• bank details.

This protects your sensitive information from getting leaked before your review goes live for public viewing.

Note: If you redact or blur a part of your receipt yourself, our automated system will not be able to verify it.

We Use Receipts for Proof Verification Only

Our automated systems and human auditors are the only people who process and view your receipts, and they do so for the sole purpose of verifying the transaction’s authenticity—spotting AI-generated or edited receipts to prevent fake reviews.

We never use your receipts for any other purpose. Additionally, we never record, keep track of, sell, or publicly display your personal information.

What Happens If Your Review Gets Flagged?

We may flag your review if the business you reviewed disputes it or if our human auditors or community members flag it for a violation.

In case of a flag or dispute, the following actions will take place:

• Temporary Hold: Your review may be temporarily placed in a pending state while the team audits it.
• Clarification Request: The Trust Search’s team will reach out to you via email to ask for additional details or context, such as a clearer picture of the receipt if the original one is blurry. You have to respond within the time period specified in the email.
• Audit Decision: Our human moderators will review your evidence and clarification objectively and make the audit decision.
• The review remains live: In case the proof is valid and confirmed, your review will go live again and remain published.
• The review is taken down: In case your proof is invalid and not confirmed, your review will be rejected and taken down.

How to Write a Review

Here’s how you can write a helpful review on The Trust Search:

Step 1: Search for the Business Profile

On the website, click “Write a Review” on the top menu bar, then use the search bar to search for the brand you want to review. You can also stock your invoice up if you intend to write the review at a later time instead. Simply open your dashboard, click “Add Invoice” in the Invoices tab, and upload the invoice. It will be verified and stored in your dashboard so you can use it when reviewing the business without having to upload it again.

Step 2: Select or Add the Right Business Profile

Select the business profile from the search options. In case the intended business profile does not appear in search results, click “Add a Company” to add it on the platform. You can add an unregistered business profile either by uploading the relevant invoice if it contains the business’s website URL, or by adding the URL yourself using the “Add Manually” option.

Step 3: Rate, Write, Attach, and Submit

Select a suitable star rating, write a concise subject line, and describe your experience. A detailed description of the experience can make your review more helpful for others. Finally, attach the invoice, and other media optionally. Once done, click “Verify Now” to verify the invoice, and then “Submit Review.”