Last updated 16 Oct 2026
Your review is written for the next shopper, the person deciding whether to spend money with the same company. These rules keep reviews useful to that person and fair to the business.
Only review what you experienced
You need a verified ShopperChecked account and a real experience as a customer: you bought something, booked something or used the service. Please don't review a business you haven't dealt with. That includes reviewing a competitor, reviewing for a client as an agency, or reviewing a former employer.
Write something the next shopper can use
- Give details. "The order took nine days instead of three, but they refunded the shipping without arguing" tells the next shopper far more than "Awful service".
- Tell the story of your purchase. Say what you bought, what went right or wrong, and how the company dealt with it.
- Keep to one review per business. If your experience changes, edit your existing review instead of writing a new one.
- Use your own words. Copied text, sales copy and generic AI writing are flagged by our checks.
What we won't publish
- Links of any kind: to the business, to a competitor or to your own site.
- Private information, such as phone numbers, home addresses, employees' names, sensitive order numbers or health details.
- Abuse. Strong criticism is fine when the facts support it. Insults, slurs, threats and harassment are not.
- Reviews about something else, such as the industry in general, politics or the news.
- Reviews written in exchange for money, discounts or gifts. The exception is a review a business asked for through its own invitation, which is shown as Verified.
- Attacks by competitors. When we can show a review came from someone working for a rival, it is removed.
After you press submit
Automatic checks come first. They look at the length, links, personal details, copied text and whether the account behaves like a person or a script. If they find nothing, your review goes live, usually within one working day. If they flag something, a moderator reads the review and decides against these rules.
After publication, a review with three open reports from other members is hidden until a moderator has looked again. The business can reply publicly, but it cannot pay for removal. Removed reviews are kept on record for checks and appeals, but they are never shown and never count towards a rating.
Editing or deleting your review
You can edit your review at any time. The new version goes through moderation again and appears once it is approved. If you delete a review, it disappears from the page straight away and a moderator completes the removal soon after. A deleted review no longer counts towards the rating.
What the Verified mark means
Businesses on a paid plan can email their customers a link to review them. A review written through that link is marked Verified, because the business itself sent the invitation after a real purchase or visit. Verified reviews also count for more in the rating.
Reporting a review
If you think a review breaks these rules, use Report this review on the business page, choose a reason and add a short note if it helps. A person reads every report. Accounts that send large numbers of false reports have their reporting restricted.
If your review was held or removed
If you disagree with a decision, contact us with the business name and your review's title. A different moderator will look at it again, and we'll tell you the outcome and the reason.