Rating methodology
Every scored provider receives a transparent total from 0 to 10: up to four points for result evidence, two for identity and accountability, and four for public transparency. The score measures what CSR can check. It is not a recommendation, safety guarantee, or profit forecast.
Completeness and source verifiability.
Operator and accountability strength.
Four visible one-point checks.
A public-research score, a CSR source review, and a disclosed human override have different provenance. Each rating card names its basis and assessment date. A 0/10 means no points were established in a completed assessment; it does not mean scam, unsafe, or unprofitable. Unscored means no deterministic 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 assessment is published. A disclosed human override may still set the official final score without inventing component points.
Calculation
For a computed assessment, total = result evidence + identity/accountability + public transparency. Software recomputes that total from the component decisions, and every point needs a dated reason and source reference. A direct human override is identified separately and may publish an exact final value while the deterministic assessment remains Unscored.
Commercial firewall
Buying a result-sheet service does not buy rating points. The resulting evidence is judged under the same rubric as unpaid evidence. Profitability is not an input: a complete loss-making record can earn the same evidence points as a complete profitable record.
Component one
What CSR itself confirmed about the provider's operating record from dated public sources.
The dated packet confirms none of the fourteen operating facts this component covers. Zero here means nothing was confirmed, not that anything was disproved.
At least one operating fact is confirmed from a dated public source, but the official route is unconfirmed or fewer than four facts are established.
The official route is confirmed and at least four operating facts are established from dated public sources. The facts covered are the official route, operator identity, pricing, free tier, access model, payment methods, refund terms, geographic restrictions, support route, platform delivery, app presence, team disclosure, results evidence, and community footprint.
This component credits CSR's own confirmed record, never the provider's performance, safety, or profitability. It exists because the three components below measure only what a provider publishes about itself, so a provider CSR had genuinely researched and confirmed could still show an empty scale.
Component two
How complete, loss-inclusive, and independently traceable is the result record?
| Points | Published rule |
|---|---|
| 0 | No usable, loss-inclusive result record is available. |
| 1 | A dated public record visibly includes losses, but remains provider-published and unreconciled. |
| 2 | A limited record was reconciled by CSR or another identified reviewer, or a substantial source-linked, loss-inclusive record was reconciled with explicit scope, exclusions, and calculation limits. |
| 3 | CSR independently accessed or captured original sources and calculated a complete named scope with dates, exclusions, and limitations. |
Component three
This measures the strength of accountability, not popularity.
Anonymous, ambiguously mapped, or unsupported operator identity.
An attributable person, claimed entity, meaningful longevity, or jurisdiction exists, but legal or accountability details remain incomplete.
A named accountable operator or entity is confirmed with jurisdiction and an accountable contact or correction route. Dated internal CSR confirmation is labelled as internal; it is never disguised as a public filing.
Component four
One point for each check established in the dated public-research record.
Silence inside a completed research packet scores zero for that check. Absence of evidence is not evidence that the opposite is true. Until 2026-08-22 this component also awarded a point for public identity, which component three already scores; that duplicate was removed in the same change that introduced the tracked record. Component scores adjudicated before 2026-08-22 were clamped to the new maxima and their published reasons retained verbatim; they were not re-adjudicated.
Automatic scoring
A provider receives a score when CSR has a dated, correctly mapped research packet with an explicit decision for every component. Source files and URLs, capture dates, reasons, the component sum, and an assessment digest stay attached. An unresolved mapping, no packet, or a materially stale packet is Unscored.
Human decisions
A clear current decision from the human CSR team is sufficient authority for this rating lane. An exact 0-10 value is labelled human override with authority, date, scope, and limitations. The builder creates the dated record during implementation; no separate email, legal or formal review, ownership or disclosure investigation, conflict attestation, public filing, signature, second approver, or pre-existing file is required. An existing public-research calculation stays visible, or remains Unscored when none exists; component points are never reverse-engineered from the override.
Separate customer lane
Customer experience is never blended into the CSR Audit Team score.
The score appears only after at least five qualifying, approved customer-experience reviews. Research-only notes, rejected or incentivized reviews, and duplicate active reviews from the same reviewer do not count.
Newer reviews receive more weight, only the most recent eligible review from a reviewer contributes, and the score includes a stabilizer equivalent to seven reviews at 7.0/10. CSR publishes its one-year recency half-life. This follows the inputs described by Trustpilot's Trust Centre and its review guidelines; it does not claim to reproduce Trustpilot's private fraud systems or undisclosed constants.
Only the Verified Customers Rating may emit Review or AggregateRating structured data.
Citation rule
Quote the provider, exact total, 0-10 scale, 2+3+2+3 component scores, assessment date, basis, limitations, and canonical provider URL together. Never present this rating as customer sentiment, a profitability forecast, a provider-wide safety verdict, or proof that CSR and a provider are affiliated.
Corrections
Providers and readers can submit corrected identity, terms, result records, or claim evidence through the evidence and correction route. A material change triggers reassessment; paid status cannot block a downgrade or buy an upgrade.