Last updated: January 2026

At TrustShop, we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of authenticity and trustworthiness in product reviews across our platform. This policy outlines our approach to detecting, preventing, and addressing fraudulent or spammy reviews to ensure that the feedback displayed to consumers remains genuine and valuable.

1. Review Verification

We employ a comprehensive verification system to ensure that reviews originate from legitimate customers who have actually purchased the products they are reviewing. Our verification process includes:

• Matching the reviewer’s email address against order records in the merchant’s store
• Confirming that the product being reviewed corresponds to a product that was actually purchased
• Displaying a “Verified Buyer” badge on reviews that have been confirmed to come from authentic buyers

2. Fraud Detection

Our platform continuously monitors review activity to identify and prevent fraudulent submissions before they can impact the integrity of product ratings. We analyze review content using automated systems that detect spam patterns, suspicious language, and characteristics commonly associated with fake submissions. Our detection mechanisms include:

• Monitoring for unusual submission behavior such as abnormal review volumes or suspicious timing patterns
• Screening all content for prohibited material including profanity, personal information, and promotional links
• Identifying duplicate content or reviews generated by bots and automated systems

3. Prohibited Activities

To maintain the integrity of our review ecosystem, the following activities are strictly prohibited on the TrustShop platform:

• Creating, purchasing, or soliciting fake or fabricated reviews
• Offering incentives that are conditional on customers leaving positive reviews or suppressing negative feedback
• Using bots, automated software, or any artificial means to generate reviews
• Submitting reviews for products that were not actually purchased through the merchant’s store

4. Incentivized Reviews

Merchants using our platform may offer incentives such as discounts, loyalty points, or other rewards to encourage customers to leave reviews, provided that these incentives are offered in compliance with our policies. Specifically, any incentive offered must not be conditional on the sentiment or star rating of the review, and all incentivized reviews are properly disclosed and marked accordingly in the data feeds we submit to Google and other platforms.

5. Enforcement Actions

When our systems or team members detect violations of this policy, we take appropriate action to protect the integrity of our platform and the broader e-commerce ecosystem. Depending on the severity and nature of the violation, we may:

• Remove fraudulent or spam reviews from display
• Mark identified spam content in the product review feeds submitted to Google to ensure it does not affect ratings calculations
• Suspend or permanently terminate merchant accounts that engage in serious or repeated violations
• Report confirmed cases of abuse to our platform partners including Shopify and Google

6. Compliance

Our review integrity and fraud prevention practices are designed to comply with applicable regulations and industry standards, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guidelines on the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, Google Product Ratings content policies and requirements for third-party review aggregators, and the European Union Omnibus Directive (2019/2161) regarding the authenticity and verification of consumer reviews.

Contact Us

If you wish to report suspected fraudulent activity, have questions about this policy, or need assistance with any review-related concerns, please contact our team at [email protected] and we will respond to your inquiry within 48 hours during business days.