What a badge means, what it does not, and how the rest of it works.

That every check in the twelve-point standard was cleared at the audit date, including at least one unannounced visit to a working yard, and that the audit cycle has not yet lapsed.

It is an assessment of evidence at a point in time. It is not a guarantee of future performance, a warranty on any machine, or a promise that a transaction will go well. Treat it as a floor for due diligence rather than a substitute for it.

Because no audit has been completed against it. Most listings in a young register are in this state, and it is a normal, honest condition rather than a mark against the operator.

An unaudited listing exists so members can discuss an operator and so the register reflects the market as it is. We would rather show a company with no status than imply coverage we do not have.

The file moves to under review automatically on the day the cycle lapses, and the badge is withdrawn. Nobody has to remember to do it.

An operator does not stay verified by inertia. If a file shows a review date in the past, the page will say so plainly rather than continue to present the old result as current.

Registered members, one review per company. You need an account so that a review is attributable and so the same party cannot post repeatedly about one operator.

Every review carries a star rating, which is required at submission and shown beside the review once it is approved.

Submissions are held for moderation before publication. You can see your own pending reviews on your posts page, marked with their status, while nobody else can.

Moderation checks that a review describes a real dealing with the operator and is not defamatory, not a competitor posting under cover, and not a duplicate. It is not a check on whether the review is favourable.

Not for being unfavourable. A review is removed only if it breaches the posting rules - if it is fabricated, defamatory, discloses a third party’s personal data, or was posted by a party with an undisclosed interest.

An operator can always reply publicly. A reply sits in the same thread as the review it answers, at the same weight.

An operator may challenge a specific finding on the grounds that the evidence was misread or that the assessor worked from a document that was superseded. The challenge must identify the check and the evidence at issue.

What an appeal cannot do is buy a different outcome. A second audit inside the same cycle does not overturn a revocation, a failed check is not removed to lift a score, and an operator cannot withdraw mid-audit to bury a finding.

Where an appeal succeeds, the correction is published on the file alongside the original finding. The history is not quietly rewritten.

Operators pay a flat fee covering assessor time and travel. It buys an audit, not an outcome: there is no premium tier, no paid placement, and no ranking to purchase.

We take no commission on trades. A listing cannot be bought, a result cannot be paid for, and a revocation cannot be removed on request.