Published methodology

Review and Scoring Policy

Version 2026-09-v1 · September 8, 2026

Collection

GoldTrust asks every reviewer for the same structured transaction fields regardless of whether the experience was positive or negative. GoldTrust does not condition submission or publication on sentiment and does not sell better treatment.

Moderation

Every new report enters a pending queue. Moderators check for firsthand attestation, relevance, personal information, accusations about individual employees, harassment, conflicts, duplication, and obvious manipulation. Passing moderation means the post met publication rules; it does not mean GoldTrust independently proved every statement.

Verification labels

• Verified Purchase: GoldTrust reviewed private evidence connecting the contributor, dealership, and transaction.
• Firsthand · Not Document Verified: the contributor attested to a firsthand experience, but GoldTrust did not verify transaction documents.
• Illustrative Example: fictional demonstration content excluded from all live dealer ratings.

Deal Transparency Score

Each eligible report receives a score from 0 to 100 using the reviewer’s answers: advertised price honored (25 points), written out-the-door price provided (10), mandatory fees disclosed (10), optional products explained (10), paperwork matched the agreed quote (15), financing transparency rated 1–5 (up to 20), and pressure level (up to 10). A “Not applicable” answer removes that item and proportionally reweights the remaining answered items. The formula is deterministic and does not use review sentiment or dealer payment.

Labels

• 90–100: Highly Transparent
• 80–89: Transparent
• 70–79: Mostly Transparent
• 55–69: Transparency Concerns
• 0–54: Major Transparency Concerns

These labels evaluate the reported transaction process; they are not findings of illegality. A dealer-level score is the arithmetic mean of eligible scores and is displayed only after five published, non-demo, moderated reports. GoldTrust may later introduce recency or fraud adjustments only after publishing a new methodology version.

Dealer participation

Verified representatives may post moderated responses and propose corrections to public business facts. They cannot edit reports, suppress criticism, select which scores count, or condition a benefit on a positive review.

Challenges and corrections

Anyone may use the Report link or email support@goldtrustreserve.com. GoldTrust may temporarily restrict disputed content while reviewing it, request supporting information, correct directory facts or labels, remove policy-violating material, and record its moderation decision. Contributors and verified dealers may request reconsideration.