Voor consumenten Reliability of reviews
Trustmark reviews
Every member at WebwinkelKeur also collects reviews. By doing so, we select the honest entrepreneurs at the gate and give a voice to their customers to share real experiences. This makes the reliability of our reviews very high. We therefore recommend that consumers never just blindly rely on a trustmark, but also check reviews. This can be done for example through the member page on WebwinkelKeur.
How reliable are reviews?
We pay much attention to collecting, checking and managing real reliable reviews for the members of WebwinkelKeur. We use different designations per review to explain the origin:
verified customer of ...
To post a review, customers of our members receive an invitation by email. This e-mail is automatically sent by our system after an order is completed within the webshop software of the webshop. These reviews are displayed on the member page with the label 'verified customer of ... '
customer of ....
In addition, the possibility exists for customers of our members to write a review without an invitation. These are so-called 'unverified reviews', which are shown on the member page with the label 'customer of ....'
How do we monitor the authenticity of reviews?
- The review writer must confirm the email address.
- The merchant has no way to edit a review itself.
- All reviews are posted immediately, both negative and positive.
- We have an algorithm that checks on several characteristics to see if a review might be fake.
- Suspicious reviews are removed after being checked by our customer service team if we have identified them as fake.
- Members can submit a moderation request if they suspect that a review is not from a customer. We will investigate that.
- Consumers can report a review they suspect is fake. Again, an investigation follows.
- We do not allow our members to collect paid reviews. Think of a review in exchange for a product (to test), money or a discount.
- We take strict action against members who publish fake reviews and may also revoke membership in the process.
Terms of use
The review terms of use for you as a consumer can be found here
Tips for reading reviews
As a consumer it is good to be critical, this can be done by reading reviews.
- How many reviews are there? Several reviews say more than a few reviews.
- When were these reviews posted? Recent reviews are important. Also, reviews collected in the last few months are an indexation that the online store is stable.
- How do they handle complaints? Every company makes a mistake from time to time, so negative reviews are not a bad thing. However, it is important that complaints are taken seriously and a solution follows.
- Check multiple sources. For example, also Google the name of the webshop and look for more experiences. If known, we also refer on our member page to external sources to assess the reliability of the store.
Average score
The average score shown is not only based on our own reviews, but in many cases also on reviews from external sources if added within the profile. For example, we can include Google's score in the calculation.
Calculation of the score
The review score is built from a "likert scale," in this case consisting of 1 to 5 stars that translate as a number to a 2 to 10. According to that formula, a score of 3 stars equals a 6. This formula results in a score of 1 star giving the merchant a 2 and not a 1 or 0. The score shown is an average of all reviews, with and without review text.
External sources
After the score we calculate with our own reviews, within WebwinkelKeur reviews from external platforms can also be included in the average score. These reviews count equally in the average score. For example, 100 reviews at WebwinkelKeur (with an average of 9) and 100 reviews collected elsewhere (with an average of 8) lead to an average score of 8.5.
Influencing scores
The reviews we collect do not include paid reviews or reviews that originated from a contractual relationship. However, the external sources may consist (in part) of paid reviews or reviews generated from a contractual relationship. If external sources are added, it is possible that the average rating will also be affected.
Removal of reviews
In principle, we do not remove reviews, only in case of foul language or when they are demonstrably unjustified. This may be the case, for example, when a competitor or someone who is not a customer writes a review or an angry customer deliberately tells falsehoods. The important thing here is not to argue about feelings. For example, one customer may be very dissatisfied when an order is delayed by several days, while another customer may not mind as much. We only check whether the facts are correct and in other cases give the merchant the opportunity to respond to the review. Our terms of use are leading in this regard.