We personally review all submitted ratings. If we notice a one-star review for a company that the reviewer has traded with 100 times, it’s unlikely that every transaction was negative. In such cases, we reach out to the reviewer to understand their reasoning. If the issues were only recent and do not reflect the overall trade history, we adjust the score accordingly to ensure a fair and accurate rating.

The Tradefox TrustScore is based on three key data sets:

1. Company Information – This includes general details such as company size and establishment date.
2. Industry Reputation – Ratings from peers based on what they have heard about the company (rated on a 1 to 5-star scale). This factor carries more weight than general company information.
3. Trade Reviews – Feedback from actual trading partners based on completed transactions. Since these reviews come from direct trading experiences, they have the most significant impact on the TrustScore.

Each factor is carefully weighted to provide a fair and accurate assessment of a company’s trustworthiness.

No, Tradefox does not allow individual companies to hide their trade data. Here’s why:

All the information we compile is publicly available and accessible to anyone who chooses to purchase it. Our role is to centralize this data in one place to enhance transparency within the industry.

We collect this data to:

• Ensure that only actual trading partners provide feedback, maintaining the integrity of our reviews.
• Trace the root causes of industry issues and help prevent fraudulent or unethical practices.

While we understand concerns about data privacy, the lack of transparency in trade relationships has historically enabled dishonest business practices. For example, a scrap producer could sell low-quality material to a trader, who then unknowingly passes it on to a consumer. Without visibility into the original source, the consumer may continue to receive substandard material from the same producer, even after the trader stops doing business with them.

Situations like these are among the key problems we aim to solve. By making trade data accessible, we help businesses identify reliable partners and protect themselves from potential risks.

Our goal is not to harm businesses but to create a fairer and more transparent trading environment for everyone. For this reason, we cannot make exceptions for individual companies.