These Guidelines explain who may post a review on Welo, which content is allowed, and how we handle verification, moderation, reports, and review requests.
Welo aims to provide consumers and businesses with a space where reviews reflect genuine experiences and help people make better informed decisions. These Guidelines establish the rules that apply to reviews, ratings, business responses, and other related content published through Welo services.
These Guidelines supplement Welo's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. By using Welo's review features, you agree to follow these documents and all applicable laws. If there is a conflict, the Terms and Conditions will prevail, unless mandatory law requires otherwise.
Every review must be authentic, independent, relevant, and respectful. It must describe an experience the reviewer genuinely had with the business, its products, its services, or its customer support.
A review may be positive, neutral, or negative. Welo does not favor positive reviews and does not remove a review merely because it contains criticism, gives a low rating, or is disliked by the business concerned.
The publication of a review does not mean that Welo endorses every opinion expressed, guarantees the accuracy of every statement, or has definitively established the facts described. Reviews represent the experiences and opinions of their respective authors.
A person may post a review if they have had a direct and genuine experience with the business being reviewed. The experience may relate to a purchase, an order, a subscription, the use of a product or service, a customer support request, a return or refund process, or another concrete commercial interaction.
The reviewer must meet the age requirement set out in Welo's Terms and Conditions. If the user does not have the necessary legal capacity under applicable law, they must use the services with the consent and supervision of a parent or guardian as required by law.
A person may not review a business based solely on information found online, another person's account, assumptions, or an experience that did not belong to the reviewer. Impersonating another person or using false information to publish a review is prohibited.
A review must honestly represent what the reviewer experienced. It must not knowingly invent, alter, or exaggerate material facts, amounts, dates, communications, product features, or conduct by the business.
The reviewer must disclose any personal, professional, or financial relationship that could influence their opinion. Employees, officers, contractors, agents, owners, investors, competitors, and immediate family members of people connected with the business must not present themselves as independent customers.
A person connected with the business may publish content only when permitted by law, when the experience is genuine, and when the connection is disclosed clearly and prominently. Welo may add an informational label, restrict visibility, or remove the content when the connection is not properly disclosed or makes the review misleading.
An organic review is posted voluntarily by a reviewer without using a specific invitation sent through Welo.
An invited review is posted through an invitation connected with an interaction with the business. Receiving an invitation does not determine the content of the review and does not guarantee publication. Invited reviews must comply with all of these Guidelines.
A review may be labeled as verified when Welo has reasonable and sufficient information connecting it to a genuine experience. Checks may consider a unique invitation, confirmation of the account or email address, information made available through authorized integrations, technical and behavioral signals, previous activity on the platform, and other measures proportionate to the level of risk.
Welo does not necessarily require the reviewer to upload a receipt or purchase document publicly. The verified label means that Welo has taken reasonable steps to assess the origin of the review. It does not certify every statement in the review as factually correct and does not represent an endorsement by Welo.
Businesses must request reviews fairly and impartially. They must not invite only customers they expect to be satisfied, intentionally exclude dissatisfied customers, or use processes that direct positive reviews to Welo while diverting negative reviews elsewhere.
A review should identify the experience clearly enough, describe the aspects that were genuinely relevant, and explain the reasons for the rating. Reviewers are encouraged to include specific information such as the type of product or service, the approximate period of the experience, the quality received, communication, delivery, and the handling of any problems.
The reviewer must use civil language and focus on the commercial experience. Strong or critical opinions are allowed, provided they do not include insults, threats, or allegations presented as established facts without a reasonable basis.
The star rating must reflect the overall experience in good faith. It must not be used to obtain money, refunds, free products, preferential treatment, or other benefits to which the reviewer is not entitled.
Welo may reject, restrict, or remove reviews and responses containing false or misleading information, fabricated experiences, reviews that were bought, sold, or commissioned, content posted through fake accounts, bots, or nonexistent identities, or content generated with artificial intelligence to simulate an experience that never occurred.
Content involving threats, intimidation, harassment, hatred, discrimination, seriously offensive language, incitement to violence, sexual exploitation, illegal material, or instructions intended to facilitate unlawful activity is prohibited.
Unnecessary personal or confidential information is prohibited. This includes home addresses, personal phone numbers, private email addresses, payment information, login credentials, identity documents, health information, complete order numbers, or information that could place another person's safety at risk.
Advertising, spam, promotional codes, irrelevant links, commercial solicitations, content copied without authorization, material that infringes third party rights, malware, and attempts to interfere with the operation of the platform are prohibited.
Duplicate reviews relating to the same experience, or reviews posted repeatedly through multiple accounts to alter a business's rating, are prohibited. Welo may combine, restrict, or remove duplicate content and may take action against the accounts involved.
Blackmail and attempted extortion are prohibited. A reviewer must not threaten to post a negative review to obtain a payment, an unjustified refund, a free product, or another benefit. Likewise, a business must not offer a benefit in exchange for changing or removing a negative review.
A reviewer may use a writing tool to improve grammar, clarity, or translation, but the final content must continue to reflect their own genuine experience accurately. The reviewer remains responsible for every statement published under their name.
Automated systems and artificial intelligence tools must not be used to fabricate reviews, multiply content, impersonate customers, artificially influence ratings, or conceal the involvement of a business, agency, or other interested party.
A business must not offer money, discounts, gifts, refunds, prizes, competition entries, or other benefits on the condition that a review is positive or negative, contains a particular rating, or uses predetermined wording.
An incentive that is not linked to the sentiment expressed may be allowed only when permitted by law, offered impartially, and clearly disclosed in the review. Welo may apply a specific label or request an additional disclosure before publication.
If the incentive or commercial relationship is not disclosed clearly, Welo may reject or remove the review and take action against the reviewer, business, or intermediary involved.
Welo may assess reviews before or after publication. Moderation may involve automated systems, artificial intelligence models, and human assessment. Checks may consider authenticity, duplication, spam, safety, prohibited language, conflicts of interest, coordinated behavior, and compliance with these Guidelines.
When the available signals are sufficiently clear, a decision may be made automatically. Uncertain, complex, or disputed cases may be referred for human review. Automated tools support the application of these rules, but they do not establish legal liability or definitively determine the truth of a dispute between a reviewer and a business.
Welo may approve a review, hold it temporarily, request additional information, restrict its visibility, add a label, reject it, remove it after publication, or apply restrictions to an account. The action taken depends on the nature, severity, and frequency of the violation.
Welo does not change the substantive meaning of a review and does not increase or decrease the rating selected by the reviewer. When necessary, Welo may correct technical or formatting issues, redact personal information, or ask the author to submit a compliant version.
Welo may ask the reviewer for information reasonably necessary to understand the experience, identify the correct business, or prevent fraudulent activity. The request may concern the approximate date of the interaction, the channel used, a nonsensitive portion of an order reference, or other available information.
The reviewer must not publish confidential documents or information directly in the review. When Welo provides a private channel for additional checks, the information received is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy and is not displayed publicly, unless the person consents or disclosure is required by law.
If the requested information is not provided, is inconsistent, or does not allow reasonable checks to be completed, Welo may keep the review pending, reject it, or remove it. The absence of a particular form of evidence does not automatically make a review false, as Welo considers all available information as a whole.
Reviewers, businesses, and other users may report a review they believe is illegal or violates these Guidelines through the reporting feature available on the platform, through the relevant dashboard, or by emailing support@welobadge.com.
A report should identify the review, explain precisely which rule may have been violated, and provide information relevant to the assessment. A general or repetitive report, or a report submitted only because the review is negative, may not be sufficient to justify action.
Receiving a report does not automatically result in removal of the review. Welo assesses the content and available information impartially. Where appropriate, Welo may request clarification from the reviewer or the business and may temporarily restrict the visibility of content when there is a concrete risk of harm, fraud, or illegality.
Abusive or coordinated reports, or reports submitted to intimidate a reviewer, suppress legitimate criticism, or overwhelm the moderation systems, may result in account restrictions and further action.
When a review is rejected, removed, or restricted, Welo may inform the user of the main reason for the decision and the available method for requesting a review, unless doing so could compromise security, interfere with fraud prevention, or violate the law.
The reviewer may request a review of the decision by emailing support@welobadge.com and providing the email address associated with the account, the business concerned, the review involved, and the reasons why the decision should be changed. A business may also request a review of a decision relating to its own report.
Where reasonably possible, the request is assessed by a human reviewer who considers the content, available information, and any additional supporting material. Welo communicates the outcome as soon as reasonably possible, taking account of the complexity and volume of requests. The decision may be upheld, changed, or reversed.
Businesses may respond to reviews through the features provided by Welo. A response must be relevant, professional, and respectful, even when the business disputes the reviewer's account.
The business must not publish personal information, order details that could identify the customer, private communications, payment information, or other confidential data. It may invite the reviewer to contact a secure customer support channel to discuss the matter further.
Threats, retaliation, pressure, unfounded allegations, offers conditional on removing a review, and attempts to identify publicly a reviewer who has chosen not to display their full details are prohibited.
A business response does not automatically affect the score or result in removal of the review. Welo may also moderate and remove business responses that violate these Guidelines.
Businesses must not create or purchase fake reviews, commission reviews from people who have not had a genuine experience, present employees or relatives as independent customers, sell reviews, use bots, or operate networks of accounts intended to influence their own rating or that of a competitor.
Businesses must not require customers to post a positive review, suggest a minimum rating, provide predetermined wording, prevent negative reviews, or select invitation recipients based on the likelihood that they will leave favorable feedback.
Businesses must not use unfounded legal threats, pressure, discrimination, or retaliation against a customer for posting a genuine review. This does not affect their right to report content that is genuinely illegal, false, fraudulent, or contrary to these Guidelines, or to protect their rights through the appropriate legal channels.
Manipulating the review system may result in removal of the reviews involved, correction of the rating, suspension of review collection features, restriction or closure of the account, suspension of Welo certification, and further action under the Terms and Conditions or applicable law.
The rating displayed on a business's Welo Page is calculated using reviews considered eligible under the rules and methods applied by Welo. Reviews that are removed, fraudulent, or otherwise ineligible may be excluded from the calculation.
Welo may update its calculation method to improve accuracy, reliability, and resistance to manipulation. When a change materially affects how a rating should be interpreted, Welo may provide additional information about the method.
The review rating does not replace business certification and does not by itself represent the outcome of Welo's verification process. Reviews, certification, analysis, and other information displayed on a Welo Page may represent distinct elements.
Approved reviews may be displayed on the business's Welo Page, in widgets embedded on authorized websites, in search features, and in other areas of Welo services. Public content may be indexed by search engines and shared by users through public links.
Welo may display the reviewer's name or another identifier according to the service settings and the Privacy Policy. The reviewer must not include information in the text that they do not wish to make public.
A review may remain published for as long as it remains relevant and compliant. Welo may archive, restrict, or remove it when it becomes technically obsolete, is associated with the wrong business, violates these Guidelines, must be removed by law, or its continued retention is no longer justified.
When the available features allow it, a reviewer may update or remove their review. If these features are not available, the reviewer may send a request to support@welobadge.com using the email address associated with the review.
Welo may retain certain information relating to removed content, reports, and moderation decisions for as long as necessary to prevent fraud, comply with legal obligations, manage disputes, and protect the services. This information is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy and applicable law.
The reviewer retains any rights they hold in the original review content. By publishing the content, the reviewer grants Welo the license described in the Terms and Conditions, as required to host, reproduce, distribute, translate, format, and display the review through Welo services and related widgets.
The reviewer represents that they have the right to publish the content and that it does not violate intellectual property rights, confidentiality, privacy, or other third party rights.
Welo processes personal data connected with reviews in accordance with its Privacy Policy and applicable law. Certain information may be used to authenticate users, prevent fraud, moderate content, handle reports, and protect the security of the platform.
Requests relating to access, correction, deletion, or other rights concerning personal data may be submitted through the channels identified in the Privacy Policy. Deletion of personal data and removal of public content are assessed according to the nature of the request, the applicable legal basis, and any retention obligations.
Welo may take stronger action when a person or business repeatedly violates these Guidelines or participates in coordinated or fraudulent conduct. Measures may include additional checks, temporary restrictions, suspension of features, removal of content, account closure, and suspension or revocation of certification.
When determining the appropriate measure, Welo may consider the severity, frequency, intent, effect on users, previous violations, cooperation during the assessment, and risk of further abuse.
Welo may update these Guidelines to reflect changes to the services, improvements to moderation systems, emerging risks, or changes in applicable law. The date of the most recent update appears at the beginning of the page.
When a change is material, Welo may provide notice on the website, within the platform, or through another appropriate channel. Use of the review features after the changes take effect will be subject to the updated version, to the extent permitted by law.
For questions about these Guidelines, reports, or review requests, contact Welo at support@welobadge.com.
For legal or privacy matters, contact daniel@welobadge.com.
Welobadge, LLC, 131 Continental Dr, Suite 305, Newark, DE 19713, United States.
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