Trust is the foundation of any review platform. If you can't trust the reviews, the whole system falls apart. Here's how we keep RateMe genuine.
No review goes live on RateMe without being checked first. We verify that reviews come from real people with genuine experiences, not bots or paid reviewers.
Account Requirements
To leave a review, you need a verified email address. This creates a paper trail and makes it much harder for someone to create dozens of fake accounts to spam reviews.
Automated Detection
Our system flags suspicious activity automatically. Multiple reviews from the same device. New accounts that immediately post several reviews. Content that's been copied from other reviews. Generic language that doesn't sound like a real experience. Unusual patterns that suggest coordinated fake review campaigns.
When something gets flagged, it goes to manual review before publication.
Manual Review
Our team looks at flagged reviews properly. We check the reviewer's account history, read the content carefully, and compare it against patterns we've seen in fake review operations.
If it looks genuine, it gets published. If it looks dodgy, it doesn't.
Fake Reviews
You can't review a business you haven't used. Business owners can't review themselves or get their mates to post fake positive reviews. Competitors can't post fake negative reviews about each other.
Anyone caught posting fake reviews gets their account banned immediately and all their reviews removed.
Buying or Selling Reviews
Businesses can't pay for reviews. They can't offer discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews. They can't hire overseas review farms to boost their ratings.
Reviewers can't be paid or incentivized to leave reviews, whether positive or negative.
If we catch a business doing this, we remove the fake reviews and may suspend their business account.
Conflicts of Interest
You can't review your own business. Business owners, employees, and their immediate family members can't leave reviews for their own company.
You can't review a competitor's business if you work for or own a competing business.
Reviews Based on Hearsay
Reviews must be based on your actual experience. "I heard from someone that this business is terrible" isn't a review - you're just passing on gossip.
If you didn't personally use the business, you can't review them.
Reviews need to be factual and based on what actually happened. You can say the electrician was two hours late and didn't fix the problem. You can say the meal was cold and the service was slow.
You can't make personal attacks on staff members by name. You can't use offensive language or make threats. You can't post defamatory statements or false accusations.
Focus on describing what happened, not attacking people.
Verification Required
To claim your business listing, you need to verify that you actually own or manage the business. This usually involves providing documentation like a business registration or proof of address.
Only verified business representatives can respond to reviews or manage the business profile.
Response Guidelines
When you respond to reviews, keep it professional. You can explain your side of the story, apologize for problems, or offer to make things right.
You can't harass reviewers, make threats, or post misleading information in your responses.
Businesses that repeatedly violate response guidelines lose the ability to respond to reviews.
No Manipulation
You can't pay to hide negative reviews. You can't pay to boost your overall rating. You can't game the system by having the same people leave multiple positive reviews.
Every legitimate review gets published, whether it's positive or negative. Your rating is calculated fairly from all reviews.
If you think a review breaks our guidelines, report it. There's a "Report" button beneath every review.
Select why you're reporting it - fake review, offensive content, based on hearsay, conflict of interest, privacy violation, or other reason. Provide any relevant details that help us investigate.
We check every report within 48 hours. If the review violates our guidelines, we remove it. If it doesn't, it stays up.
Just reporting a review doesn't mean it gets automatically removed. We verify the complaint before taking action.
Your personal information is protected under New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020.
What's Public
Your display name and the content of your reviews are public. That's the point - you're sharing your experience to help other customers make decisions.
What's Private
Your email address and account details stay private. We don't sell your information or share it with advertisers or third parties.
Data Location
Your data is stored in New Zealand under New Zealand privacy laws. We're not shipping your information to offshore servers in countries with weaker privacy protections.
We don't manipulate which reviews appear first based on who's paid us money. Recent reviews show near the top because they're usually most relevant. Users can sort by rating or helpfulness if they want.
The overall star rating is calculated from all legitimate reviews. We don't hide low-rated reviews. We don't weight certain reviews more heavily. The rating you see is a straightforward average of what customers actually experienced.
Fake review operations evolve constantly. They try new tricks to get around verification systems. We update our detection methods regularly based on new patterns we identify and reports from users.
If you spot something suspicious that we haven't caught, report it. Your reports help us identify new fake review tactics and improve our systems.
If you've left a negative review and the business has resolved the problem, you can update your review to reflect that. This is fair to the business and helpful to other customers who want to know whether the business responds well to issues.
If a business responds professionally to your review and addresses your concerns, consider updating your review or leaving a follow-up comment.
For questions about trust and safety, or to report serious concerns, email safety@rateme.co.nz.
We respond to trust and safety inquiries within 24 hours.
Reviews only work if everyone can trust them. Customers need to trust that what they're reading is genuine. Businesses need to trust that competitors can't sabotage them with fake negative reviews.
We've built RateMe to earn that trust from both sides. It's not perfect - no system is - but we're constantly working to keep it as genuine as possible.
If we're not living up to that standard, tell us.