Trust score · methodology

How the number is actually computed

This page documents the live formula behind the merchant trust score every agent and buyer sees — not a marketing summary of it.

Values below are a snapshot taken 2026-08-17 from the live methodology endpoint. Formulas and weights can change; the endpoint is always the source of truth.

View the live signed methodology response Back to Trust overview

The formula

12 weighted components

The score is a weighted sum of 12 components, clamped to 0–1. Weights sum to 1.0. “Verified” components are computed from platform data; “declared” components come from merchant-submitted data and are checked for consistency, not blindly trusted.

Catalog completeness Verified
Ratio of products with all required fields (title, price, images, GTIN)0.11

Catalog freshness Verified
Age of last successful catalog sync, normalized 0–10.11

Price accuracy Verified
Match rate between listed price and live price at checkout0.12

Availability accuracy Verified
Stock-status accuracy vs. actual inventory0.08

Policy coverage Declared
Fraction of required policy fields filled (return, shipping, privacy)0.08

Checkout success rate Verified
Ratio of checkout_complete / checkout_start agent events0.11

Fulfillment rate Verified
Orders fulfilled on-time over trailing 90 days0.08

Dispute rate Verified
Dispute tickets / total orders (lower = better)0.07

Agent satisfaction rate Verified
Agent checkout conversion rate (CHECKOUT_COMPLETE / CHECKOUT_START events)0.08

Response latency Verified
API p95 response latency score (1.0 = < 200ms, 0.0 = > 2000ms)0.05

Review sentiment Declared
Average product rating normalized 0–5 → 0–10.05

Data consistency Verified
Cross-field consistency (price/currency, stock/quantity, GTIN uniqueness)0.06

formula: weighted_sum_clamped_0_1 · recomputed every 6 hours

What the number means

Five bands, from ELITE to RESTRICTED

The raw 0–1 score maps to a label that changes how agents treat the merchant.

0.95ELITETop 5% of platform merchants. Maximum agent trust.

0.85VERIFIEDVerified merchant tier. Agents may proceed without friction.

0.70STANDARDMinimum threshold for agent checkout. Proceed with normal confirmation.

0.50CAUTIONDeprioritized in search results. Agents should add friction.

0.20RESTRICTEDAuto-suspended from agent discovery.

Why it's hard to game

Anti-manipulation guarantees

All “verified” components are computed from live transaction data — merchants cannot self-report them.
Scores are computed server-side every 6 hours and signed with a QTSP timestamp.
Score history is immutable (append-only TrustScoreEvent table).
Suspicious rapid score gains trigger anomaly alerts reviewed by Trusteed admin.

If you disagree with your score

Dispute process

Merchants can formally appeal a score they believe is wrong.

Endpoint: POST /api/v1/trust/appeal
Response SLA: 72h
Documentation: /trust

What's next

v4.1 (0–100 scale, tiers) exists but is not live

A more granular methodology (four dimensions, tier caps by order history, an external-assurance bonus) is implemented and tested, gated behind the TRUST_SCORE_V41_ENABLED flag. It is dormant — not used to compute any score shown to a merchant or agent today.

Status: dormant (flag off)

Read the full trust score story

Questions

Frequently asked

Can a merchant improve their score by self-reporting good numbers?

Not for the components that decide most of the weight. “Verified” components (9 of the 12, 0.79 of total weight) are computed from live transaction and catalog data — not from anything the merchant submits. Only policy_coverage and review_sentiment are “declared”, and both are checked for internal consistency.

How often does the score change?

Every 6 hours, server-side. There is no manual override path for a merchant to request an immediate recalculation outside the dispute process below.

Where do I get today's actual number for a store?

This page documents the formula, not a specific merchant's score. Fetch the signed public response for a given store instead — that response is the authoritative source, not this page.

Is v4.1 (0–100 scale, tiers) live?

No. v4.1 is implemented but gated behind the TRUST_SCORE_V41_ENABLED flag and currently dormant. The score every merchant and agent sees today is v2.0, described on this page.