The protocol · published · unchanged since v2.1

How we rank.
And what we refuse to do.

Our scorecard is a weighted five-axis instrument with every weight, floor, and ceiling published in full. Vendors do not see scores before release. Warning flags override composite rank — a vendor in breach of GDPR cannot rank above warning threshold regardless of product quality.

Axis 01 → 05 · each weighted 30%

Testing

WEIGHT · 30%

Depth of Certificate-of-Analysis coverage. Independent blind multi-lab (Janoshik Analytical) caps the scale at 10. In-house-only COA tops out at 5.

▼ FLOOR
3 — No COA published per batch

▲ CEILING
10 — 7-parameter independent blind multi-lab (HPLC, LC-MS, FTIR, CLND, LAL, TAMC/TYMC, heavy metals)

Purity

WEIGHT · 20%

Stated typical purity, corroborated by lab reports. Claims over 99% without sourcing cap at 7.

▼ FLOOR
5 — 97.0–97.9%

▲ CEILING
10 — ≥99.5% with independent CLND peptide content

EU-Friendliness

WEIGHT · 15%

EU warehouse, SEPA acceptance, language coverage, EU VAT compliance, delivery time.

▼ FLOOR
4 — Non-EU with customs risk

▲ CEILING
10 — EU warehouse + SEPA + 5+ languages + EU VAT

Value

WEIGHT · 15%

Price versus evidence. Cheap with no COA is not value.

▼ FLOOR
4 — Premium price without proportional testing depth

▲ CEILING
10 — Lowest segment price with credible independent COA

Trust

WEIGHT · 20%

Time in market, review volume and authenticity, incident history. Any flagged incident caps trust at 3.

▼ FLOOR
2 — Active critical incident (GDPR / fraud / non-delivery pattern)

▲ CEILING
10 — 5+ years, 100+ authentic reviews, no incidents

Warning flag overrides

When the composite score doesn't matter.

A warning flag is an instrument for the reader, not a penalty. Any of the following triggers a flag, which is rendered in coral on every surface the vendor appears:

GDPR breach

Failure to issue Article-33 notification within 72 hours of discovery.

Non-delivery pattern

Three or more corroborated non-delivery reports from independent channels within a 90-day window.

Fake-review cluster

Trustpilot removal of 20+ reviews attributed to templated language or IP clustering.

Payment fraud

Pattern of unauthorised chargebacks filed with card networks within a rolling 12 months.

Misrepresented COA

COA found to be fabricated, altered, or copy-pasted from an unrelated batch.

Regulatory action

Open investigation by a national competent authority (NBR, MHRA, MDR, BfArM, ANSM, AEMPS).

Things we won't do

What the protocol excludes.

Accept vendor payment for ranking position

We publish an affiliate disclosure on every vendor page. Affiliate presence does not alter score.

Allow vendors to see their score before publication

Vendors receive a 14-day embargoed preview of the factual basis only — not the composite rank.

Rank on user-submitted testimonials alone

Trustpilot and similar aggregators are a signal, not a metric. Verified count is what counts.

Present a "top 10" finder output

The finder returns one vendor. If the tie-break is genuinely close, we say so and show both.

Recommend a vendor with an open warning flag

Regardless of composite score, a flagged vendor is never the finder's answer.

How we rank.And what we refuse to do.