Last updated 2 Sep 2026
Who can write a review
Anyone with a verified chaogolden account. You need to be a real customer or first-hand user of the business you're reviewing — not a competitor, an ex-employee airing a grievance, or a marketing agency.
What makes a good review
- Be specific. "Great service" is less useful than "Delivered in three days, packaging was undamaged, invoice matched the listing."
- Say what happened, not what you feel about the brand. Reviews about a specific interaction are more helpful than opinions about the company overall.
- One review per business. If your experience changes, edit the review — don't post a new one.
- Keep it your own words. Copy-paste from other reviews, marketing copy, or AI templates gets flagged.
What we don't publish
- No links. Reviews can't contain URLs — not to the business, not to competitors, not to your own site.
- No personal information. Don't include phone numbers, home addresses, employee names, order numbers you'd rather not share, or medical details.
- No offensive language. Strong criticism is fine; slurs, harassment, and threats are not.
- No off-topic content. Reviews should be about the specific business, not a broader industry rant.
- No paid or incentivised reviews unless the invitation clearly comes from the business's own order flow and the reviewer marks the review as verified.
- No competitor sabotage. Reviews from people who work for a competing business are removed on discovery.
How moderation works
Every review is looked at by a moderator before it publishes — usually within a business day. We check for length, links, personal information, sensible sentence structure, and whether the account submitting it looks like a real customer. Reviews that don't clear those checks land in a queue; we don't silently drop anything.
Once a review is live, three community flags automatically hide it pending a fresh moderator look. Owners of the business can reply publicly to any review; they cannot pay to remove it. Removed reviews are kept for audit but excluded from the public rating.
Editing and deleting
You can edit your own review at any time — the edit sends it back through moderation. You can also request deletion; the public listing goes down immediately and a moderator finalises the removal shortly after. Deleted reviews are not restored on request.
Verified-purchase invitations
Businesses on paid plans can send verified-purchase invitations to real customers. When you review through an invitation link, the review carries a Verified badge — it's the strongest signal we have that the reviewer actually bought from the business.
Flagging a review
If you see a review that breaks these rules, use the Report this review control on the business page. Pick a reason — spam, fake, offensive, off-topic, personal info, or other — and add any context you'd like a moderator to see. We read every flag.
Appeals
If a review of yours was held or removed and you think that was a mistake, contact support with the review title and business name. We'll walk it back through moderation.