Independence
Our only commercial relationship is with you
Quick answer
Fixed buyer-paid fees only. We take no commissions or kickbacks from the supplier being reviewed. We do not sell supplier lists, do not accept referral or introduction fees from factories, and do not take payment from any company in connection with a report about it. If a supplier offers us money in the course of an engagement, that offer is reported to the buyer as a finding.
Why this matters to the report you receive
A verifier paid by the supplier side has a reason — sometimes subtle, sometimes not — for reports to come back reassuring. A verifier paid a fixed fee by the buyer has no stake in the answer at all. We earn the same whether the finding is “low visible risk” or “do not proceed”, which is the only payment structure under which our risk vocabulary means anything.
What the pledge rules out, concretely
- Supplier commissions and kickbacks. No percentage of your order, no “thank-you” from the factory, no rebate on the supplier side. Ever.
- Supplier lists and introductions for a fee. We do not maintain a stable of factories to route buyers toward. A verifier with inventory to move is a salesman.
- Referral fees from the companies we review. A report about a company that pays us would be worthless, so no company we review pays us anything.
- Undisclosed conflicts. If we ever have a relationship with a supplier you ask us to review — it can happen in concentrated industries — we disclose it and offer to stand aside.
- Pay-to-pass. A supplier cannot pay to improve a finding, and cannot pay to remove an accurate one. The correction route for factual errors is open to suppliers and costs nothing.
What we are not claiming
Independence is a payment structure, not a superpower. It removes one specific distortion — the incentive to please the supplier side. It does not make our findings infallible, and it does not widen what documentary review or a live visit can see. The limits of the evidence are set out in the methodology and on every service page.
The pledge appears under every price on this site, in identical words, rendered from a single source file: “Fixed buyer-paid fees only. We take no commissions or kickbacks from the supplier being reviewed.” If you ever find a page of ours that contradicts it, write to [email protected] — we treat that as a defect.
About to send a deposit?
Send the supplier name, profile link, quotation or PI. We will recommend the right verification step and reply by email within 24 hours. No call required.
Fixed buyer-paid fees only. We take no commissions or kickbacks from the supplier being reviewed.