How Peptigrity actually works.

How trust scores are calculated

The Trust Score is a single number from 0 to 100 calculated from two data sources: community reviews and independent lab tests. The score scales by confidence in the data behind it — small samples carry less weight, large samples carry more.

The formula

Two weighted terms (0 to 1 each), reviews stated first:

• 0.5 × smoothed review average (normalized to 0–1 from a 0–5 scale)
• 0.5 × banded purity average (the smoothed purity % mapped to a band score, see below)

Community reviews and lab purity are each weighted at 50%: objective HPLC purity data and subjective buyer experience (quality, delivery, service, pricing) are treated as equally important signals. Neither channel outweighs the other.

Confidence (0 to 1) is calculated separately for each channel:

• conf_reviews = min(1.0, ln(reviews + 1) / ln(25))
• conf_purity = min(1.0, ln(tests + 1) / ln(15))

Each term is scaled by its own channel's confidence, then the weighted sum is renormalized by the total active confidence:

• Trust Score = (0.5 × conf_reviews × reviews + 0.5 × conf_purity × purity) / (0.5 × conf_reviews + 0.5 × conf_purity) × 100

Because confidence is per-channel, a shop must carry meaningful volume in both reviews and lab tests to reach the top of the rankings — a large pile of lab tests can no longer compensate for a handful of reviews, and vice versa. The review channel saturates around 24 reviews; the lab channel around 14 tests.

Purity banding

The smoothed purity average enters the score as a band, not a raw percentage, so sub-1% HPLC measurement noise cannot decide rank order between shops. The precise tested percentages are still displayed everywhere on the site — only the scoring uses the band.

• ≥ 99.0% → 1.00
• 98.0–98.99% → 0.92
• 95.0–97.99% → 0.80
• 90.0–94.99% → 0.55
• < 90.0% → 0.25

Why we use Bayesian smoothing

Both the review average and the purity average are Bayesian-smoothed using priors. A new shop with one 5-star review does not get treated the same as an established shop with 150 reviews averaging 4.8. The smoothing uses:

• Review prior: 4.2 stars (the platform average)
• Purity prior: 98.5% (the platform average)
• Smoothing constant: K = 8

The smaller the sample, the more it's pulled toward the prior. Once a shop accumulates real volume, its actual data dominates. This prevents small-sample manipulation: a single cherry-picked review or lab test can't carry a brand-new shop to the top of the rankings.

Why K = 8? A higher smoothing constant dampens small-sample volatility as the platform's overall dataset grows. With more reviews and lab tests on file, the cost of letting a single 5-star or 1-star outlier shift a shop's score has gone up — K = 8 makes new shops earn their rank from a larger body of evidence before pulling away from the platform average. The trade-off is that very-high-purity shops with only a handful of tests rank slightly lower than they would under K = 5; that's the intended behaviour.

Verification tiers

Every shop carries one of these labels based on data depth:

When one data channel has no trustworthy signal, its term contributes 0 — so the score caps at the other channel's weight (50 for reviews-only, 50 for lab-only — both single-channel tiers are treated identically). Once both channels contribute, the score can reach 100.

What the Trust Score does not include

The Trust Score does not factor in shop age, listing date, product selection, pricing, website design, social media presence, advertising spend, or any payment to Peptigrity. The calculation uses only two data inputs: review ratings and lab test purity data.

Score updates

Trust Scores recalculate automatically when new reviews or lab tests are published. A single new data point can change a shop's Trust Score — though Bayesian smoothing and confidence scaling mean the change is proportional to the existing data depth. A new review for a shop with 200 reviews moves the score less than a new review for a shop with 3 reviews.

Sub-ratings (independent of Trust Score)

Beyond the Trust Score itself, every Peptigrity review breaks down the buyer's experience into four sub-rating dimensions on a 1–5 scale: Quality, Delivery, Service, and Pricing. These are averaged separately per shop and displayed on each shop profile. The sub-ratings are informational — they help buyers see exactly where a shop performs well or struggles — and they are not factored into the Trust Score calculation itself.

A separate Would Buy Again indicator (yes/no) is tracked on every review and displayed as a percentage on each shop profile. This is also informational and not factored into the Trust Score directly.

Methodology updates

The Trust Score formula evolves as the platform matures. Updates are listed here in reverse chronological order so any change to the calculation is visible alongside the rules it produced.

• June 2026 — Review/purity weighting rebalanced to 50/50; confidence split per channel. Community reviews now carry equal weight to lab purity, reflecting Peptigrity's review-first mission. Confidence is now calculated separately for the review channel and the lab channel, so a shop must have meaningful volume in both to reach the top of the rankings — no shop can rank highly on lab tests or reviews alone. Purity is now scored in bands to prevent sub-1% measurement differences from affecting rank.
• May 2026 — Bayesian smoothing constant raised from K = 5 to K = 8. Higher K dampens small-sample volatility further; as the dataset has grown, the case for trusting a few-data-point shop's raw average has weakened. Same formula, stronger pull toward the prior for shops with fewer than ~10 reviews or lab tests.

Review policies

Who can submit reviews

Any registered Peptigrity user can submit 1 review per shop. Registration requires a username, email address, and password. Email addresses are never displayed publicly.

What reviews include

Each review includes 5 sub-ratings on a 1–5 scale:

1. Overall — general satisfaction with the purchase experience
2. Quality — product purity, consistency, and packaging
3. Delivery — shipping speed, tracking accuracy, and packaging integrity
4. Service — customer support responsiveness and helpfulness
5. Pricing — value relative to product quality and market rates

Each review also includes a "Would buy again" indicator (yes or no) and a free-text description for each sub-rating category.

Reviews the shop offered something for

Shops may offer a discount or reward for leaving a review on Peptigrity. The offer must apply to any honest review, not to a positive one, and the shop must tell the customer to tick the "offered a discount" box on the review form. Incentivized reviews are tagged. They currently count toward Trust Score like any other review; Peptigrity will revisit this as review volume grows. Undisclosed incentives are a guideline violation and reviews may be removed.

The disclosure is the reviewer's, not the shop's: it is a checkbox on the review form and nothing else sets it. Peptigrity does not infer it from review text, timing, or a shop's promotion history, so a review without the tag means nobody said there was an incentive — not that one was ruled out.

Review moderation

Reviews are moderated for 4 criteria before publication:

1. Relevance — the review relates to the shop being reviewed
2. Registration — the reviewer has a registered Peptigrity account
3. Prohibited content — the review contains no personal information, threats, hate speech, or illegal content
4. Duplication — the reviewer has not already reviewed this shop

Reviews meeting all 4 criteria are published without editing. Negative reviews are not suppressed, deprioritized, or modified.

Lab test policies

What lab tests include

Each lab test submission includes the peptide name, brand or shop name, HPLC purity percentage, stated quantity (label), tested quantity (actual), endotoxin level (when tested), testing laboratory name, test date, batch ID (when available), and an image of the Certificate of Analysis.

Submission and verification

Lab tests are submitted by registered community members through the submission form. Each submission is reviewed by the Peptigrity team before publication. Peptigrity does not modify purity values or quantity measurements.

Publication transparency

All lab test results are published transparently regardless of outcome. A lab test showing 85% purity receives the same treatment as a lab test showing 99% purity. Low purity results are not hidden, delayed, or deprioritized.

Testing laboratory independence

Peptigrity publishes lab tests performed by third-party testing laboratories with no financial relationship to the peptide shop whose product was tested. In-house testing by vendors is not accepted.

What current lab data can and cannot tell you

Lab tests currently in the database are independent third-party Certificates of Analysis that Peptigrity collects from shops' official channels and verifies for authenticity before publishing. Because shops choose which COAs to publish, these tests reflect the batches a shop has made public and may not represent every production batch. Peptigrity is developing a community-funded testing program to purchase and test products anonymously — removing shop selection from the sample — with results weighted accordingly when launched.

Shop listing policies

How shops are listed

Shops are added to Peptigrity through 2 methods: community submission (a registered user adds the shop) or editorial addition (the Peptigrity team identifies the shop). Listing is free. No shop pays a listing fee, commission, or subscription.

Shop verification status

Each shop carries 1 of 2 verification statuses:

1. Community Submitted — the shop was added by a community member or the Peptigrity team. The shop owner has not verified their identity.
2. Claimed — the shop owner has contacted Peptigrity, proved ownership, and actively manages their listing. Claimed shops can update their profile and respond to reviews.

Claiming a listing does not affect the trust score. The verification status indicates only whether the shop owner is actively managing their profile.

Ranking order

Shops on the directory page are ranked by trust score in descending order. The shop with the highest trust score appears first. No shop can pay for priority placement, featured positioning, or ranking modification.

Removal policy

Shops cannot request removal from Peptigrity. Once listed, a shop remains in the directory along with all associated reviews and lab test data. The only exception is a listing created in error.

Promotion policies

Promotions are available to shops with a Trust Score of 70 or higher. Each promotion is reviewed by the Peptigrity team before publication. Promotions display the shop's current Trust Score and, when available, the most recent lab test purity for the promoted peptide.

Expired promotions remain visible on the platform for transparency and historical reference.

Content moderation

Peptigrity moderates 3 types of content: reviews, lab test submissions, and discussion posts. Moderation applies the same standards to all content regardless of the shop or user involved.

Community rules

Discussions, shop boards and group buys are for adults (18+). Members may discuss any shop, compare vendors and organise group buys. The rules:

1. Compound names only. Brand names are not used for products on this platform.
2. No controlled substances. Discussion of hormone therapies is allowed; sourcing them is not.
3. Shop owners are welcome in every thread and are always tagged. Promotions, store links and discount codes are permitted only in the owner's own board and on promotions; elsewhere they are removed.
4. Group buys are coordination only. Peptigrity handles no money, holds no funds and vouches for no organizer.
5. No personal information, threats, hate speech or content involving minors.
6. Reviews belong in the Reviews tab of the shop page, not in threads.

Content is removed only if it breaks one of those rules. Reviews and Scam-watch threads are checked before they publish; everything else in the forum goes live immediately and is moderated afterwards.

Reputation and ranks

Reputation points measure participation, not authority. They are earned by contributing — reviews, lab tests, protocol logs, discussion posts — and they move a member up a ladder of ranks shown on their profile and beside their name in threads.

Reputation has no effect on Trust Scores, rankings, or how any shop is presented. A high-reputation member's review counts exactly as much as a new member's. Points are not currency, cannot be bought, transferred or gifted, and unlock no editorial privileges.

Ranks

A rank is derived from the point total at the moment you look at it. No rank is stored anywhere and none is awarded by hand, so a rank can never be stale, granted as a favour, or out of step with the points behind it.

The progress bar on a profile measures progress within the current rank, not toward the next rank's threshold from zero. A member on 47 points is 37 of the 40 points through Contributor — 93% — rather than 47/50 of the way to Regular.

What earns points

Three of these are deliberately hard to farm. Lab test points are paid on approval, never on upload, and a failing result earns exactly what a passing one earns — paying more for bad findings would pay people to invent scandals. A log entry pays once per the log's own interval, so a daily logger cannot out-earn a weekly one by splitting a week into seven rows. And a completed log only counts as well-documented — and earns its points — at 5 entries or more.

Points are awarded when a contribution is made and are not currently deducted if that contribution is later removed. Reputation is therefore a record of participation over time rather than a live count of what is still standing — another reason it is kept away from anything that ranks a shop.

Researcher tiers

Researcher tiers reflect how much someone has contributed across reviews, discussions, and submissions, and how long they've been around. They are not a verification of purchases or identity. A tier never affects a shop's Trust Score.

A tier is not the same thing as reputation points above it. Points are a running total that only goes up. A tier is a description of an account as it currently stands: it is computed from criteria rather than a balance, every condition above the first tier has to be met at once, and it goes back down if the reviews or replies behind it are removed. That is deliberate — it means no single repeated action carries anybody up the ladder, and it means the tier beside a name is true today rather than true once.

Tiers are recomputed nightly, and immediately for you when you publish a review, a reply or a submission — so a first review shows its tier straight away rather than the next morning. Peptigrity staff accounts hold no tier; they carry a team mark instead.

Questions

For questions about these rules or to report a policy concern, visit the Contact Us page or review the FAQ.