How vendor scores work

Key facts

• A vial fails when it is empty, tests below 95% purity, holds more than 20% less than its label or holds more than 50% more.
• A vial holding 10% of its labeled amount or less counts as empty.
• The VendorVerify score weights dose accuracy at 35%, purity at 30%, failure rate at 25% and batch-to-batch consistency at 10%.
• A vial at 99.5% purity or higher gets full marks for purity.
• A vendor needs at least 5 lab reports to be ranked.
• Each score starts at the market average, and a vendor's own data makes up about half of it at 10 lab reports.
• A vendor is labeled Above market or Below market only when its score is at least 3 points from the market average.
• Every result comes from a third-party lab report, and VendorVerify does not buy or test vials itself.
• A lab report paid for by the vendor counts at 50% of the weight of one paid for by a buyer or a group test, and it never counts toward the 5 reports needed to be ranked.
• Vendors cannot pay to be listed, ranked or scored differently.

Failure rate comes first

A vial fails if it is empty or nearly empty, is below 95% purity, holds more than 20% less than the label, or holds more than 50% more. The failure rate is the share of tested vials that failed. Check it first.

What else counts for every vial

• Purity. How much of the vial is the peptide it claims to be. 99.5% or higher earns full marks; smaller gaps are within normal lab-to-lab variation.
• Dose. How close the amount is to the label. Short vials lose points faster than slightly overfilled ones, because you get less than you paid for.

How a score is put together

• Published buyer reviews count for 5% when a vendor has any.
• The standards are fixed, so a vendor never looks better just because others are worse.
• One lab report counts once, however many vials it covers.
• A report the vendor paid for counts half as much as one a buyer or group test paid for, because the vendor chose the sample and chose to publish the result.
• Newer reports count more than older ones. Age is measured from the newest lab result on file, not from today's date.

Compared with the market

Each vendor is labeled Above market, At market or Below market. Above or Below means its score is at least 3 points from the market average, about what one extra failed report costs a typical vendor.

Small samples

A vendor with few reports might just have been lucky, so each score starts at the market average and moves toward the vendor's own results as reports add up. At 10 reports it is about half their own data; at 100, almost all. Vendors with fewer than 5 reports are listed but not ranked.

Where the data comes from

Every score is calculated from reports by third-party testing labs. Most are commissioned by people who bought the vials, on their own or through group tests. Vendors can also submit third-party reports they paid for: those are marked as vendor-commissioned, must be verifiable at the lab, count at half weight, are left out of the consistency measure and don't count toward the 5 reports a vendor needs to be ranked. VendorVerify doesn't buy or test vials itself. Each result on file records the vendor, the peptide, the testing lab, the test date, the measured purity and the measured amount against the amount on the label.

Buyers can also submit a lab test for a vial they bought. It needs an account and the lab's report, and an admin checks the numbers against that report before the result is added. Until then it isn't shown and doesn't count toward any score.

Labs named on the results

Lab names are shown as they appear on the reports. Listing a lab does not mean it endorses VendorVerify. If you spot a result that looks wrong, report a data error.

How buyer reviews are verified

Anyone can read reviews. Writing one takes two checks:

1. A phone number. You confirm a code sent by text message. One phone number can verify only one account.
2. A receipt for that vendor. You upload proof of purchase. An admin looks at it, and the review stays hidden until the receipt is approved.

Each person can review a vendor once, and vendor representatives can't review the vendor they represent. Automated checks can also hold a review for a manual look before it goes live. A review only appears on the site, and only counts toward a score, once it is published.

Limitations

• We only know what has been tested. The vials people choose to send to a lab may not be typical of everything a vendor sells.
• Labs use different methods, and one report is a snapshot of one batch.
• A vendor may have improved or gotten worse since the newest lab result on file.
• A high score lowers the risk. It is not a guarantee.

For research use only. Scores are our opinion, calculated with the method above from the lab data we hold. They are not medical advice. See the terms.