Trustpilot Reviews: The Complete Guide for Businesses

By the Expert Reputation team · Updated September 30, 2026

Trustpilot is one of the most rule-heavy review platforms a business can use. You're encouraged to invite customers, but only if you invite them all the same way. Negative reviews are removed only for specific guideline breaches, and misuse can put a public Consumer Warning on your profile. This guide covers claiming, inviting, replying, flagging and how the TrustScore is calculated, based on Trustpilot's current Guidelines for Businesses (June 2026) and help center.

Who uses Trustpilot, and why it matters

In our experience, Trustpilot matters most for businesses that sell online or across a wide area, such as e-commerce brands, auto dealers, online services and multi-location companies. It usually matters less for a single-location clinic or contractor. But a profile can exist without you. Trustpilot says that once anyone reviews your business, you have a profile page, visible whether or not you've claimed it. Trustpilot stars can also appear in search results, which Trustpilot can switch off for misuse (see below).

How to claim your Trustpilot business profile

Claiming is free. According to Trustpilot's help center:

1. Go to Trustpilot Business and choose Create free account.
2. Enter your business location, name and website, then some basic company details.
3. Activate the account from the email link. If your email address matches your website's domain, you're done. If it doesn't, you'll need to verify the domain before the profile is fully claimed.

You need an active website. Trustpilot says all businesses, including small local businesses and sole proprietors, must have one to collect reviews. Once claimed, your profile shows a "Claimed" label, and you can reply to reviews, use Free plan features and edit your business information. Trustpilot requires that information to be accurate and not misleading. Your business name should match what customers see on your website or storefront.

How reviews and the TrustScore work

The TrustScore is a 1 to 5 score based on all your service and location reviews, and the star rating is the TrustScore shown as stars (rounded to the nearest half star). According to Trustpilot:

• Recent reviews count more than older ones.
• Seven neutral 3.5-star reviews are built into the average, so a new profile doesn't swing wildly on its first few reviews. Their effect shrinks as reviews come in.
• Only a customer's most recent review counts toward the score, but all of their reviews stay visible.
• The source of a review doesn't change its weight. Verified, invited and unprompted reviews count the same.
• Paying for a plan doesn't change the calculation.

Trustpilot also labels reviews by how they were collected. Reviews from automated invitation methods (such as the Automatic Feedback Service, e-commerce integrations and API invitations) are labeled Verified. Manual methods such as file uploads and business-generated links are labeled Invited. Some link-based methods produce reviews labeled Unprompted.

Invitations: what Trustpilot allows and forbids

Any business can invite customers for free by sharing a link to its profile, as long as it follows Trustpilot's guidelines. Paid plans add automation.

When you upload a customer file to send manual invitations, Trustpilot asks you to confirm a fairness declaration first.

Two of these rules are where businesses most often go wrong:

• Review gating. A "Were you happy? Yes → Trustpilot / No → email us" funnel is exactly the pre-screening Trustpilot prohibits. The FTC has also said that asking only customers you think are happy could violate the FTC Act.
• Incentives. Trustpilot bans all incentives for reviews. That is stricter than the FTC's rule (16 CFR Part 465, in effect since October 21, 2024), which bans incentives conditioned on a positive or negative review. On Trustpilot, even a neutral "leave any review, get 10% off" breaks the guidelines.

For wording that stays neutral, see our review request templates. For the rules on rewards generally, see incentives and FTC compliance.

How to reply to Trustpilot reviews

Trustpilot encourages replies and says it will remove replies that include personal information, threats or aggressive language. If you disagree with a reviewer's opinion, Trustpilot's advice is to reply and "tell your side of the story." Flagging isn't the tool for that.

Example: negative review, e-commerce or services

Hi [First name], thank you for telling us about this. A two-week delay without an update isn't acceptable, and we're sorry. We've looked into what happened with the courier. Please email [Email] with your order number and we'll sort it out today. — [Name], [Business Name]

Example: healthcare or wellness business

Never confirm the reviewer is a patient or client, and never mention treatment details.

Thank you for sharing your feedback. We're unable to discuss any individual's care in a public forum, but we'd like to hear more. Please contact our practice manager at [Phone]. — [Practice Name]

If you resolve the problem, Trustpilot recommends that reviewers update their review, but it's their choice. Never pressure them, and never offer anything for the edit.

How to flag a Trustpilot review, step by step

Businesses flag reviews from their Trustpilot Business account. Each review can be flagged for one reason at a time:

1. Harmful or illegal: hate speech, threats, obscenity, or defamation. Trustpilot notes that an opinion like "I didn't like their service" isn't defamation.
2. Personal information: someone else's name, phone number, email or images. This doesn't apply to details already on your profile or website, or to the reviewer's own details.
3. Advertising or promotional: unrelated promotions, spam, scams or misinformation. Mentioning or comparing you to a competitor doesn't count.
4. Not based on a genuine experience: the reviewer wasn't eligible (for example, an employee or competitor, or someone paid for a fake review), or the review isn't about a recent experience.
5. About a different business: clearly about someone else, or meant for another of your domains.

Some rules to know before you flag:

• Request information first. Before flagging a review as not genuine, you must use Request information. Trustpilot sends the reviewer a standard form asking for their name, email, phone or reference number. They have three days to respond, and they don't have to.
• You can't flag your own invitees as not genuine. If you invited the customer, that option isn't available.
• For personal information or wrong-business flags, you first need to ask the reviewer to update the review.
• Older reviews: Trustpilot generally won't investigate whether a review over a year old is genuine.
• A purchase isn't required. A genuine experience can be browsing your site or chatting with you.

What happens after you flag, and if the flag is rejected

Flagging opens a ticket with the Content Integrity team. Only reviews flagged as harmful or illegal are hidden while under review. Trustpilot may ask the reviewer to edit the review or provide documentation within three days. A review stays up if it doesn't breach the guidelines or there isn't enough evidence of a breach. It can be taken offline if the problem isn't fixed. Trustpilot doesn't delete these reviews, though, so a review can be reinstated if the reviewer later provides documentation or edits it.

If you think the decision on a "not genuine" flag was wrong, Trustpilot's guidelines say you can reply and explain why, and it will review the decision manually. You can't edit or withdraw a flag once it's submitted. After that, a calm public reply is your best option. Nobody, including us, can guarantee a removal. Avoid services that promise one (here's why).

Consumer Warnings and other penalties

Trustpilot's "Action We Take" policy escalates from educational emails and warnings to cease-and-desist letters, account restrictions and legal action. The most visible step is a Consumer Warning, a prominent notice on your profile summarizing the misuse. While it's active, your TrustScore is hidden. It usually stays for about six months, depending on the type of misuse.

Trustpilot also watches how you flag. Its Transparent Flagging feature shows the public all your flagging activity, including the star ratings of the reviews you flagged. Misusing the flag tool can lead to a Consumer Warning, a limited account, and your Trustpilot stars no longer appearing in search results.

Common Trustpilot mistakes

• Gating invitations with a satisfaction question first.
• Uploading only your best customers to a manual invite batch.
• Offering any reward, even for "honest" reviews.
• Flagging only one-star reviews. Flag five-star reviews for the same reasons, or your flagging history will show the pattern.
• Flagging disagreement. "That's not what happened" isn't a valid flag reason. Reply instead.
• Asking staff or family to review. This is banned by Trustpilot and restricted under the FTC rule on insider reviews.

For how Trustpilot compares with BBB's reviewer checks, see our BBB guide.