Sourcing partner vetting policy

Who we work with

We do not onboard sourcing partners or dealers with a known history of mis-selling, misrepresenting condition or provenance, or operating outside the regulatory requirements of their category (e.g. bonded warehouse licensing for whisky, AML obligations for high-value dealers). Before a sourcing partner is referenced or linked from this platform, we check for adverse regulatory findings, unresolved public complaints, and any history that would put a buyer or seller at risk. A partner failing this check is not onboarded, and an existing partner found to fail it afterwards is removed.

This check happens once, at onboarding (and again if a concern is raised). It is not a live, continuously monitored guarantee. See "What verification does and doesn't guarantee" below for what that means in practice.

What "verified" does and doesn't guarantee

"Verified" on this platform means an asset was independently checked against the sources available for its category. See the exact methods on the Learn page. It confirms what we were actually able to check. It is:

• Not a guarantee of future value, resale timing, or buyer demand.
• Not a warranty of condition beyond what the specific verification method covers.
• Not an endorsement of any sourcing partner or dealer who was involved in an owner originally acquiring the asset, unless that partner has itself been checked under this policy.
• Not continuous monitoring: verification reflects a point-in-time check, not an ongoing guarantee that nothing has changed since.

We would rather state these limits plainly than let "verified" be read as more certain than it is.

Material and legal restrictions

Some categories carry legal requirements beyond the general checks above. Watches and precious metals, for example, can be affected by UK law governing ivory and other restricted wildlife materials, and precious metals separately by UK hallmarking law and, for investment-grade gold, HMRC's rules for investment gold. Where a listing doesn't meet what the applicable law requires, we restrict or decline it rather than list it. This can mean an asset is rejected, or listed with conditions, regardless of its condition or authenticity.

This reflects our current operational approach, checked against the relevant primary UK law, the Ivory Act 2018 and its wildlife-material restrictions, the Hallmarking Act 1973, and HMRC's rules for investment gold, and applied conservatively: where we cannot be confident a listing meets what that law requires, we decline or restrict it rather than take the risk. For jewellery in particular, a listing is held back from publication whenever the available evidence about its materials is unclear, rather than assumed safe by default.

How to report a concern

If you believe a sourcing partner, dealer, or listing on this platform is involved in mis-selling, misrepresentation, or any conduct this policy is meant to catch, tell us:

• If it relates to a specific transaction in progress, raise a dispute from that offer. This puts it directly in front of an admin.
• Otherwise, contact us with as much detail as you can (who, what happened, and any supporting evidence). We review every report and can remove a partner's listings while we investigate.

We investigate every report we receive. Nothing about reporting a concern affects your own account or listings.

Reviews and ratings

Ratings can only be left by the two parties to a completed transaction, about each other, once per transaction. Fake, incentivised, or bought reviews are prohibited: we never pay or reward anyone for the content of a review, and no “review for reward” programme exists on The Index.

Every review requires a conflict-of-interest declaration. If you have a relationship with the other party beyond the transaction (competitor, household member, business or financial relationship), you must declare it — an undeclared conflict is grounds for removal.

Anyone — including people without an account — can report a review they believe is fake, misleading, or abusive, from the report page. Reports are investigated by a human; reviews found to breach this policy are removed, and both outcomes are recorded. You can report a review from the report page.

Accounts whose reviews are repeatedly removed after investigation are flagged for review and can lose review access or their account. Suspected abuse is always reviewed by a human before any decision.