Trust & Safety methodology

The six-tier ladder

Every Smoov account sits at one of six standings. Most accounts stay at clear indefinitely. The other five tiers exist so we can respond proportionally to real, observable problems — never to silent guesses.

• Clear — Good standing. No restrictions.
• Warning — Something specific has been logged. You see a banner so the notice can't surprise you later. No action is required and no operational limits apply.
• Flagged — Your account is under closer review. New listings may be screened more strictly. You see a generic review notice on your Trust Profile.
• Restricted — New listing and offer creation are paused. You can complete deals already in flight. An SLA-bound appeal review is available.
• Suspended — All marketplace actions are paused. In-flight deals are frozen. Appeal review is available.
• Blocked — Access is revoked. A final 7-day appeal window applies from the time of the block.

What triggers each tier

The risk score is a numeric summary of the signals on your account. It is the input, not the verdict — a tier above warning never moves automatically without a human-in-the-loop review, except for two hard policy rules.

• Positive signals: completed deals, positive feedback rate, supplier quality history, contributor history, and connected verification (phone, payment).
• Negative signals: validated reports against your listings, accepted DMCA takedowns, hijacker incidents you were named in, unpaid commitments, frivolous chargebacks, late shipments, and listing rejections in our pre-screen.
• Velocity signals: actions taken faster than the account-age tier allows.
• Multi-account links: confirmed peer accounts contribute a confidence-weighted share of their risk to yours.

The two automatic policy rules are: three accepted DMCA strikes inside a 12-month window auto-restricts the account, and five auto-suspends it.

Appeals and SLA commitments

Every restriction tier above clear has a Plan-of-Action appeal path. The appeal is reviewed by a founder-level reviewer (not by AI). You submit three pieces:

1. Root cause — what specifically went wrong.
2. Corrective action — what you have already done to fix it.
3. Preventive measures — what you will do to prevent recurrence.

SLA commitments from filing time:

• Restricted — 72 hours.
• Suspended — 48 hours.
• Blocked — 24 hours, inside the 7-day final appeal window.

A decision is one of four outcomes: reverse, reduce one tier, maintain the current tier, or escalate the case for additional review.

What we will not do

• We do not fabricate signals or invent activity to justify a restriction.
• We do not auto-apply any tier above warning except for the two DMCA strike-count rules above.
• We do not show your risk score, enforcement history, or device fingerprints to other users on your public profile.