Authenticity over volume
We would rather have 40 provable reviews than 400 anonymous stars. Every contribution is checked before publication; serial ratings are detected and not published.
About TrustStar
We turn stars into a decision you can rely on
TrustStar is an independent review portal for businesses in Germany. We bring together verified customer experiences and the public Google overall rating in one profile – so that five stars become real information.
Anyone looking for a tradesperson, a workshop or a medical practice today checks reviews first. But what do they actually mean? One business has 4.9 stars from eight reviews, another 4.2 from three hundred and forty – and hardly any portal explains how badges such as “verified” are actually awarded. All too often the symbol merely means that somebody, somewhere, ticked a box.
This is exactly where TrustStar comes in. We bring together what belongs together: reviews from genuine customers and the public Google overall rating – in one profile, clearly separated by source. And we check before we badge: every “✓ Verified” stands for a completed verification procedure created by TrustStar, and every review submitted without a code stands for a prior confirmation by the company – given without seeing the content.
TrustStar is owner-managed: behind the portal stands M-Tech Support (owner Tobias Michel), based in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau in the Palatinate – independent of investors, advertising clients and paid rankings. Our business model relies exclusively on optional add-on features for companies that want to analyse their reviews professionally. Reviewing itself – reading as well as writing – remains free of charge for everyone, forever.
Our principles
Four rules we let ourselves be measured by
These principles are not just words on this page – they are bindingly documented in our Review Guidelines and Terms & Conditions.
Criticism stays up
A company can reply to everything but remove nothing. We delete only in case of legal violations – and justify every deletion to the author.
No rankings for sale
Sorting is by date, rating and source type. Not by revenue, not by contract status. Those who pay get more analytics – but never a better position.
Data minimisation
Reading requires no personal data from you. Hosting is in the European Union, tracking only after explicit consent, and deletion periods are documented and short.
Our story
How TrustStar came to be
TrustStar was not born from a business plan, but from two observations that would not let us rest.
Our first conviction: a tick is only as valuable as the check behind it. A badge that can be issued by self-declaration is ultimately no badge at all – it remains a claim. That is why TrustStar defines its own standard: a verification procedure created by us plus manual review by our team before a profile carries the “✓ Verified” mark. Anyone relying on a verification symbol should be able to trust that somebody actually looked.
Our second conviction: seeing and confirming must be separate. As long as both steps lie in one hand, the content can be known before release – and thus become selectable: wave it through, doubt it, apply pressure. We consider that attackable, for both sides. That is why we separate the two technically – not as a promise, but as a property of the system.
The consequence: a portal that reverses the order. On TrustStar the company confirms the customer relationship first – without being able to see the review content. During this phase only the name and a short reference are visible (“What was it about?”). Only after confirmation is the review published and readable for the company. And the “✓ Verified” badge? With us it comes only after a genuine check: verification procedure created by TrustStar, manual review by our team. Whoever wears it has earned it.
These two insights were the reason TrustStar exists – and they explain our name: TrustStar. The star, i.e. the review, only counts if trust was verified beforehand. Real trust does not come from a tick you give yourself, but from processes that hold up even when things get uncomfortable. That is what TrustStar stands for – in every review, in every profile, in every mark we make.
Responsibility
Who stands behind TrustStar
Owner-managed with short lines: when you write to us, the person who is actually responsible replies – no call centre, no ticket system with hold music. All decisions rest centrally with the owner.
Owner of M-Tech Support · Product & Strategy
Responsible for TrustStar.eu as a product of M-Tech Support: strategy, partnerships, data protection and the printing of review cards. Reachable via info@truststar.eu.
Processes instead of hold queues
We answer requests with short response times and take moderation decisions within five working days – documented and comprehensible. Requests from Professional customers are handled first and receive the shortest response time compared to the lower plans.
Responsibility
What we are working on – and what we are not
We want to stay honest, including about our own limits. Three things that keep us busy:
- Verification is laborious. Marking a review as “verified” means we can trace the order – via a confirmation from the business, an invoice number or a plausible account. That does not always succeed. Where it does not, we leave the contribution unmarked instead of upgrading it.
- Google data is a cache. We only read what Google delivers publicly and update at fixed intervals. A review can therefore be briefly out of date. The source is visible on every entry so you can put it in context.
- Small businesses have it harder. Whoever completes 20 orders a year naturally collects few reviews – and looks worse next to businesses with 400 contributions, even though the service may be better. That is why we always show the number of reviews next to the rating. A 4.9 from six reviews is something different from a 4.2 from three hundred.
If you notice something – a faulty profile, a review that violates the guidelines, a missing company – write to us. We reply quickly and correct what needs correcting.