How I test sites
Every site goes through the same scorecard. I sign in as a regular user, browse the profiles, test the filters from my phone and computer, check how they protect my data, and especially how they verify the advertisers.
The criteria
Each criterion is scored from 0 to 10. The final score is a weighted average: criteria with more weight count more.
- Verification (weight 2): Whether they check the identity, age and photos of the people who post, and whether they remove fake profiles.
- Profile quality (weight 1.5): Complete, up-to-date profiles: photos, services, rates, hours and area.
- Ease of use (weight 1): Finding what you want fast from your phone: filters by city and area, and one-tap contact.
- Price transparency (weight 1): Whether every profile shows its rate before you write and, if the site charges you anything, whether it says so clearly.
- Coverage (weight 1): How many active ads it really has and in how many cities.
- Safety and privacy (weight 1.5): Whether using it can cost you: deposit scams, extortion, exposed data, misleading ads or apps outside the official stores.
What weighs the most
The verification weighs twice as much as the rest. A nice-looking site that doesn't check the age or identity of the advertisers can't get a good score.
Trust badges
In the listings you'll see badges like "Verifies identity" or "Verifies photos". They only show up when I confirmed the site actually does it, not when they just promise it.
The alerts
An alert isn't a low score: it flags a concrete risk for you on that site. I add it in two cases:
- Current and repeated complaints. Advance payment scams, extortions, thefts or fake profiles reported in the last year and a half, from at least two different sources (forums, Reddit, review sites, news) and with no signs the site is doing anything about it. One source is enough if it's extremely serious and documented, like a news article or police report.
- What I see on the site itself. It asks you to install an app outside the official stores, redirects you to another site, opens aggressive ad windows or doesn't use a secure connection.
An old complaint, an isolated one or one the site has already fixed isn't an alert: I mention it in the review with its date. I weigh complaints by site size: one with thousands of profiles will have more than one with fifty without being worse. The rule is the same for everyone: it doesn't depend on who owns it or if they pay for ads.
When I remove it. I check it with every new test. If in the last year and a half there were no new complaints or the site fixed what caused it, I remove it. If you have a site with an alert and think it no longer applies, ask me for a new test.
Updates
Each review shows the date of the last test. Sites change: if you notice something different, let me know and I'll review it again.