Editorial policy

What we promise

Our readers are people preparing a parcel, usually with money already spent and a deadline attached. That shapes everything below.

We buy what we test

Test items and warehouse services are ordered with the desk's own budget through the same public checkout a reader uses. We keep the order confirmations and warehouse photographs on file for twelve months. No brand, agent or warehouse pays for a placement, a score or a rewrite.

Scores

All scores use a five-point scale — 5 excellent, 4 good, 3 adequate, 2 poor, 1 very poor — written as X / 5. Hands-on scores for the products our testing team ordered and handled run from 4.0 to 5.0. We explain the reason for a score in the body of the review, in plain language, and we do not repeat our methodology inside reviews; the methodology lives on its own page.

Selection

We pick subjects from reader questions, our own shipment logs and warehouse rule changes. A service qualifies for a full review only if it ran at least twice in our test cycle, so we can separate a one-off from a pattern.

Independence of judgement, not of funding

The desk is funded by affiliate commissions on some outbound links and by nothing else. Commercial relationships never reach the bench notes, the score sheet or the draft. Where a link can earn a commission, the page says so above the fold.

Corrections and complaints

If a number is wrong, we want the photograph that proves it. Corrections are published with a date and a description of what changed. The process is set out on our corrections page.

Comments and correspondence

We read everything sent to editorial@hipo-buy.org. We publish corrections, not arguments; abusive messages are archived and unanswered.