Methodology

What Varde Index does — and does not — do

Varde Index is a neutral aggregator of verified commercial experience. We collect structured submissions from verified maritime professionals and present them as objective metrics.

We do not publish a proprietary reputation score, a risk label, or a “recommended / not recommended” verdict. We do not manually assign, rank, or edit any company’s standing. Every statistic shown on a profile is calculated automatically from verified contributor submissions.

How contributors are verified

Every contributor must register with their professional identity and be approved by an administrator before they can contribute. Verification uses corporate email-domain matching, LinkedIn review, and — where provided — business cards or conference badges.

Anonymous public contributions are not permitted. A contributor may choose to have their name withheld from public display, but their identity is always verified and conflict-of-interest rules still apply.

How data is aggregated

Each metric on a profile is a direct aggregation of verified submissions — for example, the “would do business again” percentage is the share of verified contributors who indicated they would transact again, and category figures are the average of the ratings contributors submitted for that category.

Varde Index performs no editorial synthesis of this data. We only count, average, and visualize.

Contributor thresholds

Metrics and community recognitions are only displayed once a subject has enough verified submissions for the figure to be meaningful. Below the minimum threshold, a profile shows “not yet reported” rather than a small-sample statistic.

Confidence in the data

The confidence indicator describes the statistical strength of the data — the number of contributors and reported transactions and the length of the reporting history — not a judgement about the company. More verified contributors and a longer history produce higher data confidence.

Weighting rules

Category figures are weighted by the contributor’s relationship to the subject, because a direct customer’s first-hand experience carries more evidentiary value than a more distant relationship. The weights are fixed and disclosed: direct customers and direct users are weighted highest; suppliers, partners, brokers and agents lower; former employees lower still; and current employees may comment but their input carries no rating weight. These weights are applied uniformly and are never adjusted for individual companies.

Fraud detection and duplicate removal

Submissions are screened for authenticity and conflicts of interest. Contributors cannot rate their own company, its products, or conferences it organizes — this is enforced at the database level. Only one submission per contributor per subject is counted; duplicate or suspicious submissions are removed before aggregation, and content that fails automated screening is held for administrator review before it can affect any metric.

Update frequency

Metrics update continuously as new verified submissions are published. There is no manual publication step that alters the figures — a newly published verified submission is reflected in the aggregates immediately.