Ethics Engine Policy

Effective May 22, 2026.

1. The commitment

Salaaz makes three operational promises about ethics on this platform. This document is what those promises mean in practice, and the procedure by which we keep them.

• Vendors are vetted across three stages: signup, listing, and variant edits.
• Every product carries an ethics score backed by disclosed supply-chain stages. Where a stage is not disclosed, the score reflects that.
• Search ranking cannot be bought. Paid placement does not exist on Salaaz, and our internal Impact Score (which drives ranking) is not for sale.

2. The three public score surfaces

The Ethics Engine produces three public score surfaces, plus one internal score.

• Product ethics score (out of 5, public). Shown on the product page. Aggregate across four pillars: materials, labour practices, supply-chain transparency, and environmental impact.
• Vendor ethics score (out of 5, public). Shown on the vendor storefront. Aggregate across the vendor's products, plus vendor-level signals (years on platform, disclosure consistency, response to flags).
• Five-leaf qualitative indicator. Shown on product cards in grids, where a precise number would be over-prominent. The 5-leaf range is mapped at even quintiles (every 20 points equals one leaf bucket: 1 leaf = 0–20, 2 = 21–40, 3 = 41–60, 4 = 61–80, 5 = 81–100). Product detail pages show the precise number.

Vendor Impact Score (internal, never user-facing). Drives search ranking and editorial surfacing. Combines product and vendor ethics scores with operational signals Salaaz tracks (return rate, flag rate, dispute resolution time, disclosure freshness). The commitment that search ranking cannot be bought is operationalized through this score. Paid placement does not exist on the platform, and the Impact Score is not exposed in any vendor admin or sold to any party.

3. The four pillars

The product ethics score is composed from four pillars, each weighted equally:

4. Three-stage vendor review

5. What "Verified," "Partial," and "Unknown" mean

• Verified. The vendor has submitted documentation (mill name and location, certification certificate, audit report) and the documentation passed Salaaz review.
• Partial. The vendor has named the stage but cannot or has not provided documentation; the claim is taken at the vendor's word and the score is adjusted to reflect the uncertainty.
• Unknown. The stage is not disclosed. The score reflects the gap; the product page says not disclosed rather than presenting fabricated detail.

6. Flagging a score

Shoppers can flag an ethics claim from the product page. Flags are reviewed within five business days. If we confirm the claim is inaccurate, the disclosure is corrected and the score recalculated; the vendor is notified and the change is recorded in the vendor's history (visible internally on the Impact Score, not on the public vendor profile). Repeated inaccurate disclosure is grounds for vendor termination under the Vendor Agreement.

7. Stars and leaves are different things

Stars on Salaaz measure product quality from customer reviews (5-star scale, subjective). Leaves measure ethics (5-leaf indicator backed by the ethics score out of 5, evidentiary). A 5-star product can have a 60 ethics score; a 92-ethics product can have 3 stars. Both data points are visible on the platform; neither implies the other. The visual languages are deliberately different: different epistemic categories deserve different signals.

8. What is excluded from the score

• Vendor-paid placement. Does not exist. Vendors cannot buy a higher ethics score, a higher Impact Score, or featured placement on Salaaz Selects.
• Salaaz editorial coverage. Editorial selection is made by Salaaz editors against editorial criteria; it does not change a product's ethics score.
• Marketing claims without evidence. Phrases like "ethically made," "thoughtfully crafted," and "sustainable" without specifics do not earn score; vendors are asked to replace vague language with specific disclosure.

9. Score updates and freshness

Ethics scores are recalculated when a disclosure changes, when a flag is resolved, or on a scheduled cadence to incorporate new operational signals into the Impact Score. The product page shows the date the score was last reviewed. Disclosures more than 24 months old are flagged internally for freshness re-review; vendors are notified before the freshness lapse affects their public score.

10. Limits we acknowledge

No single score perfectly captures the ethics of a product. The score is a structured summary of disclosed information at a moment in time; it depends on vendor honesty (which we test through review and audit) and on the limits of what is knowable about a global supply chain. We publish the disclosures themselves on the product page so a shopper can read past the score and weigh what matters to them.

11. Updates to this Policy

We update this Policy when the scoring formula, the pillars, or the review procedure meaningfully change. The effective date at the top reflects the current version. Substantive changes are announced in the editorial digest so the rationale travels with the change.

12. Contact