Free trust mark for your webshop: what it shows and how to add it

A trust mark is a small seal on your site that tells a buyer someone outside your company has looked at your shop. Most trust marks cost money every month or every year. The basic CheckShop trust mark is free, and it stays free if you never pay for anything. This post explains what it shows, what it does not promise, and how to add it.

What the mark shows

The mark shows your current CheckShop score and your reviews from buyers. A click opens your public profile, where buyers see the outcome of 25 checks in four groups: who is behind the shop, safety, buying and returns, and technical details. We read your VAT number from the site and look it up in the EU VAT register (VIES), and we ask Google Web Risk whether the site is reported for malware or phishing. Every shop is checked again every week, on every plan.

The score comes only from those checks and from reviews. A shop cannot pay for a better score, and a paid plan does not change the verdict. Read how we check for the details.

What it does not promise

A trust mark is not a guarantee that every order goes well. It says that the visible signals were checked, and that buyers can see the result and leave a review. That is also why it only helps a shop that scores well. Claim your profile first, look at what needs attention, and fix that before you put the mark on your site.

What you get for free

• Your public profile with your score and the checks
• The basic trust mark for your own site
• A widget with your latest reviews
• 10 review invitations a month to your buyers
• The dashboard and a check every week

Paid plans add the badge designer (other styles, sizes, a dark theme), more invitations and the API. They run month to month. See prices.

Step 1: claim your profile

Look up your shop on CheckShop and choose to claim it. You confirm that the shop is yours with an e-mail address on your own domain, or with a Google Workspace account on that domain. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing.

Step 2 on WooCommerce: the plugin

1. In WordPress, go to Plugins, Add New Plugin, and search for "CheckShop".
2. Install and activate the plugin, then open WooCommerce, Settings, CheckShop.
3. Check the shop domain and choose where the mark shows. The mark needs no API key.
4. For review invitations after an order, paste the API key from your dashboard and test the connection.

The plugin is on WordPress.org, and there is a full WooCommerce guide.

Step 2 on Shopify: one snippet

1. Copy the code for your mark from the dashboard.
2. In Shopify, go to Online Store, Themes, and choose Edit code on your current theme.
3. Open theme.liquid and paste the code just above the closing body tag.
4. Save. The mark shows on every page of your shop.

Other shop systems

On Lightspeed, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopware, CCV Shop or a site you built yourself, the mark is one snippet. Paste it just before the closing body tag of your theme or template, and the mark appears in the bottom-right corner. For Magento and PrestaShop there is also a free CheckShop module that shows the mark and sends review invitations; see the Magento and PrestaShop guides. On Lightspeed you can connect your shop in the dashboard, so every buyer who pays gets a review invitation. The installation guide has the code and the steps.

After the mark is live

Use your invitations. A review from a real buyer tells the next visitor more than any seal. Read how to collect more reviews within the EU rules.