How we rate sellers
How the Verdex score works: six weighted criteria, public sources, and what happens when data is missing.
Last updated September 23, 2026
The Verdex score is a number from 0 to 10 that summarizes how safe and how good a licensed cannabis seller is to buy from. It is built from six weighted criteria, and every input comes from a public, checkable source listed on the seller’s page.
The six criteria
| Criterion | Weight | What we look at |
|---|---|---|
| License & compliance | 25% | An active license or registration on the official register (state cannabis regulator, health or pharmacy regulator, municipality), plus enforcement history: fines, suspensions, recalls. |
| Customer reviews | 25% | Verified reviews left on Verdex. Until a seller has enough of them, we use large public rating samples from other platforms, adjusted for sample size so a handful of five-star ratings can’t outrank thousands of reviews. |
| Lab & product transparency | 20% | Batch-specific lab results (certificates of analysis) that customers can open, clear pricing and a named owner with real contact details. |
| Pricing & value | 10% | Shelf prices compared with the local median for the same product category, when we have price checks. |
| Service & access | 10% | Opening hours, ordering and delivery options, accessibility and ID checks. |
| Complaint handling | 10% | How often problems come up in reviews and whether the business answers them in public. |
When data is missing
We never guess. If we have no verifiable data for a criterion, we leave it empty and re-weight the score over the criteria we do have. Each seller page shows the coverage — the share of the total weight backed by data. A seller needs at least 45% coverage to receive a score; below that the page says “Not enough data yet”.
Reviews from other platforms
We don’t copy reviews from other websites. Where we summarize what customers say on platforms such as Google, Trustpilot, Leafly or Weedmaps, the summary is written by our editors in their own words, labeled with the platform and the month, and kept short. Ratings from other platforms are shown with the date we checked them and are never presented as reviews collected on Verdex.
How often scores change
Scores are recalculated whenever a seller’s record changes — a new license status, a recall, a batch of reviews — and we re-check license registers on a regular schedule. The trend figure on each page shows the change over the last twelve months when we have history.
What can’t change a score
- Money. Businesses can’t buy a score, a rank or a removal from the Red List.
- Claiming a profile. Claimed businesses can reply to reviews and correct facts with evidence; it doesn’t affect the score.
- Advertising. We don’t sell placements inside rankings.
Corrections
If a fact on a page is wrong, email us with a link to the evidence. We correct errors promptly and note significant corrections on the page.