Business Policy

Costnip shows what people paid, saw or were quoted, what businesses post and what public files say. It doesn’t rank businesses for money, take payment to change, promote or remove reports, or claim that any price difference is unfair or unlawful. Every business is treated the same, whether or not it has claimed its page, and claiming is free.

Appearing on Costnip doesn’t need your permission, in the same way a newspaper can report a price. Your name, address and public details are used to identify the place a price was reported, which is in the public interest in price transparency.

• Anyone authorized to speak for a business can claim its page. We verify by a code sent to a contact we can link to the business, or by other evidence we ask for, such as a business email, listing or document.
• Only claim a business you’re authorized to represent. False claims lead to account closure and may be reported to the authorities.
• Keep your contact details current. We may remove a claim if verification lapses, if the business closes or changes hands, or if someone with better authority asks. If you leave the business, tell us so the claim can pass to someone else.
• How we handle your contact details is explained in section 6 (Your contact details).

• Respond publicly to reports and comparisons. Responses appear under your business name and must be factual, polite and free of customers’ personal information.
• Answer questions. When people ask questions or suggest corrections on your listings, you can reply through your claimed page. Replies are labelled as from the business.
• Post your own prices, clearly labelled as posted by the business, with the date they apply. You’re responsible for keeping them accurate and current, and for honouring consumer law where you trade. Posted prices appear beside, never inside, what customers paid.
• Correct business details, such as name, address, opening hours and whether a branch is open, subject to review.
• Dispute a report you believe is wrong, with evidence (see section 5 (Disputing a report)).

What you post

You own the prices, details and responses you post. You give Costnip the same licence contributors give under the Terms, so we can show them, compare them and include them in combined figures, previews and embedded cards. You confirm you’re allowed to post them and that they’re accurate when posted. You may use your business name and logo on your page; you don’t give us any other rights in them, and we won’t suggest you endorse Costnip without your agreement.

• Edit, hide or remove customer reports or posts, or ask us to for money or any other benefit.
• Offer anything (discounts, refunds, gifts, entries) in return for reports or posts, or for changing or withdrawing them.
• Post reports or questions as if you were a customer, or ask staff, friends, family or agencies to.
• Threaten, pressure or contact customers about what they reported, try to identify anonymous contributors, or take action against a customer for a report.
• Use the dispute process to argue about whether a price is fair rather than whether a report is factually wrong.
• Scrape or bulk-download Costnip data, including about competitors. Write to business@costnip.com about data access instead.

Breaking these rules can lead to the claim being removed, a public notice on the page, and closure of the accounts involved. Where the law requires, we may also report it.

1. Use “Dispute this report” on the report, or email business@costnip.com, explaining what’s wrong (for example the wrong branch, item, size or date) and attaching evidence such as a menu, price list or system record from that date.
2. A reviewer checks the report and your evidence, subject to our conflict-of-interest rules. We may ask the contributor for more detail. We don’t disclose private account details or evidence to the business without permission, except where legally required.
3. We decide whether the report stays, is corrected, gets a label, or is removed, and tell you the outcome with the reason. We aim to decide within 14 days of receiving your evidence. While it’s being reviewed the report may be labelled “Disputed”.
4. If you disagree with the outcome, reply to our message within 30 days. A different reviewer will look again.

A price being higher than elsewhere isn’t a reason to remove a report. A report that is wrong about the facts is. Evidence you send us for a dispute is kept with the dispute record and isn’t published.

To verify and manage a claim we keep the name, work email or phone and role of the person who claimed it, verification codes and a log of claim actions. We use them only to run the claim, contact you about reports, posts and disputes, and resolve questions about who controls the page. They aren’t published; responses appear under the business name. We keep them while the claim is active and as long as needed afterwards to resolve disputes about it. Our Privacy Policy explains your rights, which apply to this information too.

If you believe content is unlawful, for example defamatory or infringing, see Copyright and Content Removal or write to legal@costnip.com. Tell us exactly which content, why it’s unlawful and where. We review notices and don’t remove reports merely because a business dislikes the price. Reports of prices are statements of fact that contributors stand behind, and comparisons are our own presentation of those facts. Content may still be removed for privacy, policy or legal reasons.

Our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines also apply to businesses and to the people who act for them. If this policy and the Terms conflict about a business page, this policy applies. We may update this policy; the dates at the top and the version history below show the latest version, and we’ll email claimed businesses about significant changes.