Peptide Watchdogs
Methodology

How we verify — every vendor, every claim.

A site that grades other people should show its own work. Two things are checked here: whether a vendor is staying honest, and whether a fact can be cited. Below is exactly how we do both — and the rule behind all of it: if we can’t back a claim, we don’t publish it.

How we verify every vendor

Getting listed here isn’t a free pass. Every vendor is checked daily against a published standard, and the results are public. Brands don’t just compete on price — they compete on staying honest.

The daily checklist

Research-use-only framingListings clearly state products are for laboratory research use only.
No health or dosing claimsNo therapeutic, dosing, or human-use claims anywhere in the listing.
Lab documentation availableBatch-tied COAs (HPLC purity + mass-spec identity) exist and are accessible.
Transparent pricingVial sizes and prices are listed clearly and consistently, no bait pricing.
Shipping & reship policyA stated shipping, tracking, and reship/refund policy is published.
No open Scam Watch flagsNo unresolved counterfeit, non-delivery, or COA-forgery reports on file.
Automated daily scan. Each vendor’s public listings are reviewed every day for the checks above — missing research-use framing, health or dosing claims, absent lab documentation, inconsistent pricing, and reported problems.
Human-gated flagging. An automated signal never publicly accuses a vendor on its own. A person confirms any issue before a status changes to Flagged — because a false accusation is its own kind of dishonesty.
Flags are specific and cross-listed. A Flagged vendor shows the exact reason and appears on Scam Watch. The status is removed once the issue is fixed.
Never for sale. Compliance status can’t be bought, and paying for an enhanced profile has no effect on it. It reflects the checks — nothing else.

How we source every claim

Compound identity

Molecular formula, molecular weight, CAS number, and amino-acid sequence come from public chemistry databases — primarily PubChem (NCBI). Every compound page shows its CAS number and links the source, so you can check it yourself.

Research context

When we say a compound is “studied in” an area, we mean it appears in the peer-reviewed scientific literature — indexed on PubMed / PMC (NCBI) — largely in cell and animal studies. That is a statement about the literature, not a health claim, and it does not mean the compound has any effect in people. We link the reviews or studies we drew from.

Regulatory status

Whether a compound is FDA-approved, and its compounding status, comes from the FDA directly and is dated, because it changes. We report the status; we don’t interpret it as medical guidance.

Prices

Prices are our own — collected from vendors and dated. We label them as our index rather than attributing them to a third party, and we compare like-for-like (same vial size across vendors).

The Trust Score’s price component follows the same rule: each vendor is compared per-mg against the market median for the same compound — never across different compounds — and a compound only enters the comparison once at least three vendors publish a price for it. At or below the median earns full credit, sliding to zero at 1.6× the median, averaged across the compounds the vendor actually sells. Publishing prices can only raise a vendor’s score, never lower it — vendors without public prices are graded on the remaining components instead of being penalized.

Verification & ratings

Trust Scores, the Verified badge, and Scam Watch flags are our own methodology — described in the vendor checklist above, not sourced from outside, and never for sale.

What we don’t do

Spot something wrong or out of date? Email Team@peptidewatchdogs.com — corrections are welcome, and that’s the point of showing our sources.

Frequently asked

Does a Passing status mean a vendor is endorsed?
No. Passing means the vendor currently meets our compliance checklist — research-use framing, no health claims, lab documentation on file, and no open flags. It is not a health, safety, or quality endorsement, and it’s never for sale.
What happens if a vendor fails a check?
They move to Monitoring and are notified. If a serious issue is confirmed by a human reviewer and not corrected, they’re Flagged with the specific reason and cross-listed on Scam Watch.