Paid Placement.
HelpSorted does not sell placement. There is no way to pay for a higher position, a featured slot, or a badge. Every listing on the directory is free, and there are no paid plans available to service providers.
1. What businesses pay us
Nothing. Listing on HelpSorted is free, claiming a listing is free, and keeping it is free. We do not charge per lead, take a commission on jobs, or run a bidding system.
If that changes, this page changes first and we will say so plainly, before any paid feature goes live.
2. How listings are ranked
The default order on category and category-suburb pages is based on:
- Relevance to the search. Whether the business serves that category and that suburb.
- Rating. Average score across reviews from real customers.
- Reply time. Measured from actual conversation data, not self-reported.
- Profile completeness. Claimed listings with photos, services and verified details rank above bare unclaimed records, because they are more useful to the person searching.
Customers can override the default at any time using the sort controls for top rated or fastest reply.
3. What cannot be bought
None of the following is influenced by money, because we do not take any:
- ABN Verified badge. Awarded by a server-side check against the Australian Business Register.
- Insurance badge. Self-declared by the provider. We may ask for evidence at random.
- Reviews. Public reviews are written by real customers who used the platform. We do not pay for reviews, do not fabricate reviews, and do not remove negative reviews unless they violate our review policy (defamation, off-topic, identifiably fake). See Review Disclosure.
- Reply time stats. Reply time is measured from real conversation data. The only way to improve it is to reply faster.
- Dispute outcomes. If a customer raises a dispute, we follow the same process for every provider. See Disputes.
4. No sponsored labels, because nothing is sponsored
You will not see "Featured", "Sponsored", "Promoted" or "Recommended" labels on HelpSorted listings, because no listing is paying for its position. If we ever introduce a paid placement, it will carry a clear and visible label, and this page will describe exactly how it works.
5. ACCC reference
This disclosure is provided in line with ACCC guidance on transparency for online platforms and search ranking. If you are concerned about how a particular listing is being promoted, contact us at hello@helpsorted.com.au or the ACCC directly at accc.gov.au.
We will update this page if we change how ranking works. Past versions are available on request.