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DiscoverSex Toys

How we score online sex shops

One formula for every shop, worked out from what the shop publishes. Here it is, in full, with the sums shown.

The six parts and their weights

  1. 25%Returns
  2. 25%Packaging & billing
  3. 20%Delivery speed
  4. 10%Free-delivery threshold
  5. 10%Checkout privacy
  6. 10%Materials & contact

Each part is scored 0 to 100% met, weighted, and added up to a score out of 5.

What each part checks

Returns25%
60% on opened toys: taken back scores in full, only-if-faulty 40%, never nothing.
40% on the sealed-returns window, in full at 30 days or more.
Packaging & billing25%
50% for plain outer packaging with no shop name.
50% for a neutral name on card statements.
Delivery speed20%
70% on speed: 2 days or less in full, 3 days 75%, up to 5 days half, slower a quarter. We time the fastest option when there's next day, standard otherwise.
30% for having a next-working-day or overnight option.
Free-delivery threshold10%
Free over 30 or less scores in full, up to 50 scores 70%, up to 80 scores 40%, higher 20%. Never free scores nothing.
Checkout privacy10%
50% for guest checkout.
25% for PayPal.
25% for marketing emails being off by default.
Materials & contact10%
60% for labelling materials: all products in full, most 70%, some 40%.
40% for ways to reach a person, in full at two or more.
How Ann Summers's score of 3.9 is made up
PartMetWeightPoints
Returns61%×25%0.77
Packaging & billing100%×25%1.25
Delivery speed100%×20%1.00
Free-delivery threshold70%×10%0.35
Checkout privacy63%×10%0.31
Materials & contact50%×10%0.25
Shop score, out of 53.9

Anything the shop doesn't state counts as 50% met, so silence neither helps nor hurts.

The tested rating

A shop score says what a shop promises. A tested rating says what happened when we ordered. It only exists once one of us has placed a real order, paid with our own card, and written down what turned up.

Until then the shop page says, plainly, that we haven't ordered yet, and nothing on it is marked verified. We don't turn published policies into experiences.

Facts older than 90 days fade on the label and say “may have changed” until we check them again.

  1. 1

    OrderA normal basket, paid for by us, delivered to a normal address.

  2. 2

    PhotographThe outer packaging and the label, exactly as they arrived.

  3. 3

    Read the statementThe line on the card or PayPal statement, word for word.

  4. 4

    Time itDays from order to doorstep, against what the shop promised.

  5. 5

    Ask somethingOne question to support, to see how, and how fast, they answer.

What money can't buy here

  • A higher score. The formula doesn't know who pays us.
  • A staff pick. Picks are chosen and signed by our editors.
  • A place on a chart. Sponsored shops carry a SPONSORED stamp and rank like everyone else.
  • Silence. If a shop won't say what's on the statement, we print “not stated”.

More on how we work in our editorial policy and listing policy.