A trusted-looking letter grade that a 2010 ABC News 20/20 investigation showed a $425 payment could obtain, even for fabricated companies.
What it's really for A business-reputation rater funded largely by the accreditation dues of the businesses it grades.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its A+ to F business letter grades and accreditation seal, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
The businesses BBB rates are the ones who pay it: accreditation status formerly added four points directly to a company's rating, and a 2010 ABC News 20/20 investigation showed a $425 payment was enough to obtain A-minus/A-plus grades for fabricated entities (including one named "Hamas") while non-paying firms like the Ritz-Carlton Boston and Wolfgang Puck's restaurants received F grades.
Source →- Operating since
- 1912 (114 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- A 501(c)(6) nonprofit federation of local bureaus funded almost entirely by annual accreditation dues paid by the businesses it rates, with fees scaled to company size (roughly $500 to $1,200+ a year).
- What they do
- It publishes business profiles with A+ to F letter-grade ratings, posts and mediates consumer complaints, and sells a paid "BBB Accredited Business" seal.
- What to watch for
- A high BBB grade does not mean a business is independently vetted as good; it mostly reflects whether the company responds to BBB-filed complaints, and the body grading the business is also the one selling it paid accreditation.
- Composite score
- 1.70 / 5.00 → grade D+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- BBB is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit founded in 1912, run by ~92 local bureaus under the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, and depends almost entirely on accreditation dues from businesses; as of July 2022 nearly 400,000 businesses were accredited. Accreditation status initially contributed four points toward higher ratings until that was removed after the 2010 scandal. Source: Wikipedia: Better Business Bureau →
- ABC News 20/20 (2010): paying $425 obtained an A-minus for a fake company named 'Hamas', an A-plus for a fabricated skinhead website, and flipped real businesses from C/C-minus to A-plus immediately after payment, while the Ritz-Carlton Boston and Wolfgang Puck's restaurants got F grades after declining membership. BBB conceded the Hamas listing was a sales-staff error. Source: ABC News: Terror Group Gets 'A' Rating From Better Business Bureau? →
- BBB's own accreditation-standards page states it 'charges a fee for BBB Accreditation' scaled to business size but does not publish how the A+ to F rating is computed; the rating is a proprietary formula and BBB confirms consumer reviews are not used in the letter grade. Source: BBB Accreditation Standards (bbb.org) →