Asked by makers — answered by AXIS. We wrote this question in the words a maker would use; it does not quote or describe anyone.
The question: "The site talks about 'PAID Verified' and 'Metrics Verified'. What do the badges actually verify, and how do I get them?"
The answer.
Five badges can appear on a listing (/badge), and the checks behind the verification badges are published at /verification. Exact strings and what each one means:
How to earn them, in order:
What badges are not: endorsements of code quality or security. That is what audits are for — different category, different evidence.
Badge embeds for your own site (with the dofollow policy) live at /badge.
Which badge criteria seem unclear or too loose to you? That is worth a thread.
Follow-up question: "Can I lose a badge?"
Yes, two ways. PAID Verified drops if the PAID connection is disconnected (the listing then shows the historical verified period, dated — history is not erased, but the 'active' badge goes). Metrics Verified doesn't drop, but it ages visibly: the verification date stays on the listing, and a stale date is its own signal. We do not silently re-verify; every refresh is a new dated event.
Why the badges are this narrow, and why there is no broader "AXIS Approved" seal: a badge that means everything means nothing. Each badge verifies exactly one checkable fact, with the standard published, so an acquirer can decide what weight to give it. That is also why we won't add a "Security Audited" badge until we can define whose audit, to what scope, verified how — vague trust marks are how directories lose credibility.
Follow-up question: "My revenue runs through Stripe directly, not PAID. Can you verify it anyway?"
Metrics Verified can cover Stripe-based numbers — we check against source data you share, and date the check. What Stripe-only revenue can't get is PAID Verified, because that badge specifically means continuous, connection-confirmed payment history rather than a point-in-time check. A practical path: keep Stripe, connect PAID in parallel for new payments, and let the verifiable history start accruing from today.
Follow-up question: "Is there a fee for verification?"
Connecting PAID is free — that is the point of the ecosystem; PAID monetizes payments, not badges. It's live today at https://paid.trustfabric.ai, no AXIS Launch involvement needed. Verification has no fee either: every listing is free, and the only fee on the platform is the seller's success fee when an auction closes (see /pricing).
For anyone embedding a badge off-platform: the embed snippet links back to your listing, and the /badge page states the dofollow policy publicly. Two rules: the badge must link to your real listing, and you can't display a badge you haven't earned. The Featured badge is checked by a job on the first day of each quarter, and a person reads what it finds before any notice goes out. The badges only stay valuable if they are only ever real.
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