Computerbild Top-Shop seal: Useful or not?

A few days ago, we received the latest issue of Computerbild in our letterbox. It contained a cover letter and a certificate confirming that we are one of the top 750 online stores in Germany. Together with Statista GmbH, the Computerbild editorial team compiled a list of 750 online stores and we are now on this list, which means that we are basically entitled to use a corresponding seal. However, we are only allowed to use the seal for our advertising if we transfer 3500 EUR plus VAT to Statista. Of course, this immediately sets alarm bells ringing for me. Why does someone want so much money from us?

So I took a closer look at the list. In the accompanying Computerbild magazine, you can find a list of several soft criteria such as "structure and usability" or "trust and security", according to which a total of 8,500 stores were tested. These criteria are also briefly explained in the magazine and there is information that even 111 features were tested, but these are not named exactly. Ok, that doesn't sound too bad. What is rather strange, however: In the really long list that then follows (750 stores!), Computerbild readers won't find any more information on exactly how the stores scored. Apparently they are not sorted according to the rating results either, it is simply a long list sorted by categories such as "Leisure, games & hobbies", each containing a mini-description (in our case: "Gift ideas such as funny shirts and technical gadgets for geeks and nerds") and a list of supported payment methods. That's all. I wonder why they go to so much trouble but then don't publish the results for readers? The list is not completely useless, but it would be much more interesting for readers if it contained more information.

In the letter to us, however, there is another piece of information that could be the solution to the puzzle: For EUR 990 plus VAT, we can have the detailed results of all the stores examined sent to us. I can well imagine that such a study could be valuable information for some store operators and, in principle, it is of course perfectly OK to charge money for something like this. However, combining the campaign with a report in an editorial magazine and then trying to sell the associated seal to the stores afterwards does somehow have a strange aftertaste. At the very least, the readers of Computerbild should have been informed that the results would be sold to the companies at the same time. However, I could not find such a reference in the magazine. Incidentally, we will of course not be transferring any money to the companies involved.