Trust · how we work
How We Review Sellers
Blind Spec exists to answer the question this market is built to dodge: will this actually fit, and what happens if it doesn’t? Seller sites answer with styled room photos. We answer with the measuring guide, the remake policy, and the per-window price.
We are a desk-verification operation, and we say so plainly. Our reviews are built from what sellers publish: their measuring guides, their remake and return policies, their spec pages and configurators, their stated lead times and sample programs, and the accumulated consensus of people who have ordered from them. We price the same benchmark windows in each seller’s own configurator, read the deduction and depth rules as written, and hold the fabric claims to their spec. We do not install blinds on camera and claim no hands-on testing — no staged photogenic install standing in for evidence — and when a question can only be settled by an install we have not done, the review says exactly that.
Two standing rules sit over every page. First: every seller applies its own deductions, so no page here gives a deduction number without sending you to confirm it against that seller’s own measuring guide — their rule wins. Second: custom blinds are made to size and generally not returnable, which is why fit confidence is the axis we grade hardest, and why the child-safety note stays factual — cordless is the CPSC-preferred choice for homes with young children, stated as fact, never as fear.
The review rubric
Every seller runs the same five-axis rubric, so a budget faux-wood line and a boutique motorized shade are judged on one ledger.
- Fit confidence
- The gate everything else waits behind: are the measuring rules published and specific, is the mount deduction stated plainly, and is the minimum inside-mount depth given? A seller who hides how to measure — on a product you can’t return for a mismeasure — cannot earn a top verdict, regardless of commission.
- Remake & return policy
- The most valuable fine print in the category. Does the seller remake a genuine manufacturing error, and will it remake a customer mismeasure — with what time limit, size cap, and who pays return shipping? Custom orders are generally not returnable, so a real remake policy is worth real money, and we audit and date it.
- Per-window price math
- Every seller priced for the same benchmark windows — a standard 35×48 and a wide 72×48 — with the fabric and lift a real buyer would pick, quoted at analysis with the date we checked. "From $29" headlines and free-sample theater do not survive being priced at a real size.
- Spec honesty
- Are the specs that decide satisfaction stated straight: cell size and single- vs double-cell, solar openness %, and — the one sellers blur most — whether a "blackout" claim describes the fabric or the installed result? Motor and battery specs read from the product page, not the marketing.
- Track record & terms
- Lead times and sample programs as published, terms as written, and owner consensus on what actually arrives and how the seller handles a fit problem — weighed as reported experience and clearly labeled as such.
Where our numbers come from
Per-window prices come from each seller’s own configurator, quoted for benchmark windows — a standard 35×48 and a wide 72×48 — with the fabric and lift a real buyer would choose. Because prices move and sales cycle, reviews carry those quotes with the date we checked rather than false precision, and affiliate links land on the live listing where the current number governs. Deduction, depth, and remake terms are read from the seller’s published measuring guide and policy pages, dated the same way.
Facts about a seller are verified against the seller’s own live site at the time of writing. Anything we could not verify is written as "not published" — an answer we consider more useful than a guess, and one we wish more of this market gave.
On verdicts and fit
A recommendation here means one thing: the seller’s published measuring rules, remake policy, and per-window price held up under the rubric at the date on the page. It never guarantees your specific window will fit — confirm the deduction and depth against the seller’s own measuring guide and our fit checker first — and never means the seller’s policy today survives a redesign tomorrow, which is why we date every audit and re-check it.
Independence and disclosure are covered separately on our editorial standards page. Questions about a verdict? Reach the desk.