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The Better Business Bureau (BBB) since its founding in 1912 has proven that the mass of marketplace problems can be solved fairly through using voluntary self-regulation and consumer education. The BBB system is a private, non-profit organization created to monitor and report marketplace activities to the public licensed by the Council of Better Business Bureaus and governed by their own local Boards of Directors. The BBB in the United States extends across the nation, from the coast of Hawaii, to Alaska, and Puerto Rico.
Their mission is to promote and foster the highest ethical relationship between the public and businesses through consumer and business education, service excellence, and voluntary self-regulation. The Better Business Bureau today is supported by more than three hundred thousand local business members nationwide, dedicated to fostering fair and honest relationships between consumers and businesses, encouraging consumer confidence and contributing to an ethical business environment.
The Better Business Bureaus core services include:
Business Reliability Reports
The business reliability reports allows finding reports and information about a specific company that one may be looking for.
Dispute Resolution
The BBB system makes the results of its different dispute resolution programs publicly obtainable in the confidence that such transparency will help consumers and businesses assess the value of the Bureaus services.
Truth in Advertising
The Better Business Bureau system since its founding in 1912 has made advertising self-regulation a part of their mission. During that time, misleading and fraudulent advertising and the lack of any effective regulation led to BBBs formation, for the purpose of promoting truth in advertising. Until today, review and voluntary correction of local advertising is till a core service offered by the bureau.
Consumer and Business Education
The Better Business Bureau also has a program that promotes consumer and business education through online education forums such as Identity Theft, Understanding Privacy, e-Exporting, GetNetWise, and Online Shopping Tips, all of which greatly helps in the improvement of consumer and business education.
Charity Review
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance gives reports on nationally soliciting charitable organizations that are the subject of donor inquiries. These Alliance reports include an evaluation of the subject charity in connection to the voluntary BBB charity standards. It also offers guidance to donors on making informed giving decisions through their various tips publications, charity evaluations, and publishes quarterly Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide.
The purpose of the Better Business Bureau is not to act as an advocate for businesses or consumers, but to be a mutually trusted intermediary basing neutrality to resolve disputes, facilitate communication, and to provide information on ethical business practices. The bureaus integrity is based on public trust of being a neutral third party that they have held for over eighty years.
