1. “Synchronous review adds latency.”

True, and it is tiered. Only Tier 2 blocks; everything else proceeds immediately. Tier 2 median is under 30 seconds, p95 under 2 minutes. For a £2,000 transaction, 30 seconds is acceptable.

2. “Per-review cost is too high.”

Per-review fully-loaded cost is non-trivial (a few pounds to low tens, depending on specialty). We only pay it on Tier 2 actions (the small fraction of transactions where the cost-benefit is clearly positive) and on a sample of Tier 1. Total review cost as a % of transaction value is small.

3. “Reviewers have biases.”

Yes. Mitigations: diverse pool by geography and language, dual-review on a sample to detect drift, published appeal success rates, rotation across cultural contexts.

4. “You cannot scale reviewers with agent volume.”

We do not need 1:1. Most volume is Tier 0 / 1; only a small fraction needs Tier 2 synchronous review. Even at massive scale, the absolute number of Tier 2 cases per hour is tractable.

5. “Content-moderation labour conditions are notorious.”

Known and deliberately designed against. 4h max shifts, enforced breaks, case-content warnings, right to decline cases, mental-health support, published compensation ranges. Workforce welfare is a product spec, not an afterthought.

6. “Why not use AI for review?”

AI assists reviewers. On Tier 1 sampling, AI proposes; reviewer verifies. On Tier 2, AI summarises; reviewer decides and signs. AI-only Tier 2 review is a no; the whole product claim is the presence of a human decision in the loop.

7. “This creates regulatory capture.”

Fair concern. Mitigations: the rule engine is open-source and versioned publicly; reviewer credentials are portable; marketplaces can integrate with any GeraWitness-compliant review provider, not just Gera’s own panel.

8. “Jurisdictional differences matter.”

Each review is routed to a reviewer qualified for that jurisdiction. Cross-border transactions are dual-routed. Published jurisdictional coverage is part of the marketplace onboarding spec.

9. “What if reviewers are bribed?”

Signed decisions with identity + dual-review sample make pattern-detection possible. Confirmed corruption is disciplinary and in some jurisdictions criminal. The accountability model is real, not cosmetic.

10. “Appeals take forever.”

Appeal SLA: 48 hours for a response, 7 days for resolution in standard cases. Expedited path for health / safeguarding / urgent finance.

11. “Let me opt out.”

Users configure their own thresholds above the safety floor. You cannot opt out of Tier 2 on high-value transactions (for your protection), but you can raise or lower the Tier 1 sample rate within bounds.

12. “Is 30 seconds really worth it?”

On a £10 transaction, probably not — so it is Tier 0. On a £2,000 transaction with an unusual marketplace pairing, yes. The whole point of tiering is to spend latency where it earns its keep.