The short version: we earn a small commission when you click an affiliate link and buy something. You don't pay anything extra. The retailer pays the commission out of their own margin.
Who pays us
Retailers and brands pay us, never you. We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and work with a small number of additional affiliate networks and direct brand programs. When you buy something through one of our links, the retailer pays us a small percentage of the sale out of their own margin.
Why this doesn't cost you anything extra
- The price you pay at checkout is the price the retailer was charging anyway.
- The commission comes out of the retailer's margin, not your wallet.
- Whether or not you click through us, the product price is the same.
Why commissions don't change our rankings
Two reasons.
1) We aim to present the most competitive available offer to readers whenever possible. When multiple retailers carry a product, we prefer the option with the best combination of price and availability rather than the one that pays us the most.
2) The editorial recommendation (what gets on the site, what we call out as a top pick) is decided by the process in How we choose products before any commission rate is considered.
Concretely: no product on the site is a paid promotion. We don't accept fees for inclusion or ranking. If a product would earn us more but isn't the better choice for you, we recommend the better choice.
Affiliate disclosure
Federal Trade Commission rules require us to disclose affiliate relationships clearly. We do so on every page that contains affiliate links. See the full Affiliate disclosure for the complete language.
If something changes
If we ever accept any form of sponsored content or change this policy, we'll update this page with the change and the date. The "Last updated" line at the top is the timestamp.