Affiliate Disclosure

THE SHORT VERSION

If a link can earn AffiliateBest money, readers should be able to understand that before acting on the recommendation.

An affiliate relationship generally means AffiliateBest may receive a commission when a reader clicks a tracked link and completes a qualifying action with a third-party merchant. Not every external link is an affiliate link. Ordinary source, documentation and editorial links are not treated as paid relationships merely because the destination is a commercial company.

WHAT COMPENSATION CAN INCLUDE

Material relationships can take more than one form.

Compensation may include affiliate commissions, sponsorship fees, paid placements, free or discounted access, or another benefit that could reasonably affect how a reader evaluates a recommendation. When such a relationship applies, the nature of the relationship should be disclosed clearly enough for the reader to understand why it matters.

AffiliateBest does not treat the phrase affiliate link by itself as sufficient context for every reader. A plain-language disclosure should explain that AffiliateBest may earn money from a qualifying purchase or action.

PRICE, DISCOUNTS & AVAILABILITY

Merchant terms control the actual transaction.

AffiliateBest does not set a merchant's live price, eligibility rules, taxes, renewal price, refund policy, availability or promotion terms. Exact prices and discounts can change by country, date, account status and campaign. Commercial pages should therefore link to the current merchant terms and date time-sensitive claims when practical.

A commission does not make a product cheaper or more expensive by definition; the merchant controls the checkout. Readers should verify the live offer before purchasing.

EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE

Commission size is not supposed to determine the conclusion.

AffiliateBest's intended editorial model is decision support: who a product is for, who should avoid it, what it costs, where it is limited, what alternatives exist and which claims have evidence. A higher commission is not evidence that a product is better.

Paid placement, sponsorship and editorial recommendation are different relationships. If a placement is paid, it should be visually identified as advertising or sponsored content. AffiliateBest does not sell an undisclosed editorial conclusion.

Read the full Editorial Policy →

SEARCH LINK QUALIFICATION

Human disclosure and search-engine link attributes solve different problems.

When a link is a paid or affiliate relationship, AffiliateBest's theme can qualify it with rel="sponsored". Google currently prefers sponsored for paid links; this technical attribute does not replace a disclosure that people can understand.

Normal editorial links to sources, documentation or merchants do not receive sponsored solely because the destination sells something.

TRACKING & THIRD PARTIES

Affiliate attribution can involve third-party tracking.

Affiliate networks and merchants may use cookies, click identifiers or other attribution methods to determine whether a referral produced a qualifying action. Their systems, retention periods and privacy practices are controlled by those third parties and can change. AffiliateBest should not place personal information inside publisher Sub IDs or similar tracking fields.

U.S. DISCLOSURE STANDARD

Clear and conspicuous is the operating standard for U.S.-facing endorsements.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission states that unexpected material connections that could affect how people evaluate an endorsement should be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and that affiliate disclosures should be placed close to the recommendation or link. Other countries and platforms may impose additional or different obligations.

This disclosure is general information about AffiliateBest's publishing practices, not individualized legal, tax or compliance advice.