Affiliate Disclosure

1. What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based commercial arrangement between a content publisher (CritiqueHQ) and a merchant or retailer. When we include a specially tracked affiliate link in our content and a reader clicks that link and subsequently makes a qualifying purchase, we earn a small percentage of the sale value as a commission. This commission is paid by the merchant — not added to your purchase price.

To be absolutely clear: the price you pay is identical whether you use our affiliate link or navigate to the retailer directly. You pay no premium and receive no discount as a result of our affiliate relationship — unless we explicitly highlight a special promotional deal.

2. Affiliate Programmes We Participate In

CritiqueHQ participates in a number of established and reputable affiliate programmes. These may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

This list is subject to change as we add or discontinue affiliate partnerships. Not all links on CritiqueHQ are affiliate links — many are included purely for informational or reference purposes and generate no commission of any kind.

3. How We Identify Affiliate Links

We make genuine efforts to signal the presence of affiliate links to readers. You will typically see one or more of the following disclosures in articles or near links where a commission may be earned:

• An introductory notice at the top of the article or review (e.g., “This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.”)
• Inline disclosure adjacent to specific links where appropriate.
• A site-wide footer reference linking to this Affiliate Disclosure page.
• Labels such as “#ad” or “Sponsored” where required by applicable guidelines.

This Affiliate Disclosure page is permanently linked in the footer of every page on CritiqueHQ so that it is always accessible to all readers at any time.

4. How Affiliate Relationships Affect Our Content

Our editorial independence is upheld through the following firm policies:

• Commission-agnostic recommendations: A product that earns us a higher commission rate will never receive a better review, a higher star rating, or a more prominent recommendation on that basis alone.
• Equal-standard assessment: Products without affiliate links undergo the same rigorous evaluation as those with affiliate links. If the best product in a category does not carry an affiliate link, we recommend it anyway.
• No paid positive reviews: Brands cannot pay CritiqueHQ to receive a positive review, a higher score, or favourable editorial treatment. This is an absolute and non-negotiable policy.
• Negative reviews remain published: If a product performs poorly, we say so — regardless of whether we have an affiliate or commercial relationship with the brand involved.
• Editorial–commercial firewall: Our editorial and commercial functions are kept strictly separate. Commercial considerations are never communicated to editorial staff during the review and assessment process.

5. Complimentary Products and Free Access

On occasion, CritiqueHQ may receive complimentary physical products, free subscription access to software or services, or advance access to products for the purpose of producing a review. When this occurs, we will disclose it clearly within the relevant article — typically with a statement such as:

Receiving a product or service at no cost does not guarantee a positive review and does not influence our assessment in any way. We apply the same evaluation standards to complimentary products as we do to products we have independently purchased.

Our Policy on Unsolicited Samples

We do not accept unsolicited physical product samples without prior written agreement. Products shipped to CritiqueHQ without prior arrangement will not be accepted as the basis for a review and cannot be returned. Please contact us at support@critiquehq.com before sending any physical items.

6. Affiliate Tracking and Your Personal Data

When you click an affiliate link on CritiqueHQ, you are redirected to a third-party merchant website. At the point of redirection, a tracking cookie is typically set by the affiliate network to record the referral and attribute any resulting commission. This process works as follows:

• CritiqueHQ does not receive your payment details, billing address, or personal purchase data from merchants or affiliate networks.
• We receive only anonymised and aggregated commission notification data (e.g., total order value and commission amount) — no personally identifiable information is shared with us.
• The cookies set by affiliate networks on your device are governed by the affiliate network’s own privacy policy — not CritiqueHQ’s.
• For details on how we use cookies on our own Site, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

7. Price Accuracy and Purchasing Advice

Prices referenced in our content are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change at any time by the retailer. CritiqueHQ has no control over pricing, stock levels, or product availability on third-party platforms. We strongly recommend:

• Verifying the current price directly on the retailer’s website before making a purchase.
• Checking for applicable discounts, promotional codes, or cashback offers that may further reduce the price.
• Reading the retailer’s returns and refund policy before completing a transaction.

8. Changes to This Affiliate Disclosure

We may update this Affiliate Disclosure from time to time to reflect changes in our affiliate partnerships, applicable laws, or best practices in disclosure. When we make changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Affiliate Disclosure, our commercial relationships, or our editorial independence policy, please contact our team: