The small print, in plain language
Affiliate disclosure
Some magazines make money from the gear they recommend. We think you should know exactly how that works here, including the fact that it is not happening yet.
Plain-language draft Last updated 10 November 2026 Not reviewed by a lawyer
The short version
- There are no affiliate links on KeepPickling today. The shop is not open. If you buy a paddle after reading a story, the magazine earns nothing from it.
- When that changes, you will be told. Any link that can earn a commission will be disclosed at the top of the story and again where the link appears.
- Commission never decides coverage. We do not rank products by what pays, and brands cannot buy a review or a place in a list.
What an affiliate link is
An affiliate link is a normal web link with a tracking code attached. If you click it and buy something, the retailer pays the publisher a small percentage of the sale. The price you pay is the same either way. The commission is the publisher's cut of the retailer's margin, not an extra charge to you.
Where things stand today
No affiliate links are live on this site. KeepPickling has no shop, no retailer partnership, and no commission arrangements. Links inside stories point to sources we cite, to other KeepPickling pages, or to general information. If a story links to a product page, that link is there because the source was useful, not because it pays.
The shop page explains the two approaches being evaluated, Amazon Associates and drop-shipping, and what we will not do when either one launches.
What will change when the shop opens
The shop is being built behind the scenes. When it opens, expect the following, in this order:
- A disclosure at the top of any story that contains a money-making link, before the first link and not only in the footer.
- A second, shorter disclosure beside the link or the buy button itself, because readers should not have to remember something they read four minutes ago.
- A visible "affiliate link" label on the link, not a colour change and not an icon on its own.
- A shop page that says which retailers we work with and how the arrangement works.
- A review process that is unchanged by the commission. The desk is already forbidden from inventing tests and from ranking by pay. That rule does not get softer when money appears.
The wording we will use
The house line, which will appear at the top of an affiliate story, is:
Some links in this story are affiliate links. If you buy through one, KeepPickling may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.
Where a link can earn a commission, it will be labelled in the visible text, for example: "Buy at the retailer (affiliate link)". Screen readers will hear the same words as sighted readers. We will not hide the word inside an image, a tooltip, or a colour.
Once an affiliate programme is active, the specific programme statement will also appear here. For example, if KeepPickling joins the Amazon Associates programme, this page will carry the required statement that KeepPickling is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. That statement will be added when the programme is live, not before, because claiming a programme you are not in is just another kind of fake.
What we will not do
- No affiliate link without a disclosure next to it.
- No ranking products by commission, and no "best of" list shaped by a retailer's payout.
- No fake urgency, countdown timers, or "only two left" unless a live listing proves it and the date is shown.
- No link shorteners or redirects that hide where a link goes.
- No pretending we tested something we did not. The editorial standards explain the evidence labels.
- No sponsored posts and no pay-to-play placement. A brand cannot buy a review, a score, or a mention.
- No collecting your data to target you with gear ads. The privacy policy explains what little the site collects.
Prices and availability
Prices change and stock disappears. When we quote a price, we date it and check it against a real listing at the time of writing. The retailer's checkout is always the source of truth. If you click through and the price has moved, the retailer is right and we are out of date, which is worth an email so we can fix it.
What happens after you click
Once you leave KeepPickling, the retailer's own privacy policy and cookie policy apply. An affiliate click may set a cookie on the retailer's site so the sale can be attributed. We do not control that, and the cookie policy explains what happens on our side, which is very little.
Questions and corrections
If a disclosure is missing, unclear, or too small to read, tell us. That is a defect, not a nitpick. Email [email protected] with the page address and what you saw, or use the contact page.
This page is a plain-language draft written in good faith. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer, and it is not legal advice. It will be reviewed before the first affiliate link goes live.