Last updated: August 21, 2026
The short version: some links on this site earn me money, it costs you nothing, and it doesn’t decide what I write. Here’s the long version, because the short one is easy to say and harder to mean.
How it works
Certain links to products on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, the merchant pays me a percentage of the sale. The price you pay is identical to what you’d pay going there directly.
We participate in affiliate programs including Gurumedia, Smart ADV, and MediaScalers. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
How links are marked
Every page containing an affiliate link says so at the top, above the article, in normal-sized text. Where an affiliate link appears in the body of an article, there is a disclosure before it. Nothing here is hidden behind a toggle, set in small print, or placed where you’d have to go looking for it.
What the money does and does not do
It does not buy a good review. Products that disappointed me are written up as disappointing, by name, including ones with affiliate programs I’m enrolled in. There is a whole section of this site for gear that didn’t work out.
It does not buy placement. No brand has paid to be included, excluded, ranked higher, or written about at all. If that ever changes — if a company sponsors something — that page will say “sponsored” at the top, in the headline area, and I’ll say who paid.
It does not decide what gets tested. I write about things that were already showing up in ads I’d have looked into anyway.
What I can’t promise
I’m one person, working from research rather than firsthand use. I can be wrong about a product. I can miss a defect that shows up in month eight, or a complaint pattern that hadn’t surfaced yet when I wrote. A thing that works for most buyers may not suit you. Read the opinion as an opinion.
Questions
If anything about how this site makes money is unclear, ask: hello@boughtandkept.com. I’d rather answer it than have you wonder.