Affiliate disclosure

An affiliate link is a link to a supplier's own website that carries a tag identifying Monark Commerce as the source of the visit. If you follow one and go on to buy, the supplier pays Monark Commerce a percentage of the sale for the introduction.

You buy from the supplier, at the supplier's price, under the supplier's terms. Monark Commerce does not take your payment, does not set that price, and does not add anything to it. The commission comes out of the supplier's margin, not your total.

This is the whole basis on which the tools and equipment counter operates. It is stated here rather than implied, because the company would rather you knew the commercial arrangement before you clicked than after.

Affiliate links appear, or will appear, in these places:

• Product listings on the tools and equipment counter.
• Hardware listings on the electronics and software counter, where the item is sold by its manufacturer or a retail partner.
• Buying guides, comparisons, and reviews, where a product mentioned is one Monark Commerce has an affiliate relationship for.

Every page carrying affiliate links states so on the page itself, near the links and before them — not only here. A disclosure that requires the reader to go looking for it is not a disclosure.

Two things on this site are never affiliate links. Work booked through Services is contracted and invoiced by Monark Commerce directly. Software licensed and issued by Monark Commerce itself is sold by Monark Commerce, and the terms of sale govern it.

Partner programmes are still being contracted. As each one is signed it will be named in the record below, along with the date it started, so the position is checkable rather than a general statement that could mean anything.

Where a programme requires its own particular wording, that wording will be published here in full and in the form the programme requires, in addition to the plain-language explanation above.

It affects which products can be linked. It does not affect what is said about them.

A product goes on this site when its price is competitive against the obvious alternatives and it is worth owning. A product that is neither is left off, whether or not a commission is available on it. Where a cheaper or better option exists that pays Monark Commerce nothing, saying so is the point of publishing at all — a buying guide that only recommends what it is paid to recommend is worth nothing to the person reading it and worth nothing to the company for long.

Nothing on this site is a paid placement. No supplier has paid, or will pay, to be featured, ranked, or reviewed favourably. Where that ever changes for a particular piece, it will be labelled as advertising on that piece.

Monark Commerce has not tested most of what it lists. Where a product has been used or tested first-hand, the write-up says so and says how. Where it has not, the write-up is a comparison of published specifications, prices, and other people's reported experience — and says that too.

This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics of its own. That is set out in the privacy notice and it remains true.

The supplier's site is a different matter, and Monark Commerce does not control it. When you follow an affiliate link, the partner will typically set a cookie recording that you arrived from Monark Commerce, so that a purchase made within their attribution window is credited to it. What that cookie contains, how long it lasts, and what else the partner collects are governed by the partner's privacy policy, which is worth reading on any site you buy from.

What comes back to Monark Commerce is a commission report — counts of clicks, orders, and amounts. It does not identify you by name, address, or payment details, and Monark Commerce neither receives nor asks for those.

United States Federal Trade Commission guidance requires that a material connection between an endorser and a seller — which a commission is — be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, close to the recommendation it relates to. The governing text is the FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, 16 CFR Part 255.

Monark Commerce treats that as the floor rather than the target: disclosure on every page that carries a link, in plain words, above the link rather than beneath it, and this page holding the full explanation for anyone who wants it.

Questions about any of this go to admin@monarkcommerce.com.