Commercial Disclosure and Owned-Product Policy

What we disclose

We disclose four things, clearly and on the page where they matter. First, any product we received free or at a discount, labeled as a supplied sample. Second, any affiliate relationship on a link, so you know a click might earn us a commission. Third, any ownership stake we hold in a product or brand. Fourth, any other commercial relationship that could reasonably affect a claim. Right now the first two apply and the last two do not, because we own nothing and take no sponsorship that touches editorial.

The rule behind all of it is simpler than the list: if money could have influenced what you are reading, you get told about it in the same place you are reading it. This page explains how we earn, and our editorial standards page explains how we keep the money from reaching the verdict.

How we earn money

We earn in two ways, and we want both to be boring and legible. First, affiliate links: when you click certain product links and buy, the retailer pays us a commission at no extra cost to you. Second, in the future, we may sell our own paint and painting tools under the PaintReviews name. We do not sell any owned products today, and we will tell you the moment that changes.

We do not charge brands to be tested, and we do not sell rankings or placements. A brand cannot pay to appear higher on a list, to be excluded from a list, or to have a competitor described unfairly. The how we test protocols are public precisely so there is nothing hidden to sell.

If a revenue source ever appears that is not described on this page, we will add it here before we use it. This page is the record of how we are funded, and it gets updated at the same time the funding changes, not after someone notices.

Samples and free products

Most of what we test is bought at retail, because that is what you buy and it keeps our samples honest. When a manufacturer sends us a free product, we accept it only under two conditions: it is tested under the exact same protocol as everything we purchase, and it is labeled as a supplied sample wherever it appears.

A free sample never gets a softer test, a longer cure time, or a more favorable surface than a store-bought competitor. If a supplied product wins, it wins against the field on the same board, and the page still says it was supplied. If a brand asks us to test their product and then dislikes the result, the result still publishes. A sample we cannot run through the protocol is a sample we do not feature.

Affiliate links explained

An affiliate link is a normal product link with a tracking code. If you buy through it, the retailer pays us a small commission, and your price is the same. Here is the part that matters: the link is attached only after a verdict is finalized, and it can never change a ranking.

We do not pick a winner because it pays a higher commission. We do not link a loser just to earn. When several retailers sell the same product, we link a retailer, not a favorite brand, and we say when a link is an affiliate link. The sequence, locked in our editorial standards, is test first, rank second, monetize third.

Owned-product policy

If we ever sell our own paint or painting tools, the following rules are already in place and will not be negotiated later. An owned product is tested under the identical protocol as every competitor, on the same surfaces, at the same time, with the results published next to the field. It is labeled as an owned product on every page where it appears.

An owned product can earn a first-place ranking only by beating the field in the test, not by default and not by omission of stronger competitors. If it loses, it loses in public, and we say so. We will never launch an owned product until a competing category has an established test protocol, so there is no window where our own product can be graded by a softer ruler than everyone else’s. For context on how those placements are decided, see the paint reviews section once it is live, and the authors page for who is accountable.

FAQs

PaintReviews buys the products it tests at retail. Manufacturer-supplied samples are labeled and tested under the same protocol. Some links may be affiliate links that support testing; they never change rankings. See our commercial disclosure policy.