Best for Backpacking earns a portion of its revenue from affiliate links. This page explains exactly how that works, which retailers we partner with, and the editorial standards we hold in place to keep affiliate revenue from distorting our recommendations.
What is an affiliate link?
An affiliate link is a tagged URL that lets a retailer credit a purchase back to us as a commission. When you click an affiliate link on this Site, the linked retailer sets a cookie that tracks whether you complete a qualifying purchase within their attribution window. If you do, the retailer pays us a small percentage of the sale.
Affiliate links never change the price you pay. You pay exactly what you would pay if you reached the retailer directly. The commission is paid by the retailer out of their own margin, it is not added to your cart.
How to spot an affiliate link on this Site
| Signal | What it looks like | Where you'll see it |
|---|---|---|
| HTML attribute | rel="nofollow sponsored" on the link |
Every affiliate link, on every page |
| Visible disclosure | "This review contains affiliate links" or equivalent banner | Top of every page where affiliate links appear |
| Link destination | Points to one of the retailer domains in the table below | Hover before clicking to verify |
The rel="nofollow sponsored" attribute is the W3C-standard, machine-readable disclosure for affiliate relationships. Most browsers don't surface this to readers, so we also include the visible banner.
Which retailers we work with
Best for Backpacking participates in the following affiliate programs. The table reflects programs we have active integrations with, we add or remove programs over time and update this list when we do.
| Retailer | Program | Attribution window | Special disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Amazon Associates | 24 hours after click | "As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases." (required) |
| REI | REI Affiliate Program | 7 days | None beyond the page-level disclosure |
| Backcountry | Backcountry Partner Program | 14 days | None beyond the page-level disclosure |
| Moosejaw | Moosejaw Affiliate Program | 30 days | None beyond the page-level disclosure |
| Public Lands | Public Lands Affiliate Program | 14 days | None beyond the page-level disclosure |
Attribution windows are set by the retailer and reflect how long after your click the retailer will credit a purchase back to us. Outside the window, we receive nothing, and that has no effect on your price either way.
Required Amazon Associates disclosure
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
This sentence is required by Amazon's Operating Agreement (Section 5) and appears in full above. We also include it on individual pages where Amazon links appear.
How affiliate revenue affects our recommendations
It doesn't. Specifically, we hold ourselves to four commitments, and we'd rather lose revenue than break them.
| Commitment | What it means | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. We don't rank by commission rate | A product paying 8% and a product paying 1% are evaluated on the same criteria | A reader who follows a recommendation that exists because of a commission rate has been sold to, not served |
| 2. We don't accept paid placements | Manufacturers cannot pay us to be reviewed, ranked, or recommended | Sponsored content is a different product and would be labeled "Sponsored" if we did it |
| 3. We don't accept free product | Because we don't field-test (see About), we have no operational use for review samples | Free product creates a relationship, and relationships color reviews |
| 4. We pick retailer links by reader experience | Where two retailers offer the same product on similar terms, we link the one with the better return policy and stock reliability | Reader's interest over our commission |
If you spot what looks like a violation of these, a ranking that doesn't match the evidence, an undisclosed paid placement, or a strange link choice, contact us and we'll explain or correct it.
How affiliate revenue keeps the lights on
Affiliate commissions are the primary revenue source for Best for Backpacking. They fund:
- The infrastructure and editorial system that produces this content
- The data sources, lab test reports, and third-party reviews we synthesize
- Ongoing maintenance and improvements to the Site
We are transparent about this trade because we believe the alternative, paywalls, sponsored content, accepted free product, carries a higher risk of distorting our recommendations.
Editorial note
Best for Backpacking publishes under Brooke Wilder, our named editorial persona (see About). Our editorial methodology relies on synthesizing publicly available sources rather than personal field testing. Affiliate revenue does not influence how Brooke ranks or evaluates products. The methodology is identical regardless of which retailer is linked, or whether a link is present at all.
FTC compliance
This page is published in compliance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) and the FTC's .com Disclosures.
| FTC requirement | How we comply |
|---|---|
| Clear and conspicuous disclosure | Page-level banner on every review/comparison; rel="nofollow sponsored" on every link |
| Disclosure near the endorsement | Banner appears above the fold, before any product recommendation |
| Same language as the endorsement | All disclosures in plain English on English-language pages |
| Truthful representation of material connections | This page enumerates every affiliate relationship; we update it when programs change |
| Disclosure of free product | We don't accept free product (see commitment #3 above) |
If you believe any disclosure on the Site is unclear or insufficient, please contact us, we will fix it.
Contact
For questions about our affiliate practices or this disclosure, use our contact form.
For postal correspondence:
Best for Backpacking
1 E Erie St
Suite 525
Chicago, IL 60611