Affiliate Disclosure
How CK Tech Check makes money, what that changes about the reviews, and how to tell when a link earns me something.
Last updated: August 1, 2026The short version
- Some links on this site earn me a commission if you buy something. It never costs you anything extra.
- Most of those are Amazon links. A few are other programs, and they work the same way.
- Some products are sent to me free of charge. When that happens I say so in the review itself.
- No brand pays for a good review, and no brand gets to approve what I write.
- There are no display ads anywhere on this site, and no advertising trackers.
Amazon Associates
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click certain links on this website and then make a purchase on Amazon, I may receive a small commission. This comes at no additional cost to you, and it helps pay for running the site.
CK Tech Check 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 and affiliated sites.
Prices and availability of products are subject to change. Whatever is displayed on Amazon at the time of your purchase is what applies, not any figure quoted in an article, which may be months or years old.
Other affiliate programs
Amazon is the main one, but it is not the only one. Where I recommend software or a service I use myself, I sometimes take part in that company's affiliate program too. Elementor, the WordPress page builder I use and write about, is the current example.
These work exactly like the Amazon links: if you sign up or buy through one, I may receive a commission, and it does not change what you pay. I only join programs for things I actually use.
How to spot an affiliate link here
You do not have to guess. There are two reliable signals:
Most product links on this site point at cktechcheck.com/go/ followed by a product name. That is my own redirect, and every single one of those is an affiliate link. If you see /go/ in the address, it earns me something.
Affiliate links are also tagged in the page code with rel="sponsored nofollow", which is the standard way of marking a paid or commissioned link so search engines treat it correctly.
Anything that is not an affiliate link is just a normal link. I link to manufacturers, documentation, and other people's work all the time without earning anything from it.
Products sent to me for review
Some of the products covered here were sent to me free of charge by the manufacturer or a retailer, so that I could review them. That is a material connection and you have a right to know about it, so when a product was gifted I say so inside that review, near the top, rather than hiding it at the bottom of the page.
Being sent a product does not buy a positive review. I keep the unit, I write what I actually found, and if it is not good I say so. There are unflattering verdicts and low scores on this site, and they are there for exactly this reason.
Occasionally a brand is shown a script or an article as a courtesy before it goes live. Where that has happened I note it in the post. It has never included the right to change a conclusion, a score, or a criticism.
Editorial independence
Nobody pays me to publish a review, and no company has approval over what I write. Which products get covered is my decision, and so is what the review says.
Where I recommend something, it is because I use it or have tested it. Where I have stopped recommending something, I go back and say so, which is why several older articles on this site carry dated notes explaining what has changed since they were written.
Advertising
CK Tech Check sells no display advertising. There are no banner ads, no pop-ups, no auto-playing video ads and no advertising or ad-retargeting trackers following you around afterwards.
The one thing I do not control is embedded video. When you press play on a YouTube embed, YouTube serves the player and may show its own ads before or during the video. Those ads are YouTube's, not mine, they are not sold or placed by me, and I earn nothing from them.
Running none of my own was a deliberate decision, and it is the reason affiliate links matter here. Affiliate commissions and my YouTube channel are what keep the site running, and in exchange the pages stay clean and quick. If you want to know exactly what is and is not collected while you browse, that is covered in the privacy policy.
YouTube videos
The same applies on the video side. Descriptions on my YouTube videos often contain affiliate links to the gear being discussed, on the same terms: a commission to me, no extra cost to you, and no influence over what I say about the product.
What this costs you
Nothing. Affiliate commissions are paid by the retailer out of their own margin. You pay the same price whether you use one of my links or go to the site directly.
You are also under no obligation to use them. If you would rather not, search for the product yourself. The reviews are the same either way, and the articles are free regardless.
Questions
If anything here is unclear, or you want to know whether a specific link or product was commissioned or gifted, just ask. You can reach me through the contact page and I will give you a straight answer.