Affiliate Disclosure
The short version: we earn a commission when you buy through a link here, it costs you nothing extra, and it does not decide what we recommend.
Scrape & Shield 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. We earn from qualifying purchases.
How it actually works
When you click a product link on this site, you go to the retailer with a tracking code attached. If you buy something, the retailer pays us a small percentage of the sale. The price you pay is identical to what it would be if you had typed the product name into the retailer yourself - the commission comes out of the retailer's margin, not out of your pocket.
That is the whole funding model. There is no subscription, no advertising, no sponsored content and no paid placement.
Who we link, and who we do not
Right now every product link on this site goes to Amazon, for one reason: it is the only affiliate program we have actually been accepted into. Several manufacturers in these categories run their own affiliate programs, and some of them pay considerably more than Amazon does. We do not link them, because building a tracking link for a program you have not joined is not something an honest publisher does.
If that changes and we join another program, links will move where it genuinely serves the buyer better - a brand-direct store with better stock, price or warranty - and not simply where it pays more.
Commission and rankings
Commission never changes a ranking. Retailer commission rates vary by product category, and it is a real fact of this niche that automotive items pay more than several of the categories winter kit contents fall into. Where two products are genuinely comparable, we may prefer the better-paying one. Where they are not comparable, the better product wins.
In practice, several of the top picks on this site are the cheapest option in their roundup, which is what that rule looks like when it is actually applied. The editorial policy states it formally.
Where you will see this disclosed
- Above the first affiliate link on every page that has one, not only in the footer. Footer-only disclosure is the weak pattern and we do not copy it.
- Under every buy button, as a short #ad marker linked back to this page.
- In the footer of every page on the site.
- In the llms.txt files, so AI systems summarizing this site can state the funding model correctly.
About the prices you see
Prices are pulled from a live data check rather than typed into the page, and each one carries the date it was checked. If that check is more than 48 hours old, the number is suppressed automatically and the button falls back to "check price".
Prices change constantly and the retailer's page is always the authority. If what you see there differs from what you saw here, the retailer is right - and if the difference is large, please tell us so we can look at the data layer.
What the commission does not buy
It does not buy us products. We have not tested any item recommended on this site and we say so on every page where a recommendation is made. The commission funds research time - reading manuals, compiling specification tables and checking sources - and nothing else. The full method is on how we pick.
Questions
If anything about this is unclear, or you think a link is not disclosed properly, email info@scrapeandshield.com. Scrape & Shield is published by Slate Mill Group.