Affiliate Disclosure
RankOfSupplements is a reader-supported publication. When you buy a supplement through a link on our site, we may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. Here's exactly how that works and why it doesn't change our rankings.
Affiliate programs we participate in
We participate in affiliate programs run by individual supplement brands and by aggregator networks (e.g. ClickBank, ShareASale, brand-direct programs). When you click an outbound product link on RankOfSupplements and complete a purchase on the merchant's site, the merchant pays us a commission ranging from a few percent to roughly 50% of the sale.
Commissions fund the site: research, writing, hosting, design, and the team's salaries. Without affiliate revenue, this site could not exist as a free, ad-light resource.
How rankings are insulated from commissions
- **Score-first, link-second:** every product is scored against our published 5-factor rubric *before* any affiliate link is considered. Commission rates do not enter the formula. - **Equal treatment:** non-affiliate products appear in our rankings on identical criteria. We regularly publish top-ranked picks where we have no commercial relationship at all. - **No paid placements:** brands cannot buy a higher rank, a featured-product slot, or a positive review. - **Methodology is public:** the rubric and weights are documented at /methodology/ and have not changed in response to any affiliate program.
What we will not accept
- Pay-to-publish reviews. - Sponsored content presented as editorial. - Brand-supplied scores or ranking rewrites. - Commission rates as a tiebreaker between similarly-scored products.
FTC compliance
Under the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides, publishers must clearly disclose material connections with brands they endorse. Every product page on RankOfSupplements that contains affiliate links carries an explicit affiliate-link badge, and outbound links route through a transparent `/go/{slug}/` redirect so you can see the destination domain before clicking. Equivalent disclosure standards apply in the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia and we follow whichever is strictest.
Why the system works
Trust is the only durable moat in the supplement-affiliate space. A reader who feels misled never comes back — and a reader who trusts a recommendation enough to act on it is worth far more, over time, than a one-shot inflated commission. That economic alignment is the strongest reason rankings stay honest, and it is reinforced by the editorial firewall described above.
Frequently asked questions
- Do affiliate commissions influence which products win your rankings?
- No. Every product is scored against the published 5-factor rubric (ingredient quality, dosage adequacy, third-party testing, value, user experience) before any affiliate link is added. We regularly publish top-rated products from brands we have no commercial relationship with.
- Are all the links on your site affiliate links?
- No. Internal links between our own pages are never affiliate, and we sometimes link to external research or merchant sites with no commercial relationship. Affiliate links route through /go/{slug}/ — you can hover any product CTA to see the destination before clicking.
- Why disclose at all if it doesn't influence scoring?
- FTC rules require clear disclosure of any material connection between a publisher and a brand. Beyond legal compliance, transparency is a core part of how we differentiate from supplement-affiliate sites that hide their commercial model.
- Can a brand pay you to review their product?
- We accept product samples for testing but do not accept paid placements, sponsored editorial, or pay-to-publish reviews. If a piece of content is sponsored, it is clearly labelled as such and is separated from our editorial scoring system.