How The Clash Test makes money
The short version: this site is free to read and funded by affiliate commission. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a small amount — at no extra cost to you. It never changes who wins a faceoff.
What an affiliate link is
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, the retailer pays us a small percentage of the sale as commission. It’s tracked with a cookie, so we get credited for sending you.
It costs you nothing extra. You pay exactly the same price you’d pay going direct. The commission comes out of the retailer’s margin, not your pocket.
Which programmes we’re part of
The Clash Test participates in the following affiliate programmes:
- Amazon Associates (UK)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
How we mark affiliate links
Every article that contains affiliate links carries a clear disclosure at the top of the page, above the first link — before you click anything, not buried at the bottom.
We do this because it’s the right way round: you should know how we’re paid before you decide whether to trust our verdict, not after.
What commission does not do
This is the part that matters, so we’ll be blunt about it:
- It doesn’t pick the contenders. We never choose a faceoff because one product pays better.
- It doesn’t decide the winner. Scores come from the tests, full stop. We regularly link to both products in a faceoff — including the one that lost.
- It doesn’t buy a good review. No brand can pay us for a favourable verdict, a better score, or removal of a bad one. There is no price for this.
- It doesn’t stop us saying a product is bad. If both products in a faceoff are poor, we’ll say so, even though “don’t buy either” earns us nothing.
If commission ever did influence a verdict, this whole site would be worthless — to you and, in fairly short order, to us. Our only asset is that you believe us.
Free and loaned products
Our default is that we buy the products we test, at retail, like you would.
If a brand or retailer ever sends us something free, or loans it to us, we say so clearly at the top of that article. Accepting a product buys coverage and nothing else: it’s tested to exactly the same protocol, scored the same way, and it can lose. We don’t accept any product on the condition of a positive review, and we won’t agree to let a brand see or approve an article before it’s published.
Prices and availability
Prices change constantly, and we can’t guarantee any price we quote is current when you read it. The retailer’s price at checkout is the real one. We date our articles and update them when we can, but always check the current price before you buy.
Cookies and your data
Affiliate links usually set a cookie in your browser so the retailer knows we referred you. We don’t see your payment details, your card, or what else you bought — we typically only see anonymous, aggregated data about whether a sale happened at all.
For the full picture of what’s collected on this site, see our privacy policy.
Advertising
We don’t currently run display advertising on this site.
Questions, or think we’ve got it wrong?
If anything here is unclear, or you think a verdict on this site looks influenced by commission, tell us — bluntly. Get in touch and we’ll answer you, and fix the article if you’re right.
You can also read how we test and more about the site.
Last updated: 15th May 2026
Independent, or it’s worth nothing.
We only have one thing to sell: a verdict you can trust. Everything above exists to protect it.
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