Editorial policy and disclosures
This page covers what to know before relying on a ranking on rate.red: editorial independence, affiliate links and advertising, conflicts of interest, and how we fix mistakes.
Editorial independence
- Scores and order are calculated from the criteria published on each page, by the method described in how we choose and score.
- We take no payment or gifts to select, move or remove a product in a ranking.
- Taking a product out of a ranking is recorded with the date in that ranking’s edit history. The system records it by itself when the product stops being published, and records the reason too when the editor gives one, such as discontinuation. A product is never removed because it has no affiliate programme.
- We do not use wording or page elements that push you to buy quickly.
Affiliate links, commission and advertising
Right now rate.red has no affiliate links and receives no commission from any shop or manufacturer. Links to shops and marketplaces are plain links or search pages and earn us nothing. The site is able to support affiliate links but they are switched off. Before they are switched on we will update this page to match, label every such link, and compare the order before and after to confirm it changed only because of scores.
Rules that always apply, to keep rankings separate from commission
- Scores and order are calculated from criteria and scores only. The calculation receives no information about links, shops or commission.
- No advertising slot sits inside a ranking. Any advertising would be a separate block outside the list, labelled “Advertisement”, and not part of the ranking’s structured data.
- The system has no field in which to enter a commission rate.
- A product without an affiliate programme ranks by its score exactly as before. Every shop button looks the same, and several shops are shown when there are several.
- A change to the scores, weights, criteria or products of something already published is not accepted without a reason, and is recorded with the date and the reason in a public edit history.
About advertising
The ranking, product and buying-guide pages on rate.red carry no banner advertising and no paid positions. If advertising is ever added it will sit in a separate block outside the ranking list, be labelled “Advertisement”, and be announced here.
Conflicts of interest
rate.red is hosted on Hostinger, and the Hostinger Premium plan is one of the options we compare in the hosting category. In other words we are a customer of this provider. Readers should know this when reading the hosting category, so a note is placed on the hosting category page, the hosting product pages, the ranking pages of this category, the hosting section of the rankings page, the hosting comparison and the hosting buying guide.
Right now rate.red receives no commission from Hostinger or from any other provider we compare.
The order on each page follows the criteria stated on that page. You can check the criteria and sources yourself on each page.
If a writer or reviewer has a business relationship with a product they write about, we state it on that page.
Corrections and how to report them
Right now rate.red has no email address for reports of errors, so no other page carries a “Report an error” link.
When we find information that is wrong or out of date ourselves, we check it against the original source, fix it, update the check date and record it in that page’s edit history, even when the fix changes the order.
User reviews
rate.red does not accept user reviews at the moment. When it does, opinions will appear in a separate box, labelled as not verified purchases, with no effect on scores or order. We will update this section and the personal-data section to match before opening.
Personal data
rate.red currently collects no names or email addresses from readers through its own forms, because the user-review form is switched off.
Free and loaned products
A hands-on review always says where the sample came from: bought, loaned or received free. If it was loaned or free we say so clearly, and it does not change how we score. A spec score has no sample product.
The team
All content is currently published under the rate.red editorial team. No individual or outside expert is named publicly yet. When there is one, this section will show their name, role and scope of work.
An expert is responsible only for the scope of work stated. The rest of a page has not been reviewed by them.
Edit history of this page
- — First published: editorial independence, affiliate links and advertising, conflicts of interest, corrections, user reviews, personal data, sample products and the team.