TreadHabit is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's exactly how it works.
The short version
Most product links on TreadHabit are Amazon affiliate links. If you click one and buy something on Amazon within 24 hours, we earn a small commission (typically 4–8% of your total cart) at no additional cost to you. We use that commission to pay writers, buy test units, and keep the site running.
The longer version
How affiliate links work on TreadHabit
Every Amazon link on this site includes our Associates ID (wattsage47-20) in the URL. When you click the link, Amazon sets a 24-hour cookie on your browser. If you add anything to your cart and check out within 24 hours, Amazon credits us with the commission on the entire cart — not just the product you clicked.
Importantly, you pay the same price whether or not you use our link. The commission comes out of Amazon's margin, not your wallet.
What we link to
We only link to products we've either tested ourselves or researched thoroughly enough to recommend with confidence. We don't link to products just because they pay well. In fact, Amazon's commission rates are roughly the same across the product categories we cover (4% for treadmills, 4.5% for health & personal care, 8% for some apparel), so there's no financial incentive to recommend one product over another within a category.
What "reader-supported" actually means
It means we don't have a paywall, we don't have a newsletter we charge for, and we don't sell ad inventory directly to brands (which would create pressure to write favorable coverage). The only people paying us are Amazon (when you buy through our links) and ad networks (when ads load on the page). That's it.
This model has a built-in incentive: the more useful our content is, the more you trust us, the more likely you are to use our links when you buy. So our financial interest aligns with your interest in honest, useful content.
Sponsored content policy
We do not accept sponsored content. We do not accept paid placements in our "best of" lists. We do not accept free products in exchange for guaranteed positive reviews.
Brands do occasionally send us review units. When that happens, we disclose it in the article and we say exactly what we think — positive, negative, or mixed. Receiving a free unit never affects our rating or our recommendation.
FTC compliance
This disclosure complies with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Every page on TreadHabit includes a short affiliate disclosure in the footer, and every article that contains affiliate links opens with a "how we pick gear" note.
Other advertising
In addition to Amazon Associates, we run display advertising through Mediavine (or AdSense as a fallback). These ads are served by third-party ad networks and are labeled as advertisements. We don't control which specific ads appear on the site, but we do block categories we don't want (gambling, adult content, political ads, etc.) through our ad partner's settings.
Questions?
If you have any questions about how we make money or what we recommend, please contact us. We're happy to talk about it.