Affiliate Disclosure

How this site is funded and why affiliate relationships never influence our evaluations.

How Affiliate Links Work

Some links on this site are affiliate links. When you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission from the retailer. This costs you nothing—the price is the same whether you use our link or find the product independently.

These commissions help fund our research, testing review, and content production. Without affiliate revenue, we would need advertising, paid placements, or subscription fees—all of which would compromise editorial independence.

Editorial Independence

Our core principle:

Affiliate relationships never influence what we include, exclude, or how we evaluate olive oils. Inclusion in our directory is based solely on transparency and quality standards—not commercial performance.

What This Means in Practice

  • •Oils that convert well but don't meet our standards are not included
  • •Oils that meet standards but have poor affiliate performance are still included
  • •We include oils with no affiliate program if they meet our criteria
  • •We remove oils that fail quality standards even if they generate revenue

What We Don't Do

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No paid placements – Producers cannot pay to be included or featured
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No sponsored content – We don't create content promoting specific brands for payment
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No ranking by commission – Oils are not ordered by affiliate payout rates
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No exclusive partnerships – We maintain independence from all producers and retailers
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No private-label products – We don't sell our own olive oil or branded products

Why We Link Directly to Growers (Not Amazon)

All 15 oils in our directory are high quality and verified. Many appear on Amazon—but we only link to grower-direct purchases.

This isn't about affiliate commissions—it's about quality assurance. Third-party sellers cannot guarantee:

Harvest Date Visibility

Amazon listings often show stock photos without harvest dates. Third-party sellers may stock old inventory, making it impossible to verify freshness at purchase.

Proper Storage Conditions

Warehouse storage, bright lighting, and temperature fluctuations degrade polyphenol content. Olive oil is perishable—it requires temperature-controlled storage that retail warehouses don't provide.

Inventory Turnover

Growers ship directly from controlled facilities with faster turnover. Retail inventory may sit for months in non-ideal conditions before purchase.

Authenticity Assurance

Counterfeit and adulterated olive oil is a documented problem on retail marketplaces. Grower-direct purchases eliminate this risk entirely.

Our promise: When we review an oil, we verify the grower's quality at the time of production. But olive oil quality degrades without proper handling. A 92/100 oil may arrive as a 70/100 oil if purchased through improper channels. Grower-direct purchasing ensures you receive the quality we reviewed.

Why Affiliate Model?

We chose affiliate links as our primary funding model because it best aligns incentives with reader interests:

Compared to Advertising

Display ads would clutter the site and potentially feature low-quality oils we don't endorse. Ad networks optimize for clicks, not quality. Affiliate links are contextual and only appear where relevant.

Compared to Subscriptions

Paywalls would limit access to information that should be public. Olive oil fraud is a consumer protection issue—putting educational content behind a paywall defeats the purpose.

Compared to Sponsored Content

Accepting payment from producers to feature their oils would destroy credibility and compromise our entire mission. We will never do this.

Affiliate commissions are indirect—you choose what (or whether) to purchase. We succeed when our recommendations are helpful, not when we manipulate you into buying anything specific.

Affiliate Relationships

We participate in affiliate programs with these retailers:

  • •Amazon Associates
  • •Individual producer affiliate programs (various)
  • •Specialty food retailer programs

Commission rates vary by retailer and product category, typically ranging from 3-10%. These rates have no influence on our evaluations or inclusion decisions.

Transparency Commitment

We disclose affiliate relationships clearly:

  • •Disclosure statement on our main Verified Olive Oils directory
  • •This dedicated disclosure page
  • •Clear explanation of how we maintain editorial independence

If you ever feel our affiliate relationships are compromising our objectivity, please contact us. Our credibility depends on maintaining reader trust.

Supporting This Site

If you find this resource helpful and want to support our work:

  • •
    Use our affiliate links when purchasing olive oil—it costs you nothing and funds continued research
  • •
    Share our content with others who care about olive oil quality
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    Subscribe to our email list for harvest updates (no spam, no discounts, just information)

You can also purchase directly from producers if you prefer—we include links to producer websites whether or not they offer affiliate commissions.

Questions or Concerns

If you have questions about our affiliate relationships, how we maintain editorial independence, or any specific inclusion decision, please contact us.

We're committed to transparency about both olive oil and our own operations. This disclosure page will be updated if our affiliate relationships or policies change.

Last Updated: December 2025

This disclosure complies with FTC guidelines for affiliate marketing and online endorsements.