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Does Wirecutter ever feature a non affiliate product? If not, they are not to be trusted.

LeoPanthera 10y ago
It's tempting to be cynical about everything on the internet, I know, but I can vouch for Wirecutter's recommendations in 90-95% of cases. They pick decently qualified people for each review and generally go into a lot of detail so it would be difficult for them to recommend something that isn't genuinely good.
- woogiewonka 10y ago
  Right, as long as they can profit off it. How is that not biased?
  - LeoPanthera 10y ago
    Yes, they make money from affiliate links, but they also provide accurate reviews, so why should you care? Do you honestly think it's only possible to write an accurate review if you're not being paid? It's not like they're being paid by the makers of the products, so there's no reason for them to be biased.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      No I dont think it's impossible, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be skeptical. The Incentives to be dishonest are pretty obvious
      - madeofpalk 10y ago
        Skeptical doesn't mean distrust though. Is there any evidence to suggest Wirecutter has refused to rate an item due to lack of affiliate links?
        wtallis 10y ago
        > Is there any evidence to suggest Wirecutter has refused to rate an item due to lack of affiliate links? If a product isn't on Amazon where affiliate links can point at it, then is it even mainstream enough for The Wirecutter's intended audience?
        madeofpalk 10y ago
        Yes, this. With programs like skimlinks providing affiliate links for pretty much every single retailer, I'm not even sure how they would review a product that they don't get a kickback from.
        CaptSpify 10y ago
        I guess I'm just generically distrustful of reviews in general. Companies can give bad reviews just like normal users give terrible reviews. I don't think I've ever seen a review system that you didn't have to take with a big grain of salt.
  - sgarman 10y ago
    I'm not sure how you would create something like the wirecutter with out making money somewhere so I'm all ears for ideas on that. With that in mind I like the affiliate link model because arguably they can choose any product (in their case the 'best' one) instead of cutting deals with the companies directly (i.e. introducing competition in who pays the most).
  - Nimsical 10y ago
    They don't always recommend products they make money off of. Plenty of their products (especially in the Sweethome version) are recommendations they won't make money off of. They're probably the least biased reviewers out there at the moment and take it very seriously.
  - toast0 10y ago
    I see this as win-win-win. For wirecutter, they make money. For the manufacturer and retailer, they make sales. For me, I can get a short list of probably good products in crowded fields to make a decision and price compare, from a site that doesn't take days to load because of tons of ads. Maybe I wont get the best USB power adapter for my car, but I'll be able to choose from a small menu of them, and will probably get something good. And I can skip reading through hundreds of amazon reviews, many of which are totally irrelevant.
teeray 10y ago
How do you expect them to pay their staff to provide you the review? Affiliate links are far less annoying than ads that many would block anyway.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
jcheng 10y ago
This one has some recommendations that don't appear to be affiliate links: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/great-boozy-holiday-gifts/ http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/great-boozy-holiday-gifts/
interurban 10y ago
I think the affiliate model is far better than having ads everywhere on the site. The incentives are far clearer this way. By consistently making good recommendations, they will build a loyal audience, driving further affiliate sales. Their product is their reputation for good reviews. Destroying that is clearly against their interests.
- wheelerwj 10y ago
  > By consistently making good recommendations, they will build a loyal audience, driving further affiliate sales. I mean, that's exactly how bias works. In fact, this is exactly what amazon is cracking down on right now, incentivized reviews. If your revenue model is based on ads, you grow revenue by growing readership which is grown by writing quality content. However if you're revenue model is based on affiliate income, you increase revenue by selling more stuff.
  - Implicated 10y ago
    > In fact, this is exactly what amazon is cracking down on right now, incentivized reviews. Well... not exactly... They're cracking down on incentivized reviews on amazon.com product pages. Those onsite reviews being a far stretch away from offsite recommendation blog posts that feature affiliate links, which aren't included in any of their product rating/review metrics.
  - Spooky23 10y ago
    There's a practical and ethical difference between implicit bias and pay for review. The review for a particular product isn't an example of pay for play because the Wirecutter gets paid for anything they review that is sold on Amazon. The bias is the push towards Amazon vs Newegg or Walmart and assessments if price based on ephemeral Amazon pricing vs MSRP. The Amazon crackdown as I understand is about corrupt vendors incentivizing good reviews for shit product.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  Not necessarily. Implicit bias is always a risk for these kinds of review sites. For example, if vendors know that the site is reviewing their products, they can provide support or a higher level of service to the review and influence the rating. Magazines like Consumer Reports go to great lengths to bake bias out of reviews, and avoid this sort of risk. But their process has its own problems, as it requires that the reviewers really deeply understand the product, or biases ratings towards customer satisfaction. My own car (my trusty Honda Pilot with 300k miles) is an example. It featured a poorly handled transmission defect and recall, yet CR scored a very high expected reliability rating, due to historical owner satisfaction. Caveat emptor applies as always but I agree with you the Wirecutter is a generally good review site.
maxerickson 10y ago
They are up front about the affiliate links. They've earned a great reputation in spite of them. One strategy would be to discount them somehow. If they give something a great review, don't trust it entirely, but remember it if you also see 5 other good reviews.
frogpelt 10y ago
By all means, find a review site you can trust and then share it.

It's tempting to be cynical about everything on the internet, I know, but I can vouch for Wirecutter's recommendations in 90-95% of cases. They pick decently qualified people for each review and generally go into a lot of detail so it would be difficult for them to recommend something that isn't genuinely good.

woogiewonka 10y ago
Right, as long as they can profit off it. How is that not biased?
- LeoPanthera 10y ago
  Yes, they make money from affiliate links, but they also provide accurate reviews, so why should you care? Do you honestly think it's only possible to write an accurate review if you're not being paid? It's not like they're being paid by the makers of the products, so there's no reason for them to be biased.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    No I dont think it's impossible, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be skeptical. The Incentives to be dishonest are pretty obvious
    - madeofpalk 10y ago
      Skeptical doesn't mean distrust though. Is there any evidence to suggest Wirecutter has refused to rate an item due to lack of affiliate links?
      - wtallis 10y ago
        > Is there any evidence to suggest Wirecutter has refused to rate an item due to lack of affiliate links? If a product isn't on Amazon where affiliate links can point at it, then is it even mainstream enough for The Wirecutter's intended audience?
        madeofpalk 10y ago
        Yes, this. With programs like skimlinks providing affiliate links for pretty much every single retailer, I'm not even sure how they would review a product that they don't get a kickback from.
      - CaptSpify 10y ago
        I guess I'm just generically distrustful of reviews in general. Companies can give bad reviews just like normal users give terrible reviews. I don't think I've ever seen a review system that you didn't have to take with a big grain of salt.
- sgarman 10y ago
  I'm not sure how you would create something like the wirecutter with out making money somewhere so I'm all ears for ideas on that. With that in mind I like the affiliate link model because arguably they can choose any product (in their case the 'best' one) instead of cutting deals with the companies directly (i.e. introducing competition in who pays the most).
- Nimsical 10y ago
  They don't always recommend products they make money off of. Plenty of their products (especially in the Sweethome version) are recommendations they won't make money off of. They're probably the least biased reviewers out there at the moment and take it very seriously.
- toast0 10y ago
  I see this as win-win-win. For wirecutter, they make money. For the manufacturer and retailer, they make sales. For me, I can get a short list of probably good products in crowded fields to make a decision and price compare, from a site that doesn't take days to load because of tons of ads. Maybe I wont get the best USB power adapter for my car, but I'll be able to choose from a small menu of them, and will probably get something good. And I can skip reading through hundreds of amazon reviews, many of which are totally irrelevant.

teeray 10y ago

How do you expect them to pay their staff to provide you the review? Affiliate links are far less annoying than ads that many would block anyway.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

jcheng 10y ago

This one has some recommendations that don't appear to be affiliate links: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/great-boozy-holiday-gifts/ http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/great-boozy-holiday-gifts/

interurban 10y ago

I think the affiliate model is far better than having ads everywhere on the site. The incentives are far clearer this way. By consistently making good recommendations, they will build a loyal audience, driving further affiliate sales. Their product is their reputation for good reviews. Destroying that is clearly against their interests.

wheelerwj 10y ago
> By consistently making good recommendations, they will build a loyal audience, driving further affiliate sales. I mean, that's exactly how bias works. In fact, this is exactly what amazon is cracking down on right now, incentivized reviews. If your revenue model is based on ads, you grow revenue by growing readership which is grown by writing quality content. However if you're revenue model is based on affiliate income, you increase revenue by selling more stuff.
- Implicated 10y ago
  > In fact, this is exactly what amazon is cracking down on right now, incentivized reviews. Well... not exactly... They're cracking down on incentivized reviews on amazon.com product pages. Those onsite reviews being a far stretch away from offsite recommendation blog posts that feature affiliate links, which aren't included in any of their product rating/review metrics.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  There's a practical and ethical difference between implicit bias and pay for review. The review for a particular product isn't an example of pay for play because the Wirecutter gets paid for anything they review that is sold on Amazon. The bias is the push towards Amazon vs Newegg or Walmart and assessments if price based on ephemeral Amazon pricing vs MSRP. The Amazon crackdown as I understand is about corrupt vendors incentivizing good reviews for shit product.
Spooky23 10y ago
Not necessarily. Implicit bias is always a risk for these kinds of review sites. For example, if vendors know that the site is reviewing their products, they can provide support or a higher level of service to the review and influence the rating. Magazines like Consumer Reports go to great lengths to bake bias out of reviews, and avoid this sort of risk. But their process has its own problems, as it requires that the reviewers really deeply understand the product, or biases ratings towards customer satisfaction. My own car (my trusty Honda Pilot with 300k miles) is an example. It featured a poorly handled transmission defect and recall, yet CR scored a very high expected reliability rating, due to historical owner satisfaction. Caveat emptor applies as always but I agree with you the Wirecutter is a generally good review site.

maxerickson 10y ago

They are up front about the affiliate links. They've earned a great reputation in spite of them. One strategy would be to discount them somehow. If they give something a great review, don't trust it entirely, but remember it if you also see 5 other good reviews.

frogpelt 10y ago

By all means, find a review site you can trust and then share it.