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This is how the entire affiliate industry works. Content curators will generally pick the most profitable products to promote, not always but most of the time.
by mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
This is how the entire affiliate industry works. Content curators will generally pick the most profitable products to promote, not always but most of the time. I tried to explain that here to the HN crowd that the wirecutter reviews fall into the same affiliate bias but got downvotes to hell. The mere fact that most of their products point to amazon should tell you that they cannot possibly claim to give an honest review. I say this knowing there will be a ton of replies telling me I’m wrong but sure, what would a super affiliate know anything about that...
- gamblor956 9y agoThe Wirecutter/Sweethome states that part of their review filter is that reviewed products must be available for purchase online. This results in the exclusion of a lot of specialty and other retail-only goods. I will note that for many products, they have recommended items not sold on Amazon, even over competing products that are available for sale on Amazon. And let's face it: when Amazon sells the majority of goods most people are likely to buy (and that you are likely to review), "affiliate bias" isn't really that big of an issue because it just means you're comparing one Amazon product against another. At that point, the primary bias would be from recommending the most expensive product available on Amazon, thus earning the highest commission. And Wirecutter/Sweethome definitely doesn't do that.