Affiliate Disclosure

Current state (August 2026)

As an Amazon Associate, Arekore earns from qualifying purchases. We were accepted into the Amazon Associates US program on August 23, 2026. We are rolling out our affiliate tracking ID (arekoreshop-20) across our English-language archive, article by article. An article's own product links include the tracking ID once that article has been updated; until then, its Amazon links are plain (untracked) links.

This disclosure applies site-wide, regardless of whether a given article's links have been updated yet — we would rather over-disclose during the rollout than under-disclose on an article we haven't gotten to.

How we make recommendations

Each article on this site is published as an editorial analysis, not a personal product review. Unless an article is explicitly labeled contentType: hands-on-test and our editors disclose the date of purchase, we have not personally tested the products covered.

Our editorial analyses synthesize three categories of public data:

1. Customer reviews on amazon.com — we sample verified-purchase reviews and report the sample size (e.g. "N=347 reviews analyzed") in each article's Methodology section.
2. Independent third-party tests — RTINGS, Wirecutter (New York Times), Consumer Reports, Tom's Guide, Reviewed (USA Today).
3. Manufacturer specifications — official spec sheets and user manuals.

We then write our recommendation based on this synthesis. The editor's role is to design the analytical methodology, interpret the aggregated data, and apply editorial judgment to the recommendation logic. Recommendations are not influenced by commission rates or affiliate relationships.

Affiliate programs (current)

• Amazon Associates US (tracking ID: arekoreshop-20). Active as of August 23, 2026 — used on this English-language archive.
• Amazon Associates Japan (tracking ID: matrixflow-22). Active — used only on our Japanese-language editorial archive (arekoreshop.com/lp/blog/), not on the English archive.

We do not currently participate in any other affiliate program. If this changes, this page will be updated.

Editorial independence

• Product selection in our articles is based on relevance to the article's topic, not on commission rates.
• We do not accept payment from manufacturers, retailers, or any third party for inclusion, placement, or favorable language in our articles.
• We do not solicit, encourage, or accept free product samples or sponsored press trips in exchange for coverage.
• When a competing product would be a better fit for a reader's use case, we say so even if that product is not in our affiliate program (we still link to it via a non-affiliate URL so readers can evaluate it).

FTC compliance

This site follows the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) and the FTC's 2024 final rule on fake reviews and testimonials .

Specifically:

• We never fabricate first-person experience. Phrases like "I bought", "I tested", or "I used" appear only when the editor genuinely owns the product and we disclose the purchase date in the article.
• We never publish reviews under fictional editor names, AI-generated personas, or virtual influencers. Articles are bylined "Arekore Editorial Team" — an anonymous group byline that does not imply individual hands-on experience.
• Every English-language article displays the affiliate disclosure above the fold (near the top of the page), in addition to the site-wide notice in the footer — regardless of whether that specific article's links have been updated with our tracking ID yet (see "Current state" above).

Contact

If you have questions about a specific article, our methodology, or our affiliate relationships, please reach us via the contact form.