Legal

Affiliate Disclosure

How Watt Ridge makes money, what that changes, and what it does not. Written to meet FTC guidance and to be read by an actual person rather than skipped.

Last updated: August 27, 2026

The short version

Watt Ridge is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. You pay the same price you would have paid anyway.

Why this page exists

The United States Federal Trade Commission requires publishers to disclose any material connection between themselves and the products they recommend. A commission on a sale is a material connection. So this page states it plainly, and a short version of the same statement appears on the pages that carry affiliate links, above the first link rather than buried at the bottom.

This disclosure is written to comply with 16 CFR Part 255, the FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Which programs we take part in

Amazon Associates is our primary affiliate program and accounts for the large majority of outbound product links on this site. Amazon Associates operates across several regional storefronts, and links may point to the store that matches your location.

We may join other affiliate networks or direct manufacturer programs in future where they serve readers in this category. If that happens, this page is updated before those links go live, and the last updated date at the top changes with it. We will not run an affiliate relationship that is not listed here.

How to spot an affiliate link

Affiliate links are the product links. Anything labelled with a price check, a buy button, or a direct product name pointing to a retailer should be assumed to be one. Links to manufacturer documentation, safety agencies, standards bodies, and our own guides are not affiliate links and earn us nothing.

Technically, every affiliate link on this site carries the rel attribute values sponsored and nofollow, which is the standard machine readable way of marking a paid or commercial link. You can confirm this by viewing the page source on any guide.

Does it cost you anything?

No. The commission is paid by the retailer out of its own margin. Your price is identical whether you arrive at the retailer through a link here, through a search engine, or by typing the address yourself. Using our links simply tells the retailer that this site sent you, which is what funds the research time behind the guides.

Does it change what we recommend?

No, and here is the structural reason rather than just a promise. Every guide on this site is built in a fixed order: the load calculation first, then the shortlist that satisfies it, then the comparison, then the verdict. Products are selected against the wattage, fuel, runtime, and noise requirements the guide has already established. Commission rate is not a field in that process and never enters it.

Practical consequences of that policy:

  • We publish drawbacks in full, including the ones that will cost us a sale.
  • We recommend smaller and cheaper units when the sizing math says smaller is correct. Overselling a generator is the most common failure in this category.
  • We will say when the right answer is to buy nothing, or to fix something you already own, or to call an electrician instead.
  • No brand can buy a rank, a score, a verdict, or the removal of a criticism.

    • How recommendations are formed

    Worth repeating here because it affects how you should read any recommendation. Watt Ridge is research based. We do not conduct hands on testing, we do not operate a lab, and we do not claim personal use of the products discussed. Our conclusions are drawn from manufacturer specifications and documentation, published standards and public safety guidance, and verified owner reviews. The full statement is on the Disclaimer page and the method is described on the About Us page.

    Sponsored content and gifts

    If a piece of content is ever paid for, sponsored, or produced under any commercial arrangement, it will be labelled clearly at the top of that page, before the content begins. If a product is ever supplied to us at no cost, that will be stated on the page where it is discussed, along with a note that supply does not affect the assessment. Neither of these is a current practice on this site, and if it changes, this page changes first.

    Purchases are with the retailer

    Watt Ridge does not sell, stock, ship, install, service, or warrant any product. Once you follow a link, your purchase is a contract with that retailer or manufacturer on their terms, including pricing, delivery, returns, and warranty. We never see your payment details, your address, or your order contents. For anything to do with an order or a product you own, contact the seller directly.

    Cookies and tracking

    Affiliate programs use cookies to attribute a purchase to the site that referred it. Those cookies are set by the affiliate network, not by us, and they expire after a period set by that network. How they work and how to block them is covered in the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.

    Questions

    If anything here is unclear, or you think a link is not disclosed properly on a particular page, email hello@wattridge.com. Disclosure problems are treated as corrections and fixed quickly.