Affiliate Disclosure

Last updated: August 2026

Here's exactly how Surf & Soul makes money. We'd rather over-explain this than have you wonder.

The plain-English version

Surf & Soul is free to read, and we don't run a paywall or subscriptions. Instead, we earn money through affiliate links and sponsored content. When we link to a product or service and you click that link and make a purchase (or, for some offers, request a quote or sign up), the company or its affiliate network pays us a commission.

That's the whole business model. This page is the long version of the short disclosure box you'll see on our articles.

What that means in practice

We earn commissions on links. Many of the links in our articles are affiliate links. If you buy through one, we may get paid. Not every link is an affiliate link, but you should assume any link to a product, service, or offer could be one.

Some of our content is advertorial. Certain articles are created specifically to feature a product or offer we have a paid relationship with. Every one of those pages carries a clear ADVERTORIAL label at the top — you will never have to guess whether you're reading sponsored content. Our regular articles are editorial; our sponsored pieces say so, prominently.

Compensation never changes the price you pay. The commission comes out of the company's marketing budget, not your pocket. You pay the same price whether you arrive through our link or type the company's address directly into your browser. In some cases our links even include a discount the company offers our readers — but the price is never higher because we're involved.

What compensation doesn't buy

Money influences which products we choose to feature — we're honest about that; we generally write about products and services we can earn from, because that's what keeps the site running. But it doesn't buy the following:

It doesn't buy claims. What we say about a product stays within what the company's own substantiated materials support. We don't invent results, and we don't exaggerate.
It doesn't buy fake enthusiasm. No invented testimonials, no made-up reviewers, no manufactured urgency. If we describe how something works, that description has to hold up.
It doesn't buy a disguise. Sponsored content is labeled as sponsored, full stop. Our credibility with you is worth more than any single commission.

You can read more about how we hold ourselves to this in our Editorial Standards.

Why we do it this way

The Federal Trade Commission requires publishers to clearly disclose "material connections" — financial relationships that might affect how you weigh a recommendation. We follow those rules because they're the law, but honestly, we'd disclose anyway. You're smart, you're busy, and you deserve to know exactly who's paying whom when you read a recommendation. Now you do.

Questions?

If anything about our affiliate relationships is unclear — or if you ever feel a page on this site wasn't labeled the way it should be — email us at hello@surfandsoul.co. We take that seriously and we'll look into it.

Surf & Soul is a publication of Brand Rebel Media, Inc., a Florida corporation.