Last updated: July 31, 2026
The short version
Some links on this site can earn us a commission when you buy through them. It never changes your price, and it never changes where a bag lands in a ranking.
How this site actually makes money
Three ways, and you should know all three:
- We sell our own bags. Sewn to order, and we make the most money on these. Obvious conflict, stated up front.
- We stock other brands. When we say a Black Diamond is the right bag for you, we would rather sell you that Black Diamond than lose you. We buy it wholesale and mark it up.
- We can earn a commission on links to retailers we do not stock. Where we have a commission arrangement with a retailer, you click, you buy at that retailer’s normal price, and they pay us a percentage. It costs you nothing extra.
Where we stand today: we have no commission arrangements running yet. When the first one goes live, this page says so and the links get marked before they publish.
What that means for our reviews
The obvious worry is that we rank the thing that pays us best. So here is the rule we hold ourselves to, in writing:
- Placement in a ranking is not for sale. No brand can buy a spot, buy a better score, or buy a mention. Anyone who offers gets told no.
- We say when a competitor’s bag beats ours. If the best bag for what you climb is not one of ours, the page says that. A ranking that always ends with “buy ours” is worthless to you, and worthless to us.
- Commission rates never enter the decision. What a link pays has no bearing on what we recommend, and we do not let anyone check the rate before the ranking is written.
- Free samples get labeled. If a brand sent us a bag for free, the review says so. Getting one free buys a review, not a good one.
How to spot the links
Any page carrying commission links says so near the top. Individual links to outside retailers are marked. If you would rather not use them, search the product name at that retailer directly. We would rather you buy the right bag than the linked one.
Newsletter sponsors
Our email newsletter may carry a paid sponsor slot. It is labeled as sponsored inside the email, and it buys space in the newsletter and nothing else. It does not buy coverage on the site.
Why we bother saying all this
The Federal Trade Commission requires disclosure of paid relationships, and we would tell you anyway. The only thing this site has that a big retailer does not is that you believe the rankings. That is worth more than any commission we could earn.
Questions, or think we got something wrong? Tell us through our contact form.