Effective date: May 1, 2026
Last updated: May 1, 2026
PastaPeak uses affiliate links. This page explains exactly what that means, who pays us, and how we keep recommendations honest. Required reading by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Required reading by us, too.
The short version
When we link to a product (a pasta machine, a sauté pan, a brand of bronze-die spaghetti) and you click through and buy it, we may earn a small commission. It costs you nothing extra. The merchant pays us out of their margin.
We only link to products we have actually used. Commission has no influence on whether a product makes the article. If a tested item flops, it gets named in the article and the affiliate link gets pulled.
The longer version
Programs we participate in
- Amazon Associates: PastaPeak 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.
- Direct merchant programs: specialty kitchen-tool retailers (e.g. Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, Marcato) when their affiliate program supports the products we recommend.
- Network programs: Awin, ShareASale, Skimlinks, or similar, used to broker affiliate relationships with smaller merchants.
If a particular article uses a different program, that program will be named at the bottom of the article in the disclosure block.
How affiliate links are marked
Every affiliate link on the Site is one of:
- A button or text link inside an article (“Marcato Atlas 150 on Amazon”).
- An item in a “Tools we use” or “Recommended” section.
- A link in the recipe card next to a specific brand of ingredient.
The full article carries a disclosure block at the top or bottom that names the affiliate relationships used in that piece. Disclosure language follows the FTC’s Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255).
What you pay
Nothing. Affiliate links cost you the merchant’s regular price (often the lower of the two if there is a current sale). The merchant pays us a small percentage of your purchase, usually between 1% and 8%, sometimes more for specialty programs.
What we promise
- We only link to items we have personally used or tested in our kitchen, with the exception of large-format equipment we have spent serious time around in a professional setting and would buy ourselves.
- The first sentence of any “best X” article is the recommendation, not the affiliate link. If we do not actually recommend it, it does not appear.
- If two products tie on quality, we mention both and disclose which has the affiliate program.
- If a product gets discontinued, deprecated, or changes meaningfully (new manufacturer, new build quality), the article gets updated and the affiliate link may change or be pulled.
- We do not accept payment for placement, ranking, or favorable language. If we ever do (we do not plan to), it will be marked as a sponsored post in the title and at the top of the body.
What we do not do
- Run “Top 10” articles built around products we have never touched, just to capture commission.
- Recommend kitchen kit you do not need just because the affiliate rate is high.
- Use cloaked or shortened URLs that hide the destination.
- Use shopping plugins that auto-replace mentions of any product with affiliate links without our review.
Outside the affiliate model
When we recommend a brand of dry pasta (Barilla, De Cecco, Garofalo) we do so without an affiliate relationship. None of those brands has paid us, sent us free product, or asked to be mentioned. Our cooking-time calculator uses their packaging as a base value because they are the three most reliably available premium-grade brands in the U.S. retail market.
If that ever changes, the calculator’s methodology page will be updated and a sponsored-relationship disclosure will appear next to the relevant data.
Questions
If you ever wonder whether a particular link is affiliated, the article-level disclosure will tell you. If you still are not sure, head to the contact page and ask. We will answer with specifics.