Housekeeping notices: Affiliates

Just a quickie today. Many people will have noticed that a number of companies are cropping up on these pages with adverts - so far (as I type) Charles Tyrwhitt for clothes and Christopher Ward for watches.

A couple of people have asked me if I'm accepting money to write positively about these companies. The answer is no, no, no and no.

These are straightforward affiliation schemes in which I'll get a small % of any sales made through the links on this site. It's handled through a third party so I don't actually have to talk to the companies involved if I don't feel like it - simple as that.

I've chosen these companies as well as a couple of others who may join them if they a) start an affiliation scheme and b) approve my site for inclusion with strict criteria:

1. The goods have to be affordable. Yes, Rolex probably makes more accurate and certainly more prestigious watches than Christopher Ward but it's going to cost more than £225 to get an automatic watch, which is the price of mine.

2. As you might guess from no. 1 up there, I'm only going to have affiliates of whom I'm an existing paying customer. Nobody has to share my tastes, that's not the idea of the blog at all, and I'm not going to censor comments from people who disagree with my choices - but if you see someone with an affiliate banner on this site then I've been buying their stuff for at least two years and would recommend it.

3. If I think the site looks cluttered I start cutting the affiliates - but it's my decision, my blog.

So no - Christopher Ward Watches, for whose catalogue I wrote an article for which they paid me (click on the link and it's page 14 if you're interested) isn't paying me for writing positively about them. I've bought watches from them, I'm happy with them so you can guess what tone I'll be taking, but apart from that and a small kickback if you buy something through the link, there's no link between my blogging and the advertising I'm carrying.

Anyone any questions, fire away...