Editorial policy + rate card

Sponsorship

The rubric is the product. Anything that compromises the rubric is off the table. Everything else is clearly priced below, labeled as sponsored on delivery, and excluded from ranking math. No lock-in, no auto-renew traps, cancel any time.

Last updated: 17 April 2026 · Current sponsored relationships: zero

Rate card

Prices shown ex-VAT. EU reverse-charge applied where VAT ID is supplied. Checkout is hosted by Stripe (being wired up) — no card data touches SupplierSpy servers.

Annual Partner

One-line answer to "can we just bundle everything non-ranking?"

€9.900/year

Bundle of everything non-ranking.

  • API Commercial License included (worth €4,990)
  • Up to 2 deep-dive sponsored articles per year (worth €5,000)
  • One conference-talk sponsorship per year (worth €3,000)
  • Direct email thread with the editor for factual-accuracy questions
  • Listed as a "Partner" on /trust with a rel="sponsored nofollow" link

Everything above is clearly labeled as sponsored. Nothing in this tier moves the leaderboard.

Deep-Dive Article

Long-form editorial ABOUT your supplier. Labeled sponsored; excluded from the rubric.

€2.500one-off

Pay once. No subscription, no auto-renew.

  • 1,200–2,000 word editorial by the SupplierSpy editor
  • "Sponsored" chip above the fold, every outbound link rel="sponsored nofollow"
  • Factual review: we verify every claim against public sources
  • You get approval on factual accuracy, not on editorial tone
  • Excluded from the rubric — does not move the leaderboard

Delivered in 2–3 weeks. Payment on commission, before writing starts.

Conference Talk Sponsorship

Underwrite a talk, panel, or workshop.

€3.000one-off

Pay once. No subscription, no auto-renew.

  • Travel, venue, or recording costs covered
  • "Talk sponsored by X" slate at start + end
  • Does not influence talk topic or selection
  • Does not move the leaderboard

Event-specific. We coordinate logistics with the conference organiser.

How we price. The API tier is the recurring piece because that is where we carry real infrastructure cost (webhooks, SLA, support). Deep-dives and conference talks are priced per unit of writer/producer effort. Job slots are a flat fee because the distribution cost is constant. The annual bundle exists because a few partners asked for one line item; the discount reflects the real cashflow value of prepayment, not a psychological anchor.

What we don't do. No minimum terms, no cancellation fees, no auto-renew traps, no prorated clawbacks. If you cancel a monthly subscription on day 29 of 30, the next month doesn't bill — that's the whole mechanism. Annual prepay is non-refundable after 14 days (EU distance-contract withdrawal window), documented up front, no surprises.

What we will never accept

Paid ranking manipulation — moving a supplier up or down the leaderboard for money.

Paid removal — accepting a fee to take a supplier off the list.

Score-movement fees — accepting money to raise or lower a specific dimension score.

Affiliate commissions tied to rank position — "$X per signup if you're in the top 3" kind of deals.

Exclusive featured-supplier slots inside the ranking — "Ranked #1, brought to you by…".

Hidden disclosure — sponsored content that is not labeled as sponsored above the fold.

Reciprocal review trades — we do not trade coverage for coverage.

Minimum terms or auto-renew traps — no "locked in for N months", no silent renewals. Monthly means monthly.

Labeling policy

Any sponsored content carries four protections, all simultaneously, no exceptions:

  • Sponsored  chip positioned near the URL bar (first visible element in the URL-bar-adjacent area — so it is visible before any content loads below the fold).
  • Every outbound link in sponsored content uses rel="sponsored nofollow". This is the FTC-aligned convention and it also keeps the link out of ranking signals for search engines.
  • A disclosure callout lives above the fold, named the sponsor, and named the cash relationship in plain English — no "in partnership with" euphemisms.
  • The content is excluded from the rubric. Sponsored coverage cannot move a leaderboard position, cannot feed a dimension score, and cannot influence spike detection.

FTC §255 alignment

The labeling policy is designed to exceed the US Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides (16 C.F.R. §255). In plain English: anyone reading a sponsored SupplierSpy page should be able to tell, in the first second, that money changed hands — from the chip, the callout, or both. If a reader has to scroll to find the disclosure, we did it wrong and we want to hear about it at /corrections.

Current status

Zero sponsored relationships. SupplierSpy has not accepted money from any supplier, platform, or adjacent vendor at any point in its operating history. The leaderboard today is 100% editorially determined from public signals. If that ever changes, this page flips first and every affected page gets the chip above the fold.

Questions before you subscribe?

Write hello@supplierspy.com with "sponsorship" in the subject. We reply within one business day. Please read the "will never" list above first — if you are asking for anything in that column, the answer is already no and a polite one-line reply is all you will get.