How we make money, and why it doesn't change our reviews.

An affiliate program is a business arrangement where a retailer or manufacturer pays a website a small commission when a reader clicks a link and completes a purchase. The reader pays the same price they would have paid without the link — the commission comes from the retailer's marketing budget, not from any markup passed on to the buyer.

Affiliate programs are the primary way independent editorial sites — including major publications like Wirecutter, TechRadar, PC Gamer, and Tom's Guide — fund their operations without paywalls or intrusive advertising.

GPADLAB intends to participate in affiliate programs including but not limited to Amazon Associates, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, and direct manufacturer programs. When active affiliate relationships are in place, links to controllers, accessories, and related products on this site may be affiliate links that earn a commission on qualifying purchases.

When you see a "Buy on Amazon," "Buy at Best Buy," or similar link on a GPADLAB review or buyer guide, you should assume it is an affiliate link unless otherwise noted.

To prevent affiliate revenue from influencing our editorial, GPADLAB operates under the following written policy:

• Reviews are researched, tested, and rated before any affiliate link is added to the page. Ratings are locked in the draft before the affiliate section is populated.
• Buyer guide tier placements (Best Overall, Best Budget, Best for FPS, etc.) are determined solely on merit as assessed by our testing methodology.
• Commission rate is not a factor in any recommendation. If a lower-commission product is the better choice, it wins the recommendation.
• Editorial staff do not know the specific commission rates for individual products at the time of writing. The affiliate integration is a separate technical step handled after the editorial is complete.

When active, affiliate links appear on:

• Individual controller reviews (in the 'Where to buy' section)
• Buyer guides for best-of category recommendations
• Head-to-head comparison pages when discussing purchase options
• Some troubleshooting pages when replacement parts are the recommended fix

They do not appear on: diagnostic tools, methodology documentation, glossary pages, or the About and Contact pages.

Under 16 CFR Part 255 (the FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising), disclosure of material connections must be "clear and conspicuous" at the point of recommendation. GPADLAB satisfies this in three places:

• This standalone Affiliate Disclosure page, linked in the site footer on every page
• Inline notes on review and buyer guide pages that describe the affiliate section
• Standard link attributes (rel="sponsored") applied to affiliate links, which are machine-readable by search engines and browser extensions

As of the last update to this policy, GPADLAB is not enrolled in any active affiliate programs. All product links currently on the site are provided for reader convenience without commission.

When we activate affiliate programs, this section will be updated to list the specific programs by name. We commit to publishing an updated version of this policy within 30 days of activating any affiliate relationship.

GPADLAB does not publish paid or sponsored reviews. We do not accept payment from manufacturers, retailers, or PR firms in exchange for editorial coverage. We do not publish content written by outside parties as if it were our own.

If we ever choose to publish sponsored content (for example, a manufacturer-provided technical explainer), it will be clearly labeled as sponsored and separated from editorial reviews.

When manufacturers or retailers provide free or discounted products for review, we disclose that at the top of the specific review. Receiving a review sample never guarantees positive coverage. We reserve the right to publish critical reviews of products we received for free, and we regularly do.

If you believe a specific review or buyer guide has been unduly influenced by affiliate incentives, please write to contact@gpadlab.com with the specific page URL and your concern. We take these complaints seriously and will investigate.

For questions about our editorial firewall generally, or about how commission rates work in our category, we're happy to explain.

See our editorial methodology at learn/methodology.