How The SoCal Setup makes money

Published on the site, linked from the footer. Blunt version: we make money from clearly labeled affiliate links on buyable products only. Nothing you read here is for sale.

1. What we earn from

The SoCal Setup may earn a commission when a reader clicks a labeled affiliate link and buys a product. Commissions apply to buyable products only — decor, stationery, party supplies. They never apply to rental bookings, vendor quotes, or anything the site's own verdicts rate "avoid."

2. Disclosure — exact placement and wording

Disclosure lives on the page, near the links — in the first 200 words of any article carrying affiliate links, and again in a short line directly above any affiliate link block. Never buried, never footer-only.

Exact wording:

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, The SoCal Setup may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links never influence our verdicts — see the full policy below.

3. Off-limits list

No pay-to-rank. Rankings, verdicts, and category reviews are never for sale. A vendor cannot buy a better write-up.
No undisclosed sponsorship. If money changed hands, the reader sees it in plain language.
No sponsored content presented as editorial. Paid placements are labeled "Sponsored," visually separated from editorial, and held to the same honesty rules — or refused.
No affiliate link on an "avoid." A product or vendor the site's own verdict rates "avoid" or "overhyped" carries no affiliate link, ever.
No affiliate links inside comparison tables or verdicts. Links live in clearly marked "where to buy" sections only.

4. Ad-placement rules

Allowed: clearly labeled display units in sidebars and between article sections; clearly labeled "where to buy" link blocks.

Banned: pop-ups, interstitials, auto-play with sound, anything that breaks the 360px mobile layout, anything that mimics editorial content, and any ad inside a verdict or comparison table.

5. Sponsored content

The SoCal Setup does not accept sponsored content as of 2026-09-22. If that ever changes, it will be labeled "Sponsored," separated from editorial, and held to the same honesty rules — no UNVERIFIED claims, no softened verdicts.

6. The hard rule

Revenue must never change an editorial verdict. A single instance is a policy violation, not a judgment call. If a reader can show a verdict was bent for money, we publish the correction and the policy failure.

Policy as written 2026-09-22. No affiliate programs are signed up yet — buy links are empty everywhere until programs are wired. No sponsored content is accepted.