Commercial policy

Disclosure Policy

Seed/Garden Explorer keeps seed, garden planning, product, vendor, affiliate, and sponsorship decisions separate from source-backed horticultural guidance.

Updated: 2026-05-21

Current status

  • Seed/Garden Explorer does not currently publish paid product rankings, vendor listings, affiliate links, sponsored placements, or free-product reviews.
  • The seed catalog and planning tools are built from horticultural sources, extension guidance, crop data, and practical garden constraints.
  • No vendor can add, edit, suppress, or reorder catalog entries through a public endpoint.

Affiliate links

  • Any future affiliate link must be labeled in plain language near the link before a reader clicks it.
  • The label must explain the financial relationship, such as that Seed/Garden Explorer may earn a commission from purchases through that link.
  • Affiliate revenue cannot determine whether a seed, tool, guide, product, or vendor is included in source-backed planning content.

Sponsorships

  • Sponsored pages, sponsored blocks, and paid placements must be labeled as sponsored where they appear.
  • Sponsors do not get control over planting guidance, frost-date logic, catalog facts, source citations, or editorial conclusions.
  • A sponsorship cannot require positive language, guaranteed rankings, hidden links, or removal of competing products or vendors.

Products and samples

  • Free or discounted products, trial access, samples, and other perks must be disclosed on any page where they influence coverage.
  • Product coverage must separate observed facts from claims supplied by a brand or vendor.
  • A product mention is removed or revised when the source basis is weak, the disclosure would be unclear, or the item conflicts with conservative garden guidance.

Reviews and testimonials

  • Seed/Garden Explorer does not publish consumer reviews, ratings, or testimonials as independent evidence unless the page identifies the source and any incentive.
  • Reviews, testimonials, or ratings must not be created, bought, copied, summarized, sorted, suppressed, or presented in a way that hides negative sentiment or unsupported control.
  • Any future review request, coupon, sample, or other incentive must never be conditioned on a positive review, negative review, star rating, changed sentiment, or removal of a critical review.

Product and vendor listings

  • Future vendor listings must identify the data source and whether the vendor supplied, paid for, or reviewed the listing.
  • Listings must not imply that a vendor is recommended, verified, or best unless the page explains the criteria and evidence.
  • Paid vendors cannot receive hidden preference in internal links, catalog order, recommendation text, or comparison pages.

Corrections and conflicts

  • Pages should be corrected when a disclosure is missing, unclear, outdated, or separated from the relevant recommendation.
  • Commercial relationships must be documented before ingestion work starts, not patched in after product or vendor data goes live.
  • When a commercial relationship creates a conflict that cannot be disclosed clearly, the product, vendor, or placement should not be published.

Source basis