Affiliate Disclosure

What is an affiliate link?

An affiliate link is a special type of link to a product on another website (in our case, Amazon). When you click one of these links and then buy something on Amazon within a certain time window (usually 24 hours), Amazon pays us a small commission — at no extra cost to you.

The price you pay on Amazon is exactly the same whether you click our link or go directly to Amazon. The commission comes out of Amazon's margin, not yours. You never pay more for using our links.

Our affiliate links always point to Amazon search results or specific product pages. We never link to anything we have not personally researched.

The FTC-required disclosure

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any website earning money through affiliate links clearly and conspicuously discloses that relationship. This page is that disclosure, and the short version above is the disclosure Amazon itself asks us to display on every page that contains affiliate links.

Per the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255), we are required to tell you (a) that we have a financial relationship with Amazon, (b) what that relationship is, and (c) that we may earn money when you click our links. We must make this disclosure clearly and prominently — not buried in a footer.

If you ever see an affiliate link on this site that does not have a disclosure nearby, please email moonphaseemoji@gmail.com so we can fix it immediately.

Our recommendations are genuine

Every product we link to on this site is one Joseph Adam, the founder of Moon Phase Emoji, has either personally used, personally owned, or carefully researched against real user reviews and technical specs. We do not link to products just because they pay a higher commission.

We turn down requests from manufacturers and sellers who offer to pay us to feature their products. If a product is bad, we either don't mention it at all — or, if it's a popular item people often ask about, we'll say honestly what's wrong with it.

Our telescope, binoculars, camera, and book recommendations on the /recommended page are the same gear Joseph personally uses for moon-gazing. The Jean Meeus book "Astronomical Algorithms" is literally the textbook used to compute every moon phase shown on this site.

Other affiliate programs

At the time of writing, we only participate in Amazon Associates. If we ever join another affiliate program (B&H Photo, Adorama, Bookshop.org, etc.), we will update this page to list it explicitly and add the same disclosure language for that program.

We do not currently accept paid sponsorships, paid placements, or paid reviews. If that ever changes, this page will say so — and any sponsored content will be clearly labelled as "Sponsored" or "Advertisement" in line with FTC rules.

Amazon's official disclosure language

Amazon requires all Associates to display the following statement verbatim:

Moonphaseemoji.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Prices and availability of products are subject to change without notice. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of the product.

Your trust matters more than the commission

If you ever feel that a recommendation on Moon Phase Emoji is biased, wrong, or out of date, please email moonphaseemoji@gmail.com. Joseph reads every email and will investigate. If we got something wrong, we will fix the recommendation and add a correction note on the page.

You are never obligated to use our affiliate links. If you would rather not, just go to Amazon directly and search for the product yourself — we will still be here tomorrow, moon-gazing and writing about the sky.