How this site makes money

As an Amazon Associate, Iron Mako Media earns from qualifying purchases.

Shade & Signal is reader-supported. When you click a product button or an inline product link and buy something, we may earn a commission from the retailer. It does not change the price you pay. That commission is how the site is funded; there is no advertising, no sponsored content and no paid placement.

How the links work

Every product link on this site points to our own address first — /go/ followed by the product's name — and then redirects you to the retailer with our tracking tag added. We do it that way so every outbound link can be audited from one place, so a link can be updated if a product moves without rewriting a page, and so the retailer's tracking works as intended. Earning links are marked #ad with a link to this page wherever they appear, and carry the rel="sponsored" attribute search engines ask for.

Prices

We do not print current prices. Retail prices change daily and a number printed on a page goes stale within days; a stale price is worse than none. Every button reads “Check price on Amazon” and opens the live listing. Where a page mentions a launch price, it is dated and sourced context (“launched at $379 in September 2025”), not a claim about today's price. If the site ever displays a live price, it will be pulled from the retailer's own data, stamped with the date it was checked, and removed automatically if it is more than 48 hours old.

Which links earn, and which don't

Active affiliate programs at the time of writing: Amazon (Amazon Associates). Some products on this site are not sold on Amazon — the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the Ray-Ban Meta Blayzer and Scriber Optics frames, the Meta Starfire and the Even Realities G2 at the time of checking. Those link to the maker's store (Meta Store, Ray-Ban, Oakley, Even Realities) as plain reference links marked “not an affiliate link”: we have not joined those programs and earn nothing when you buy there. If that changes, it will be named here.

What the commission never changes

• The ranking. Picks are chosen before links are built, and if a product we cannot earn on is the right pick, it is still the pick — see the editorial policy.
• The price you pay.
• What we say about a product. We have never received a free product, a sample, or a payment from any brand on this site.

What we don't do

• Accept sponsored placements or paid reviews.
• Accept free or discounted products.
• Show prices we cannot verify, or invent ratings, review counts or “bestseller” claims.
• Claim to have tested products we have not — see how we score.
• Link to LED blockers, camera covers or any product designed to defeat the recording light.

Questions

mike@blackironathletics.com, or the contact form.