Disclosure: How We Stay Independent

Our transparency framework at a glance

• Editorial independenceWe work for the reader, not for a sale.
• CompensationIf money is ever involved, we label it plainly.
• RelationshipsAny brand or retailer tie is disclosed, not hidden.
• Local guidesRegional pages are guidance, never doorway promotion.
• Review standardsSignals and patterns, never paid rankings.
• Medical-claim cautionComfort and relaxation, never treatment promises.
• Updates & correctionsWe date pages and fix errors in the open.
• Reader contextUse guides as support, then verify before buying.

Our disclosure promise

Trust is the only thing a buying guide really sells, so we want to be clear about how this site works before you read anything else. You deserve to know what may influence content, and the honest answer is that commercial relationships can exist in any publishing model and can change over time. Our promise is not that we are above incentives — no one is — but that we disclose them clearly, keep them separate from editorial judgment, and let our methodology, not money, decide what a page says.

We won’t overpromise, either. You won’t see us claim to be “guaranteed unbiased” or “certified independent,” because those are slogans, not safeguards. What we offer instead is transparency you can check: visible relationships, stated limitations, and guidance that reads the same regardless of who is involved. Transparency supports trust, but it does not replace your own verification — this disclosure is a starting point for reading the site with context, not a reason to skip comparing for yourself.

What this disclosure covers

Disclosure only helps if you know what it applies to. These are the relationships and boundaries this page is meant to address — whether or not each one is active today. Where any of them ever applies to a specific page, we say so in context rather than burying it here.

Editorial independence

Editorial independence is the reason this disclosure matters. Our content is built around reducing buyer risk, so recommendations are criteria-based: where we compare, we say on what basis, because the right chair depends on your body, budget and space. Disclosure sits alongside that independence — it does not replace it. Telling you a relationship exists would never excuse bending a page; the standards still decide what we publish.

In practice, independence means a few firm lines:

• No fake rankings. No “best chair” leaderboards, star scores, or invented awards and certifications.
• No “best” without method. Any comparison states its criteria instead of declaring a single winner.
• No hidden retailer pages. We don’t quietly promote a store or disguise a sales page as editorial.
• No competitor attacks. We explain how to evaluate any seller, rather than running down a named one.
• Stated limitations. We say plainly what we can’t verify, so you know where your own judgment takes over.

The full set of principles behind this lives in our editorial standards →.

Affiliate links, referral fees or compensation

We’d rather address this plainly and high on the page than tuck it into fine print at the bottom. Today there is nothing to buy here — no prices, carts, or “add to basket” — and no brand or retailer can pay us to rank, rate, or feature them. To help sustain the work, the site may at some point earn compensation through advertising, affiliate links, referral arrangements, partnerships or sponsorships. If and when any of those are active, two rules always apply.

Affiliate links and referral relationships

If an affiliate link or referral arrangement is ever in place, it would be labeled in plain English, in context, so you never have to guess whether money is involved. A link should be read as navigation or referral context — a convenient way to find something — not as an automatic endorsement. Whether or not a link earns anything, you should still compare warranty, service, delivery, reviews and showroom standards before you act on it.

Compensation and editorial override

Compensation may fund the work, but it can never decide what the work says. A commercial relationship has no effect on whether or how we cover a brand, retailer or product; the guidance reads the same either way. We don’t claim we will “never earn money,” because that wouldn’t be honest about how publishing works — we claim that money and editorial stay on opposite sides of a wall.

Sponsored content and paid placement

Sponsorship and paid placement are different from advertising links, and they carry a higher risk of blurring the line between guidance and selling — so we treat them carefully. We do not sell placement, rankings, or favorable mentions, and there is no premium tier for brands or retailers. If sponsored content ever appears, it should be distinguishable from editorial at a glance.

• Sponsored content would be labeled as a sponsorship or advertisement, not slipped in as a neutral review.
• Paid placement is never disguised as an independent editorial evaluation or a “winner.”
• Sponsorship cannot override claim-safety rules. No fake ratings, no awards, and no medical-sounding promises — ever.
• You should always be able to tell editorial guidance apart from anything a third party paid to place.

Brand, retailer and showroom references

You’ll see brand, retailer, product and showroom names across our guides. That is for recognition and comparison, not endorsement. When you walk into a showroom or browse online, you’ll meet specific names, and it helps to know what they refer to and what to look at when you sit in a chair. Naming something is not a recommendation to buy it, and leaving something out is not a criticism — we simply can’t name everything, and availability and policies change.

Brand references and retailer references

We treat every brand and every retailer the same way, against the same practical criteria, and we don’t operate or promote any specific store. Because local availability, pricing, warranty and service terms change, a reference here is a starting point, not a guarantee — verify current details directly with the seller before you decide.

Our guide to reading massage chair reviews → goes deeper on spotting endorsement language dressed up as neutral advice.

Local showroom guide disclosure

Local pages are easy to abuse, so we hold them to a strict standard. Our regional guides are buyer decision-support pages — they help you shop an area more confidently. They are not doorway pages, not “near me” keyword stuffing, and they do not secretly promote one store. A link to a local guide is guidance, not an endorsement of any business in that area.

• No fake local rankings and no fabricated “verified” locations.
• The same showroom verification criteria and limitations apply everywhere.
• Hours, model availability, warranty, service and delivery details can change — confirm them directly before you visit.

See how we judge any showroom in our showroom verification methodology →, and the regional guidance itself in our California massage chair showroom guidance → and Bay Area massage chair showroom guidance →.

Review and comparison disclosure

Reviews are useful but easy to misread, so here’s how to read ours: review signals are not proof, and a single star rating is rarely enough. We separate what people are actually reviewing — the product, the retailer, and delivery and service — because one good or bad experience in one area shouldn’t mask another. Comparisons are criteria-based, and we never crown a “winner” unless a stated method genuinely supports it.

• Product reviewsHow the chair feels, fits, sounds and holds up over time.
• Retailer reviewsHow the seller communicates, prices, and stands behind the sale.
• Delivery & service reviewsHow delivery, installation and later repairs actually went.

Crucially, our review and comparison pages are not affiliate rankings in disguise. No commercial relationship turns into a star score or a sponsored “top pick.” The full reasoning lives in our review methodology →.

Medical and wellness claim disclosure

Massage chairs are often marketed with wellness language, so we’re deliberately careful here. MassageChairsTested.com does not provide medical advice, and we do not represent massage chairs as diagnosing, treating, curing or preventing any disease. Medical-sounding claims require caution: reviews are anecdotes, not medical proof, and showroom testing shows comfort, not medical outcomes. If sponsored or referenced content ever makes a treatment-style claim, that does not make it true — our claim-safety rules still apply.

Corrections, updates and limitations

Information in this category changes, and so can this disclosure. Product, brand and showroom availability shift; warranty, service and delivery policies get revised; and commercial relationships themselves can begin or end. Because of that, this page is the single source of truth for how the site is funded and operated — if our relationships change, we update it here and note the change.

• Every page carries a visible last updated date, shown at the foot of this one.
• When we identify a genuine error, we correct it in the open rather than quietly editing it away.
• We keep our limitations visible instead of implying certainty we don’t have.

We don’t promise perfect, permanent accuracy — no honest guide can. We promise to keep pages current and to fix what’s wrong. The full process lives in our correction policy →, and if you spot something that looks off, we want to hear about it.

How readers should use this site

Disclosure works best paired with a little healthy habit on your side. Treat our guides as decision support, not the final word, and don’t rely on one page, one mention, one link, or one claim. The checklist below is the same one we’d use ourselves — a quick way to read this site, and any other, with context. Your ticks are saved on this device only, with no account and no email.

Related trust pages

Disclosure is one part of how we stay accountable. These pages show the standards and methods behind every guide — read them alongside this one to judge our independence for yourself.

Last updated: June 2026 · Editorial standards · Disclosure