[ray q]

I just noticed all the dog foods listed on here have a link to Chewy.com. Are you being paid by Chewy to list their products? I am concerned now. How does this influence your recommendations? I paid a years subscription to get unbiased reviews can you tell me that you are not influenced or paid by chewy to promote their products. I am sorry but this really concerns me now.

[Leslie W]

Orijen Original is rated as a 5 Star and is not sold sold by Chewy an longer so I don’t think there is any conflict.

[ray q]

Any longer so it was at one time sold by chewy? I truly hope no conflict of interest.

[Rose G]

My take is that Chewy sells many brands of dog/cat food and it’s still the choice of the consumer which to purchase. Even though the advisor links to them, in my opinion, is a convenience. My favorite dog food shop (small locally owned) doesn’t carry a couple of the brands that I prefer for my dogs and Chewy does…and it’s also convenient to order and have delivered to my front door. If Chewy only sold one brand and there was a link I’d be concerned.

[John L]

Not sure I understand but interesting question. Chewy provides a wide selection of food brands and does not have a “house brand” food that I’m aware of that they promote. Is the question related to the specific brands that Chewy offers and that those may be more favorably reviewed here? To me that logic doesn’t follow. It would be in Chewy’s best interest to stock a wide selection of the most highly rated and most often purchased products. Conversely it wouldn’t make sense for them to stock brands that are not considered high quality of that are purchased infrequently.

As for linking to Chewy from here, it could be for convenience or it could be Chewy has purchased ad space here. I wouldn’t see that as a conflict either myself. I’m still free to purchase what I want from where I want. Sometimes that is Chewy, sometimes not.

[ray q]

ok I feel better

[Scott L]

I believe Chewy does have their own brand, I think it is American Journey. DFA has a footnote that states ” Because Chewy appears to be the Owner of this brand …. we have removed all revenue generating links to the company from this review. So yes it appears they do generate revenue from Chewy but not for their own brand.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Scott L.

[Peter D]

Business as usual on the internet between merchants provides a “click” referral fee, a very small fee for a site that directed the customer to a new web page. Sometimes it is a simple fixed fee, others are tied to a very small percentage of any sales. There is nothing unusual about this arrangement, and not a concern for me. It is just part of the online business world.

[Scott L]

Peter – I agree.

[Mike Sagman]

Ray Q,

Thanks for your question.

Every one of the 1000+ reviews on this website includes the following disclosure clearly and transparently posted within each article:

“… we do not accept money, gifts or samples from pet food companies in exchange for special consideration in the preparation of our reviews or ratings.

“However, we do receive a fee from Chewy.com for each purchase made as a direct result of a referral from our website. This fee is a fixed dollar amount and has nothing to do with the size of an order or the brand selected for purchase.”

Please keep in mind, Chewy is a retailer. Not a manufacturer.

We have NEVER received any money from any company that manufactures any pet food we review. So, how could there be a conflict of interest?

By the way, please also notice that there are no display ads for any pet foods anywhere on this website. We made this COSTLY decision over 9 years ago to prevent any suggestion that we have ANY conflict of interest in doing our work.

I am closing this thread because this question has already been answered transparently and conspicuously throughout our website many times over the last 9 years.

Thanks again for your interest and for being a member.

[Author]

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