We want to be straight with you about how Christmas Countdown makes its money. The site is small, family-run and not free to operate — between hosting, image licensing, software subscriptions and the time it takes to write properly, the bills add up. This page sets out where the money comes from.
In one sentence
Christmas Countdown earns money from affiliate commission on some of the product links we recommend, from display advertising served by Google AdSense, and from a small number of sponsored or gifted-review posts that are clearly labelled where they appear.
Affiliate links
Many of the product links on Christmas Countdown — particularly inside gift guides, advent-calendar round-ups and hamper reviews — are affiliate links. That means if you click the link and end up buying the product, the retailer pays us a small commission. The price you pay is unchanged whether you click through us or go direct.
We use the major UK affiliate networks (primarily Awin and Amazon Associates) and we link to brands and retailers we’d happily buy from ourselves. We never choose products by which retailer pays the highest commission — our editorial policy spells out how we decide what makes the cut, and that decision happens before we look at whether a commission is available at all.
Display advertising
You’ll see banner and in-content adverts on most of our editorial pages, served through Google AdSense. We don’t choose the individual adverts — Google’s auction picks them based on the page content and your own browser settings — and we have no commercial relationship with any of the advertisers shown. We do exclude some categories (gambling, vaping, anything aimed directly at children for purchase) and we keep our trust pages, contact and policy pages ad-free.
Sponsored posts and brand campaigns
A small number of pieces each year are paid placements — usually one or two seasonal campaigns from brands whose product genuinely fits our Christmas readership. Where this happens, the post is labelled as sponsored or paid partnership at the top, and the rules in our editorial policy apply: same fact-checking, same writing standard, no PR sign-off on draft copy.
Gifted reviews and press samples
We accept a small number of press samples each year — calendars, hampers, festive food, stocking-fillers and similar. The resulting reviews are clearly labelled (usually “we were sent this product for review”). Accepting a sample is never a guarantee of a positive write-up, and we don’t share draft copy with PRs before it’s published.
What this means for you
- You’ll never pay more for a product because you reached it via a Christmas Countdown link.
- You’ll always see a clear label on any post we’ve been paid to write or where we’ve accepted a free product.
- If something we’ve recommended turns out to be a poor experience, please tell us via the contact page — we’d genuinely rather know.
Who we are, formally
Christmas Countdown is published by Garrould Ltd, a small family company registered in England and Wales. Editorial sign-off rests with Linda Garrould.