FTC Disclosure: The Full Monty on Our Website

Since 2009, the US FTC (Federal Trade Commission) requires all webmasters/websites to disclose any relationship that they have between product manufacturers, vendors or service providers. So, you might be wondering what’s in it for me? Why did I create this website to help people? Why am I so kind to offer you my advice on diamonds? Why do I even take time to personally reply emails?

These are completely valid questions that I get all the time via email when people send me queries and questions. Well, I can sum it all up in one sentence. We provide free content/services to our readers and get compensated for our time through advertisements that are placed on this website.

You can read more about the disclosure guidelines given by FTC if you are interested.

The Mambo Jumbo Disclosure

Although Beyond4Cs.com receives compensation for advertisements on our website, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products.

The views and opinions expressed on this website are purely our own and based on our own experiences with the different vendors. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the merchant.

We Are Proudly Affiliated With Selected Vendors

Affiliate programs are common place on the Internet now. Some of the largest and most reputable companies have legit affiliate arrangements to help market their products and boost their online branding. To quote a few examples, eBay.com has a well established partner network program and Amazon.com offers an associate program. Some of the largest online diamond companies like Bluenile.com and Ritani.com also have such programs in place.

Since we are currently affiliated with more than 17 different diamond sites, it allows me to remove bias from my advice and be objective. I don’t have to place favor to any particular vendor/website just because one of them is willing to pay me to do so. For example, even if I can make more money by making recommendations or placing banner ads to eBay and Bluenile, it doesn’t necessary mean I will do so unless their offer is really compelling or offers the best value.

Simply put, we will not risk our online reputation by recommending junk to you.

Why? Consumers are tech savvy nowadays and are definitely not stupid in doing their own research. We believe honesty is the best policy. When we recommend or give an opinion on something, this means we fully stand behind our beliefs that the recommendation is of the best value to you.

Banners And Advertising Spaces

There are paid advertising generated by a third party ad network on our website. Currently, we only work with Google Adsense and you would probably have come across the same system when watching Youtube videos. These typically appear in the form of banner advertisements (sometimes on the right panel or top panel) on pages of our website. Do note that we do not have control over what ads are served.

Obviously, the more traffic our site has, the more advertising revenue it can generate. My philosophy in running the website is to help people as best as I can because I believe in the long term repercussions it will bring about.

If you leave our website a satisfied reader, there is a likely possibility that you will share the website with your friends. Be it via social media or word-of-mouth to help another friend, this means more traffic for us (and indirectly more advertising revenue)!

It’s a Democratic Society And We All Have Choices!

The cost of running this website (web hosting, support, fresh content and etc..) is greatly covered by such commissions and revenue. You will help support us if you decide to click on such product links and recommendations when making a purchase. Alternatively, you can go directly to the vendor’s page to make your purchase (it’s still at the same cost) and we will not receive any form of compensation.

If you love what we are doing, you could also like us on our Facebook page or add us on our Youtube page. With your kind support, we would be able to continue creating content for the benefit of the online community. And if you don’t like us or if our website fails to meet your expectations, we would really love to hear why before you hit the X on your browser.

Still Confused By What’s Happening?

Here’s an analogy to help you visualize things. Imagine you are buying an iPhone directly from Apple’s official store that costs $199. To extend their market reach, Apple allows distributors (affiliates) to sell their iPhones and controls the pricing at $199. The cost to the consumer is the same.

In this manner, everybody wins. Apple sells more phones, the distributor makes a living (for online websites, it is called referral/advertising revenue) and the customer gets what they want. That’s the way most businesses work and is generally applicable to the majority of “free” websites you see online.

So, I hope this helps to clear up any questions you might have. Thank you for visiting Beyond4Cs.com and we hope that you had found our website useful to your needs. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions if we haven’t addressed them here.