How we grade: paid by members, not by stores
Every grade is computed from a product's own price history before anyone looks at what the link pays. Here is the exact rule for each grade, how prices come in, who pays us what, and who makes the call.
The four grades
A ski-trail scale, one rule each, applied to the product's own history. A markdown with no history behind it is not graded, however loud the sale banner. The glyph carries the urgency so the words do not have to.
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Green circle
20 to 30% below MSRP, in season. A fair sale on gear we would recommend anyway.
Everyone, in the Thursday digest.
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Blue square
35% or more off, or a 90-day low at 25% or more off. Worth buying now if you were going to buy at all.
Members at the sweep. The digest carries it Thursday.
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Black diamond
The lowest price we have tracked across every store, at 40% or more off. Sent to members only, at the sweep it happens, filtered to their sizes.
Members at the sweep, in their size. The free list sees it Thursday.
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Double black
At or below pro-deal pricing: 50% or more off and a tracked low. Rare. Usually a European store clearing a hardgood, or a closeout error.
Members at the sweep, in their size. The free list sees it Thursday.
The six rules
The grade is a computation. These are the editorial rules around it, and they bind every alert and every digest.
The grade is computed before the payout is known.
The scorer sees prices and history. The affiliate link is attached afterward by a separate step that cannot change the grade.
We link to the cheapest reputable seller.
Including stores that pay us nothing, and including used listings when they are in good condition and clearly described.
No sponsor appears inside a member alert.
The free Thursday digest carries one labeled sponsor slot, restricted to brands we would recommend at full price.
Every deal is stock-checked at send time.
Nobody gets sent to a dead page. A deal that dies is marked gone on the site, not deleted, because the record is the point.
An editor has the last word.
Blue squares and above are read by a person before they go out. A drafted verdict never ships unedited.
“Wait” is an answer.
When the calendar says a category drops next month, the verdict says so, even on a deal we would earn a commission on today.
How prices come in
Twice a day, on the store's clock. Nothing on the board is typed in by hand.
- Sweep
- Sale, outlet and category pages at every store on the roster are read at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the store's own region.
- Product pages
- Fetched only when a listing price changed, to confirm the price, the sizes in stock and the exact URL.
- Watchlist
- Items on member watchlists are checked hourly. Stock is re-checked at send time.
- Feeds
- Where a store publishes an affiliate datafeed, the feed is the source of record.
- Exchange rates
- The European Central Bank's daily reference rates.
- Landed cost
- An estimate from the store's own shipping table and published duty and tax rules. The carrier's invoice is final, and members can report what they paid to improve the estimate.
The roster is on the Stores page.
Who pays us
Stores pay a commission on some links. Members pay for the head start. Neither touches the grade, and every link that pays says so: “We earn a commission on this link. It did not affect the grade.”
| Store | Network | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Backcountry, Steep & Cheap | Impact | 4 to 12% |
| REI | AvantLink | 5% |
| evo | In-house | 5% |
| Christy Sports, Level Nine, Skis.com, CampSaver | AvantLink | 4 to 8% |
| Sierra | FlexOffers | 8% |
| Bergfreunde, Alpinetrek, Bergzeit, Blue Tomato | Awin | 4 to 7% |
| Patagonia Web Specials | AvantLink | 8% |
| Black Diamond | AvantLink | 7% + bonuses |
| Geartrade | Impact | 3% |
| Most independent ski shops | None | 0% |
Rates from affiliate network listings gathered for the strategy brief in October 2026; several listings conflict and none is verified against the program yet. Brand stores and the used-gear site listed here sit on the wider roster; the Stores page is the retailers the engine reads twice a day.
Who makes the call
One editor, named here when the first season starts, reads every blue square and black diamond before it goes out and writes the two sentences. The drafts come from the consensus and the price history; the judgment does not.
If the calendar says wait, the verdict says wait. If the cheapest reputable seller pays us nothing, that is the link. The grade is the same whether you are on the free list or a member; members only hear about it sooner, in their size.
The rule applied, model by model: every model we track has a page with its price at each store, the history behind any discount and today's grade. Stores lists the retailers those prices come from.