How We Make Money

South Ocean Living is free to read. This page tells you how the magazine is paid for, today and in future, and the rules we hold ourselves to.

The short version: today, South Ocean Living earns nothing from the products, hotels and places we write about. We have no affiliate links, no advertising and no sponsors. In future we plan to earn money from affiliate links and possibly from advertising, sponsorships and products of our own. When that begins, we will update this page first and disclose it on every page where it applies. Commissions will never decide what we recommend.

Our arrangements today

As of October 19, 2026, South Ocean Living has no affiliate, advertising or sponsorship arrangements. No link on this site earns us a commission, no brand or hotel has paid us or sent us anything, and we have accepted no hosted or discounted stays. We will keep this section current.

Affiliate links

We expect to join affiliate programs run by retailers, hotels, booking sites and affiliate networks. An affiliate link recognizes that you came from our site, usually with a cookie or a code in the link set by the retailer or network rather than by us. If you then buy or book, the seller or network pays us a small share of the sale. The price you pay is the same either way.

When we add affiliate links, every page that contains them will say so near the top, before the first link, in words like these:

This piece contains affiliate links. If you buy through one, South Ocean Living may earn a commission. We chose these picks from published evidence before checking whether any affiliate program existed, and a commission does not decide what we include.

The same disclosure will go in our newsletter, in social media captions and in videos whenever they contain an affiliate link or feature something we may be paid for. Before any affiliate link goes live, we will also update our Privacy Policy to name the networks involved.

Advertising

If we add display advertising, advertisements will be labeled as such and kept visually separate from our writing. Advertisers will not see our stories before publication and will have no say in what we cover or recommend. We will update our Privacy Policy before any advertising appears.

Sponsorships, gifts and hosted stays

If a brand, hotel or tourism board ever pays to sponsor a story or newsletter, sends us a product, or hosts a stay:

• A sponsored piece will be labeled "Sponsored" or "Paid partnership" at the top, and will name the sponsor.
• A gifted product, hosted or discounted stay, or free experience will be disclosed at the top of the piece and in every caption and video about it, in words such as "Our stay was hosted by the hotel" or "The brand sent us this product."
• Sponsors will not approve our copy, and a gift or a hosted stay will never guarantee a recommendation or a good review.
• We never describe a product or stay as something we have used or experienced unless an editor actually has, and we say how that came about.

Our own products

We do not sell anything today. If we sell our own guides, checklists or a membership in future, we will say that it is ours whenever we mention or link to it.

What never changes

• Picks first, commissions second. We decide what to recommend before we check whether a brand pays a commission. Commission will never move a pick up or down, and we will recommend things that pay us nothing when they are the better choice.
• We are curators, not testers. We choose from published evidence: makers' disclosures, certifications checked on the certifier's own records, published test reports, guidance from regulators and standards bodies, and reputable reviews. We do not run our own tests, and we never claim to have used something we have not. Read How We Choose and the Clean Standard for the details.
• No paid reviews. We do not accept payment, free products or anything else in exchange for a positive review, and we never write or buy fake reviews or testimonials.
• Prices change. Prices and availability are those we saw on the date shown and can change at any time; the seller's site is the final word.
• Nothing here is medical advice. See our Terms of Use.

Who we are

South Ocean Living is published by South Ocean Exteriors LLC, a Florida limited liability company. We are setting up a contact address for South Ocean Living; it will be added to this page.

Last updated October 19, 2026.