Editorial Independence

This page exists so you can judge how much to trust everything else on the site. It is deliberately specific, because vague promises about integrity are what every affiliate site publishes.

How this site makes money

Some links here are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, the retailer pays a commission. It costs you nothing extra and does not change the price you pay.

That is the only revenue. There is no advertising, no sponsored content, no paid reviews, no paid placement in any list, and no brand has ever paid to appear on this site or to be positioned above another.

The rules I hold myself to

• No brand pays for coverage, placement or a score. Not directly, not through an agency, not as part of a commercial arrangement of any kind.
• Commission rates never influence a ranking. Several products recommended here pay me nothing at all. At least one product I recommend over a better-paying alternative costs me money every time someone takes the advice.
• I publish negative verdicts on brands I earn from. If a mattress has a weak edge, runs hot, or is overpriced against a rival, that appears in the review whether or not the brand has an affiliate programme.
• I name products I would avoid. Including ones I could earn from.
• Every price and code carries the date it was checked. No expired offer is presented as live, and expired codes are marked as expired rather than deleted.
• No countdown timers and no manufactured urgency. Ever.
• Errors are corrected publicly and logged on the corrections page.

Why there are no countdown timers here

In 2024 the Competition and Markets Authority secured undertakings from Simba over countdown clocks and pricing practices. In 2026 the CMA settled with Emma Group over misleading urgency and discount claims, and a High Court judgment followed on admitted breaches. Those are the two largest bed-in-a-box brands in the country.

A site that criticises those practices while running its own ticking clock is not worth reading. So there is no timer here, no "only three left", and no invented deadline. Where a sale genuinely ends on a date, I say the date. Where I cannot verify it, I say that too.

On "was" prices

A large part of this category is sold at a permanent discount. A mattress that has a recommended price of 999 pounds and has been sold at 599 pounds for eleven months of the year does not really cost 999 pounds, and the saving on the label is not a saving.

Where I quote a price, I quote what you will actually pay, and where a brand's reference price looks like it exists mainly to make the discount look bigger, I say so in the review rather than repeating the claim.

What this site does not have

• No commercial relationship with any mattress manufacturer beyond standard affiliate programmes, which anyone can join and which give no editorial influence.
• No products supplied free in exchange for coverage.
• No advertising, sponsored posts or paid links.
• No investment from, or ownership by, anyone in the bedding industry.

What I claim, and what I do not

I do not run laboratory tests and I never describe measurements I have not taken. Every review states clearly what it is built from: published specifications, the full warranty documentation, current UK pricing and counted owner reports, weighed against ten years working in the trade. The method page sets that out in detail.

Overclaiming is the fastest way to lose a reader permanently. Underclaiming and then being useful is the slower route, and the only one that holds.

For brands and agencies

You are welcome to send product information, correct a factual error, or tell me about a range change. All of that is useful and I act on it.

Coverage cannot be bought, scores cannot be negotiated, and requests to remove a negative verdict will be declined. If you believe a review contains a factual mistake, send the evidence and it will be corrected and logged publicly like any other error.

If you think I have got something wrong

Email info@themattressguide.co.uk. Every correction is published on the corrections page with the date and what changed. You can also see the products I will not recommend, which is the clearest test of whether any of this is real.

Questions people ask

How does The Mattress Guide make money?

Affiliate commission on some outbound links. If you buy through one, the retailer pays a commission at no extra cost to you. That is the only revenue: no advertising, no sponsored content, no paid reviews and no paid placement in any ranking.

Do brands pay to appear in your best-of lists?

No. No brand has ever paid for coverage, placement or a score, directly or through an agency. Several products recommended here pay no commission at all, and at least one recommendation costs me money every time a reader takes it.

What happens if a brand asks you to change a review?

A brand that points out a genuine factual error gets it corrected, and the correction is logged publicly. A brand asking for a score to be raised or a negative verdict removed is declined. Both requests happen.