Baby Bargains policy on freebies and gifts: we don't take them!

Hi all! The Federal Trade Commission announced today that bloggers must disclose if they receive any free gifts in exchange for reviews online.

So we'll take a minute to discuss our policy on gifts, freebies and bribes here at BABY BARGAINS. The short answer: we don't take them.

We don't accept ANY free samples, gift baskets or other promo items from the companies we review here or in our book. In the 15 years we've been researching and writing about baby gear, our policy of not accepting ads, payments or gifts is about keeping our work free of any bias or conflict of interest.

When we review a product, we will either purchase it at retail or sollict reader feedback from parents who've purchased it at retail. Hence, we don't accept any free samples from companies. 

Of course, that might be easy for us to do, as we have a best-selling book that pays for all our online efforts. We realize we are sort of alone out here in the blogosphere; critics have noted that some mommy bloggers have become addicted to the quid pro quo. And of course, tech bloggers have long been on the gift gravy train.

So, what do you think about the new rules? Is this a bit of overkill? Or should disclosure of gifts to bloggers be required even of the smallest mommy blog? 

Comments

[Andrea S.]

Just because a Mommy blogger has received a product for free doesn't mean she will give it a positive review. I think the policy is fair. I would rather know that the product was provided free of charge, but I would also hope that most credible bloggers would have the guts to still give the product an honest and fair review.