BizMonda is free for readers to use. Nobody pays us to browse the directory, run a search, or read our research. The money comes from the provider side of our business. How it comes is described below, because you have a right to know who’s paying before you decide how much weight to give what we say.
The short version
BizMonda earns money in four ways: referral fees paid when we introduce buyers to providers, affiliate commissions paid by software vendors when you sign up through our links, sponsored placement fees, and verification fees paid by businesses that apply for a Verified Plus check.
All sponsored placements are labeled. Verification fees pay for the check, never for passing it — we deny badges the evidence doesn’t support, and we don’t refund them.
Introduction fees
When you submit a match request we forward it to providers in the category you choose. Those providers pay us for the introduction. They pay whether or not you hire them. We also partner with affiliate networks that operate their own panels of providers, including 360Connect and other B2B matching services. We are paid when a match request we submit results in a qualified lead for them.
This revenue accounts for the largest percentage of our income and it is important to understand what it does and does not affect. Introduction fees determine which providers are matched through BizMonda, because a provider has to be enrolled in a paid matching program to receive requests. They do not determine what we say about a provider in our directory listings, and they do not affect verification.
Affiliate links
Links to software on BizMonda are often affiliate links. That means if you follow one of those links and start a free trial or paid subscription, the vendor will pay BizMonda a commission or flat referral fee. Following an affiliate link costs you nothing extra. In some cases those links provide access to discounts you would not receive if you joined directly.
Not every provider we cover runs an affiliate program, and some of the products we rate most highly pay us nothing at all. We do not leave a good product out because it does not pay, and we do not add a mediocre one because it does.
Paid placement
Some placements on BizMonda are bought and sold. A provider can pay to appear in a featured slot at the top of a category, in a highlighted card within a listing page, or in a promotional unit elsewhere on the site. Paid inclusion is clearly labeled as sponsored or featured content. You will always know it’s there.
Paid placement buys visibility. It does not buy a verification badge, a BizMonda Rating, a BizMonda Pick, or a positive review. Just like providers who submit for verification, those who choose to advertise on BizMonda agree to accept the results of our checks. If they fail those checks, their placement comes down.
Verification fees
Every business listed on BizMonda is verified — that is the floor for being listed at all. There are two levels. Verified is a manual review of public records, licensing boards and corporate filings. Verified Plus keeps that review and adds an automated Know Your Business screen covering company registry and incorporation data, beneficial ownership, sanctions and watchlist databases, and adverse media. Verified Plus providers also get a full profile.
Businesses apply for Verified Plus and pay a flat fee. Here is exactly what that fee is and isn’t.
What it buys: the work. Our researchers’ time on the manual review, and the per-screen cost of the KYB software Verified Plus runs. That cost is the same whether the business passes or fails, so we charge for it, the way an inspection or an audit is charged for.
What it does not buy: the result. Paying gets a business assessed. It does not get it a pass. We deny the badge where the evidence doesn’t hold up, and we do not refund the fee — so we tell applicants up front whether they are likely to pass, rather than take money for a check we expect to fail.
The first three years of annual re-verification are included in that fee. After that, a re-verification fee applies, because the checks get run again.
Not every badge is paid for. Businesses our editorial team selects are verified at our own cost and pay us nothing.
A missing badge is not a failed check
A provider without Verified Plus has not failed anything. It simply hasn’t applied. Please don’t read the absence of the badge as a black mark against a business.
If paying passed every verification test we run, those badges would immediately become worthless. There would be no reason for a buyer to trust them, and we would go out of business overnight, long before we had a chance to issue refunds.
What advertising does not influence
- Verification outcomes. If a business cannot prove it holds the licence it claims, it does not get the badge, regardless of what it spends with us. The fee buys the check; the evidence decides the result.
- Editorial content. Product reviews, comparisons, category guides, buying advice, and our rating methodology are not influenced by advertisers. Advertisers do not see them before publication and cannot request changes.
- The BizMonda Rating. Our rating is based on publicly available reputation signals. It cannot be manipulated with money.
- Removal of unfavorable information. We do not take down accurate criticism because an advertiser asked us to.
What advertising does affect
Who appears in featured and sponsored sections, as well as which providers are available through the match form. We would rather say that plainly than pretend our business model has no effect on what you see.
Coverage depth is affected too, though indirectly. Categories where providers monetize are categories we can afford to research more deeply. We make an effort to keep coverage consistent — it’s important to us — but a directory funded this way will always know more about the well-funded corners of the market.
Tips for visitors
Think of a verification badge as a verified fact about a business. Think of our rating as our opinion. Think of everything labeled sponsored as advertising.
Compare more than one provider. Ask providers for references and call them. Read contracts before you sign them.
If you see something that looks like advertising and is not labeled sponsored, let us know at legal@bizmonda.com. Mislabeled advertising is a problem we want to hear about.
Our responsibilities
This page exists because the Federal Trade Commission requires material connections between a publisher and the products it recommends to be disclosed clearly, and because it is the right thing to do. We also mark individual affiliate and sponsored placements at the point where you encounter them, rather than relying on this page alone.
Questions
Send them to legal@bizmonda.com. If you are a provider inquiring about advertising, the for providers page is the place to start.