Affiliate disclosure

1. What is an affiliate link?

At some shops, your click goes through an affiliate programme: the shop or an affiliate network records that you came from Lakea. If you then buy something, straight away or within a few days, Lakea receives a commission from that shop.

This costs you nothing extra. The price is the same as when you go to the shop directly.

2. Which links earn Lakea something?

Far from all of them. Many shops we show have no affiliate programme, or Lakea does not take part in it; their price is there because it matters to you. Lakea also earns nothing from links to BrickLink, Brickset and Rebrickable.

Which shops have an affiliate programme differs per country. That is why it is shown with the links themselves: under the prices of a set, minifigure, part or display case you can read whether the links there are affiliate links: all, some or none.

3. What it does NOT mean

• No hidden price markup. What you pay at the shop is exactly the same price as without the affiliate link.
• No preference in our price comparison. Whether and how much we earn from a shop plays no part in the sorting or in the price shown. Shops are sorted by price, whether we earn from them or not. Two fixed rules apply to everyone: LEGO’s own shop is at the top, and shops without stock are at the bottom.
• No influence on which shops we show. Many shops on Lakea earn us nothing; we show them because their price is relevant.
• No tracking outside the affiliate click. We use the affiliate link only to let the shop know about the referral. We do not link your click to a personal profile.

4. How do you recognise an affiliate link?

You cannot tell from the button itself; that is why it is stated under every price list. Technically, links to shops carry rel="sponsored", including the ones Lakea earns nothing from. That is a signal for search engines, not a sign of a commission.

5. What else does Lakea earn from?

Lakea has two sources of income. The first is affiliate commission. The second is a partner membership: a few shops without an affiliate programme pay a fixed amount per month or per year to show their offers on Lakea through their own product feed. That amount does not depend on clicks or purchases, and it does not change the order: their prices are sorted by price like everyone else’s.

We have no paid advertising and do not sell visitor data. The income goes to:

• Server costs (hosting, database, monitoring)
• Domain names
• Time and attention from Danny (founder, since 28-04-2016) to keep Lakea delivering accurate pricing data every day

6. Questions or complaints?

Do you doubt whether a specific price or ranking is correct? Or do you see a shop where you suspect the affiliate relationship influences the order? Email us at info@lakea.net — we’re happy to explain every choice.