How we are funded
Bean Index is free to use. There are no ads, no cookies and no paid placements. This page sets out what pays for Bean Index, what we may earn from in future – and what is never for sale.
What do we earn at the moment?
Nothing. There are no affiliate links, no paid listings and no advertising. Every link to a roaster is an ordinary link. The running costs for hosting and the domain are paid by the person who runs Bean Index.
Who pays for what?
- You pay nothing. You order from the roaster at the price in their shop; Bean Index adds nothing to it.
- Roasters pay nothing to be listed, to correct their details or to be removed. That stays free.
- The person who runs Bean Index pays for hosting and the domain.
- In future, roasters who choose the paid roaster report would pay for that report, and an affiliate programme run by a roaster for its own shop could pay us a commission. Neither changes what you see.
How would we mark advertising?
If a link can earn us money, the word “Ad” is in the link itself, for example “Ad · To roaster”. No asterisk, no symbol, no footnote at the bottom of the page. If a preview card leads to a page with such links, the card already says “contains ads”.
We would use affiliate links for coffees only where the roaster itself runs an affiliate programme for its own shop. We don't redirect you to retailers that sell the same coffee. There is no advertising for other products on coffee pages or topic pages.
Technically, affiliate links carry the attribute “sponsored” so that search engines also recognise them as paid links.
What is not for sale?
No listing is for sale. That covers:
- the order of lists and of the catalogue,
- the filters and their counts,
- replacements and similar coffees,
- the price position and all price statistics,
- the selection on topic pages and in guides.
The same rules apply to every roaster on Bean Index. Whether a roaster has an affiliate programme or uses a service from us is not part of any formula. The rules are in the methodology.
What is the roaster report?
The roaster report is in preparation: a paid monthly service for roasters with analyses they don't otherwise have – for example how their prices per kg compare with the median of comparable coffees. Visit counts are not part of it: roasters already see those free of charge in their own analytics (utm_source=beanindex). This is what a monthly report would look like: sample report. The report will have no influence on order, selection or presentation. Correcting, adding or removing details stays free: For roasters.
Are you a roaster, and would a monthly comparison of your prices per kg with the median of your group be worth paying for? Tell us at hello@beanindex.coffee.
Analyses for companies
Beyond the public price index we can prepare time series and analyses by origin and process – aggregated only, without roaster names. What is publicly available: Data & feeds. Requests to hello@beanindex.coffee.
How will you know what we earn?
Once we have income, we will publish a short report here every month: where the money came from, in what proportions, and how many roasters use the roaster report.
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