Paid placement
Advertise
Paid placement never affects rankings. A sponsor can buy a labeled slot or a labeled mention. The top 3 stays empty until three fresh test runs exist.
The amount charged is the Stripe price on the offer, not a number printed here. Checkout is Stripe-hosted. ShipRanked records the purchase from a signed webhook, not from the page you land on after payment. Read the affiliate disclosure for the same rule on commission.
Featured listing
A labeled Sponsored slot on one category or job page, outside the top 3. The tested list above it does not move.
Checkout asks for the tool name, an https URL, and an optional category or job slug such as coding-agents or crud-app-with-login. The card on the site says Sponsored. It is not inserted into the ranked list.
Checkout needs STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and STRIPE_PRICE_FEATURED_LISTING.
Newsletter sponsorship
One labeled mention in a ShipRanked letter. The mention is not a rank, and it does not change a score.
Checkout asks for the sponsor name. The letter labels the mention. It is not a test result and it is not a rank.
Checkout needs STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and STRIPE_PRICE_NEWSLETTER_SPONSORSHIP.
Questions
- Does a payment change a ranking?
- No. Paid placement never affects rankings. A featured listing sits outside the top 3 and is labeled Sponsored. A newsletter sponsorship is a labeled mention in a letter. Neither edits a score.
- What amount is charged?
- The Stripe price attached to the price id. This page does not publish a dollar amount. The price can be a one-time charge or a recurring price, depending on how that price was created in Stripe.
- When does a featured listing appear?
- After a signed Stripe webhook records a paid checkout that includes a tool name and an https URL. The success page does not publish the listing. A failed or unpaid session does not.