If you want to get your gadget, software or service reviewed on Tech Trends, here’s what to do (and what not to)

We have featured an amazing range of things on the site, and we’re just getting started, from digital literacy toys like the Sphero Robot and Technology Will Save Us Kits to power banks, standing desks and Bluetooth wearable headphones, we get pitched a lot of stuff. And that is fine because the main criteria we use is generally whether a piece of technology is useful or interesting to people, whether they consider themselves “techies” or not. That’s a pretty darn broad scope.

This page sets out some general guidelines based on some of the more frequent questions we get and relates specifically to those looking to land a hardware or software review post on the site. It provides some top-level info that should hopefully tell you whether it’s worth getting in touch or not.

1 – Samples

That’s pretty essential I’m afraid. We love to get great images, video and description in a pitch, but if you want a review of your product, we will need to get our hands on it. So if it’s in a conceptual prototype stage, or you don’t have enough samples to post, that’s not going to work, as we’d just be repeating what you told us rather than conveying our own experience of the product to our readers. For postage purposes, we’re based in the US, and we generally keep the samples. It’s not a profit-making enterprise but the hassle of sending them back is just not worth it, and hopefully, we like your gadget enough so that we’ll be using it and showing our friends for years to come.

2 – Where will it be featured?

While we do freelance for a lot of other publications, those pieces are generally not straight product reviews. If your product is cool and we like it, we’ll feature it right here on Tech Trends.

3 – Any guarantees?

Like most things in life, alas, no. Sending us something does not guarantee a review. Generally, we do try to get back to you with some constructive feedback if we don’t feel able to feature your product. It also might take a while, as we have a lot of posts to get through and there are only so many hours in the day. And while I do love gadgets as much as the next girl, we can’t spend ALL our time playing.

If you would like to feature your product as a standalone post we charge a fee of $350 (payable via PayPal), otherwise, most products are featured within a monthly product reviews post. If we can’t review your product but I still like them I might sneak in an honorary mention somewhere. For example, a while back I got sent this Couch Coaster, and as someone who works from home and generally perches in sofas a lot with her laptop, I do find it quite useful, so here’s a shout-out:

I love gadgets as much as the next girl, but I can't spend ALL my time playing Click To Tweet