How ProudTek earns money, which relationships influence what we write, and what we label as commercial
Disclosures & Affiliations
Quick answer
In typical deployments, proudTek is a Shenzhen-based RFID and NFC manufacturer. We sell RFID cards, keyfobs, wristbands, industrial-laundry tags, NFC business cards, hotel key cards and related products to end customers, integrators and resellers. This is our primary source of revenue, and the commercial interest that comes with it is the disclosure every reader of a ProudTek editorial page should have in mind. This page documents where that interest is most likely to influence coverage, the safeguards we use to stop it from influencing accuracy, and every other affiliation or paid relationship that could plausibly create a bias in our published content.
- Revenue model: we make money when customers buy physical product from ProudTek; we do not run display advertising on proudtek.com.
- We are not a neutral third-party testing lab; we publish technical content about products in the same families we sell, which is a disclosed conflict.
- We publish compatibility lists that include lock makers and reader OEMs whose chips we resell; we do not accept payment for inclusion.
- We do not currently run an affiliate program; if that changes, this page is updated first and on the same day any affiliate link goes live.
- 2008 Founded — 18 yrs continuous operation
- 40+ Countries shipped to
- 6 Product families in-house
- 100% Functional read-test on every encoded unit
- NXP
- Infineon
- Impinj
- Alien
- EM Micro
- Quanray
- ISO 9001:2015
- RoHS 2011/65/EU
- REACH SVHC
- FCC Part 15 / 18
- CE EN 300 330
At a glance
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Key takeaway
Revenue model: we make money when customers buy physical product from ProudTek; we do not run display advertising on proudtek.com.
What we sell — and how that shapes coverage
A transparent account of the commercial interest behind every technical article.
Next step
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Read the editorial policyWhat we sell — and how that shapes coverage
A transparent account of the commercial interest behind every technical article.
- Primary product lines: NFC cards and stickers, RFID wristbands, hotel key cards, industrial-laundry tags (PPS / silicone / textile), UHF RAIN RFID tags, custom metal NFC business cards and branded printed cards.
- Because we manufacture these families, our buyer guides compare options across them. We disclose this commercial interest explicitly on every comparison article via the site footer and this page.
- Where we compare a family we sell against a family we do not (e.g. a QR-code approach vs. an NFC approach to a review card), that fact is disclosed in the article itself.
- We never reject a technically sound alternative because it competes with a product we sell; articles on /compare/* are required to recommend the lower-cost or simpler option when that is in fact the right answer.
Editorial firewall
How we keep sales pressure from deforming technical articles.
- Sales staff do not draft, edit or sign off editorial content. Commercial landing pages (/lp/*) are drafted by marketing and clearly labelled; they are not cross-linked as editorial.
- Price ranges in editorial articles, when included, are cited as 'indicative' and separated from any specific quote given to any specific customer.
- Comparison tables at /compare/* use the public datasheet numbers for chip and product specifications; our own numbers only appear in rows that are explicitly labelled 'ProudTek lab test'.
- Reviewers listed at /about/review-board/ are instructed, in writing, that they can override a sales-preferred recommendation and that doing so is expected whenever the technical case requires it.
Affiliate, referral and sponsorship policy
Our policy today is simple: none of the above. If that changes, it is disclosed here first.
| Program | Status on 2026-04-17 | Disclosure when live |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliate / referral links | Not in use: no outbound proudtek.com link is monetised today. | If live, every affiliate link will be marked with `rel="sponsored"` and disclosed in the article footer. |
| Sponsored articles / paid placements | Not accepted in editorial. We only publish paid content at /news/press-releases/ with a visible 'Press release' label. | No editorial piece will carry sponsored content; a policy change would require a banner on every affected article. |
| Reader-paid memberships or gated content | Not in use. | If offered, will be clearly labelled and will not gate corrections, methodology, or safety-related information. |
| Product review samples (inbound) | Occasionally received from reader OEMs. | Any review article relying on a free sample discloses that fact in the sources block. |
Trademark & brand name disclosure
We cite many third-party brands and standards. The disclosures below cover all of them.
- 'MIFARE', 'DESFire' and 'NTAG' are registered trademarks of NXP Semiconductors. We use them to refer to the chip families NXP sells; ProudTek is not an official NXP reference design partner unless a specific product page says so.
- 'RAIN' and 'RAIN RFID' are marks of the RAIN Alliance; we use them to refer to UHF RFID technology under ISO/IEC 18000-63.
- 'NFC Forum' is the trademark of the NFC Forum standards body.
- 'Assa Abloy', 'Dormakaba', 'Salto', 'Onity', 'Saflok', 'Impinj', 'Alien Technology', 'HID Global', 'Legic' are trademarks of their respective owners and are used only to refer to the identified products.
- Use of any of these names on proudtek.com does not imply endorsement by, or affiliation with, the trademark owner beyond any commercial relationship explicitly disclosed in the article.
Data we collect & hand off
Separate from the privacy policy, the editorial disclosure relevant here is: does your reading of our articles influence what we sell you or show you next?
- We do not sell reader data; we do not build advertising profiles for third parties.
- Basic analytics (page visits, country, referrer) are collected; this data is used for editorial planning, not for re-targeting advertising.
- When you submit an RFQ form on a product page or a contact form, that information goes into our CRM and is handled as a business enquiry.
- Subscribers to our newsletter receive commercial content; we label it as such and include a one-click unsubscribe.
Useful next pages
Use these linked product, guide and comparison pages to keep the next click specific and practical.
Editorial firewall in detail
Sourcing, reviewer accountability and correction rules that keep commercial content from deforming editorial content.
How we test what we sell
Methodology + negative disclosures (what our lab does and does not do).
Our named reviewers
The people authorised to overrule a sales-preferred recommendation.
FAQ
Do you accept free samples from chip makers?
Occasionally, and only for an article that explicitly tests that chip. Every article that relies on a chip supplied free by the chip maker carries a disclosure in the sources block. Free samples never trigger coverage; we choose topics based on reader demand and editorial calendar, and then source chips (paid or sampled) to match.
Are your price ranges negotiable?
Yes: every price figure in an editorial article is indicative, based on typical volumes, and changes with chip availability and copper / polymer pricing. Quotes are priced per enquiry on the relevant product page.
Do your writers own stock in any vendor you cover?
Editorial contributors are asked to disclose equity positions in any chip maker, reader OEM, lock maker or standards-body company they write about. Disclosed holdings are listed on the contributor's entry at /about/review-board/. ProudTek itself is a privately-held manufacturer with no outside equity investors as of this publication date.
What do I do if I think an article is unduly promotional?
Send the URL and the specific passage to editors@proudtek.com. We route it to a reviewer who was not involved in the original article and publish the outcome (either a correction, a disclosure update, or a written justification) at /about/corrections/.
Proud Tek is a Shenzhen-based RFID & NFC manufacturer supplying hotel chains, transit operators, event venues and retail brands worldwide. Every order includes free samples, RF testing and dedicated project support.
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