Key takeaways
- ✓Compare marketplaces on the fields visible before payment, the rel attribute, the refund rule, and who writes.
- ✓This article does not score competitors with invented prices.
- ✓A masked domain is a disclosure choice. It is acceptable only when the metrics on the row are real and the live URL arrives with delivery.
Five questions before the logo
Buyers shortlist the same handful of names every year and then compare homepages. Homepages are written by the same people who want the order. The comparison that holds up is a set of questions you can answer from the product, with a screenshot, before you fund a wallet. If a marketplace cannot answer one of them in writing, it does not get the budget, including ChainEpic.
| Question | A useful answer | A useless answer |
|---|---|---|
| What can I see before I pay? | DR or equivalent, traffic, price, niche, turnaround, link type, on the row | "Premium sites" and a contact form |
| When do I see the domain? | A stated reason for any mask, and the live URL in the delivery report | The domain stays hidden after you pay |
| Who writes, and is it included? | A word count and a price, including a zero if it is included | "SEO content" with no length |
| What rel will the link use? | Dofollow, nofollow, or sponsored, written on the order | "High quality" |
| What if the link dies? | A window, a standard for replacement, and who checks | "Permanent" with no definition |
How ChainEpic answers them today
The public table shows a masked domain, niche, DR, monthly traffic, link type, turnaround, and buyer price. Guest posts and niche edits are separate prices when both exist. Checkout then asks for the target URL and the anchor, and it offers a new guest post with a 1,000-word article included or a link insertion. You can have the article written or you can supply it. The FAQ states a 12-month replacement if the link drops, loses indexation, or flips to nofollow, and it states the niches that are refused.
That is the product as it is shipped. It is not a claim that every other marketplace is worse, and it is not a five-row trophy table with prices we did not measure. Loganix, WhitePress, Collaborator, and similar desks are real options buyers already know. Judge them with the same five questions. If their catalog shows the domain and ours masks it, that is a point in their column until our delivery report makes up for it. If their refund rule is written and specific, score that. Do not score a vibe.
What a masked domain is for
The FAQ says domains are masked so the list is not scraped into spam reports and competitor blasts. That is a real failure mode: public databases of "sites that sell links" get reused as footprints. The tradeoff is that you cannot read the homepage before you pay. Compensate by being strict about the columns you can see, and by running the vetting checks on the example URL and the metrics. If delivery does not include the live URL, the mask was a trick. The policy says it does include it.
A shortlist method that survives a skeptical client
- Pick two marketplaces and export or screenshot ten rows in the niche you actually buy.
- Answer the five questions for each, with the sentence from their site, not a paraphrase from a review blog.
- Price one identical brief on both: same niche, same rough DR band, same format. Use the calculator so the spend is explicit.
- Order one placement, not a package of twenty. Judge the draft, the live URL, and the indexation. Then decide where the second order goes.
Transparency is the ability to repeat that exercise without a sales call. A marketplace that only reveals the site after a wire transfer has made the exercise impossible. Price tables you can reload, like the catalog price read, are the minimum.
FAQ
Why isn't this a top-five ranking of marketplaces?
Because a numbered ranking would require current prices and policies for each company, measured the same way. This page gives the questions and answers them for ChainEpic. Apply the questions to the others yourself.
Is a masked domain a reason to walk away?
It is a reason to demand the other fields up front and the live URL at delivery. If either is missing, walk away. If both are present, judge the row on traffic, topic, and rel.