It’s pretty simple: CBS Essentials is your complete guide online shopping. Our mission is to help you find great products for your home and work life, and to plug you into the latest deals and news about brands you love.

Our writers and editors live and breathe online shopping, with years of collective experience covering the retail business and reviewing products. We compile expert advice, customer reviews and first-hand experience to find just the right products to recommend. We are in constant contact with retailers to make sure we know when deals drop, new products launch and sales begin.  

And this is important: Our editors work independently of the CBS News newsroom; we work independently of retailers; and we make money when you buy things from our links. We will always be clear with our readers about this.

How the CBS Essentials team works

The Essentials team sticks to rigorous content guidelines: All product selections and editorial decisions are our own. We have affiliate relationships with many retailers, which is how CBS Essentials makes money. When you click a link to shop for a product, we receive a portion of the revenue from any resulting sales. This affiliate relationship does not affect our editorial decisions, and our mission remains to bring readers the best deals. 

Our articles are also not influenced by retailers. Occasionally, a particular article may be sponsored by a brand. In that case, it will be clearly identified as “sponsored content.” We willl always be upfront about this.

Some items may be out of stock by the time links are clicked. Some deals may be over by the time you read an article. These things are subject to the retailer, and we work hard to keep current on deal and stock information.

How we select products

Essentials editors will be clear about why we feature any product: Maybe it’s a hot seller, according to industry or retailer data. Or it’s trending on social media. Or it’s new or newsworthy from a brand with high interest and visibility. Usually, it’s well reviewed. Or it’s something that we own, use and love.

When selecting and recommending products, we rely on a few key things. Most recommendations are based on exhaustive research and reliance on user reviews, sales information, brand reputation, and in many cases, our first-hand experience with the product. 

We only recommend products with 4-star user ratings and above, with few exceptions, and we let you know when a product is an editor’s personal favorite.

Our choice of products and deals to recommend are based on your life. Our goal is to make shopping easier for the important items in your family’s home and work life.  

Keeping up with CBS Essentials

There are many ways to stay in touch with our team and coverage:

It’s pretty simple: CBS Essentials is your complete guide online shopping. Our mission is to help you find great products for your home and work life, and to plug you into the latest deals and news about brands you love.

Our writers and editors live and breathe online shopping, with years of collective experience covering the retail business and reviewing products. We compile expert advice, customer reviews and first-hand experience to find just the right products to recommend. We are in constant contact with retailers to make sure we know when deals drop, new products launch and sales begin.  

And this is important: Our editors work independently of the CBS News newsroom; we work independently of retailers; and we make money when you buy things from our links. We will always be clear with our readers about this.

How the CBS Essentials team works

The Essentials team sticks to rigorous content guidelines: All product selections and editorial decisions are our own. We have affiliate relationships with many retailers, which is how CBS Essentials makes money. When you click a link to shop for a product, we receive a portion of the revenue from any resulting sales. This affiliate relationship does not affect our editorial decisions, and our mission remains to bring readers the best deals. 

Our articles are also not influenced by retailers. Occasionally, a particular article may be sponsored by a brand. In that case, it will be clearly identified as “sponsored content.” We willl always be upfront about this.

Some items may be out of stock by the time links are clicked. Some deals may be over by the time you read an article. These things are subject to the retailer, and we work hard to keep current on deal and stock information.

How we select products

Essentials editors will be clear about why we feature any product: Maybe it’s a hot seller, according to industry or retailer data. Or it’s trending on social media. Or it’s new or newsworthy from a brand with high interest and visibility. Usually, it’s well reviewed. Or it’s something that we own, use and love.

When selecting and recommending products, we rely on a few key things. Most recommendations are based on exhaustive research and reliance on user reviews, sales information, brand reputation, and in many cases, our first-hand experience with the product. 

We only recommend products with 4-star user ratings and above, with few exceptions, and we let you know when a product is an editor’s personal favorite.

Our choice of products and deals to recommend are based on your life. Our goal is to make shopping easier for the important items in your family’s home and work life.  

Keeping up with CBS Essentials

There are many ways to stay in touch with our team and coverage: